The Society's Mission

The Algiers Historical Society (AHS) was formed in October 1999 by Kevin Herridge, Judi Robertson and a handful of like-minded people to promote the history of Algiers - and occasionally McDonoghville, Freetown and Gretna.  The Society is also dedicated to informing Algiers’ natives and newcomers through "The Algerine," our quarterly newsletter, as well as, monthly speakers on the history of Algiers and metro New Orleans, its people and places.

Join the Society

If you are interested in your local lineage, history of your home and/or local truth and lore, then please consider joining the Algiers Historical Society.  In doing so, you will begin to amass the tools you will need to research your family home and ancestors. By joining, you will receive word of monthly* meetings along with the quarterly newsletter, "The Algerine".  

Membership

The Society's membership year runs from January 1st to December 31st. Subscriptions are due each year on January 1st.  If you should join towards the end of a year you will receive the back issues of "The Algerine" for that year unless you stipulate you wish to join for the forthcoming year.

History Relevance - The Value of History

The Algiers Historical Society (AHS) Board of Directors, in July 2020, unanimously voted to adopt and endorse the History Relevance initiative and its seven principle components. This will guide the AHS, an IRS 501(c)(3) organization, henceforth. For more details about History Relevance, click on the link below. 

The AHS now joins the ranks of over 400 other organizations, across America, that have already embraced this initiative that began informally, in early 2013, with a series of conversations about why history - both knowledge about the past and the practice of researching and interpreting the past - was marginalized in our country. 

Touro Shakespeare Home

The City of New Orleans is looking for someone interested in restoring and leasing the historic 50,000 square foot TOURO-SHAKSPEARE Home, 2650 Gen. Meyer Ave. in Algiers, which has sat vacant and deteriorating since Hurricane Katrina, over 15 years ago.

The driving force to bring attention to this long abandoned, vandalized, graffiti-ladened and neglected city property the past four plus years has been AHS Vice Pres. Arthur RUIZ, Jr. He is also working with native Algierine, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy NUNGESSER's Office of Cultural Development, Division of Historic Preservation to get the TOURO-SHAKSPEARE Home listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

On March 18, 2021 Arthur RUIZ, Jr. met with a news team from WVUE-TV Fox 8 News. They did a three & one half minute video and verbal narrative, for their evening newscast, on the long neglected, city owned property, including some great aerial footage, using a drone. Click on this link: https://www.fox8live.com/2021/03/19/fox-defenders-touro-shakspeare-could-be-restored-leased/ 

The AHS sincerely thanks Ms. Shelley BROWN, news anchor, at WVUE-TV FOX 8 News for her and the station's continuing news coverage.

The Algiers Historical Society Officers

President...........Donald Costello
Vice President.... Arthur Ruiz, Jr. .
Secretary/Treasurer...........Frank Wagner

Algiers Courthouse
​Built 1896 - Restored 2018

Algiers Courthouse $1.38 million restoration, at 225 Morgan St., in Historic Algiers Point is now completed. It began in early 2017 and the ribbon cutting ceremony was on Feb. 1, 2018. (Click on this paragraph, then scroll down to the middle of the web page to review FEMA documents, descriptions and photos taken throughout the year long project.)

Family & Home Histories Wanted

If you are an AHS member and would like to share your family and/or home history or your life in any part of Algiers, please contact us and we would be happy to add it as a future AHS meeting.

General Meetings

The Algiers Historical Society (AHS) meets from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the third (3rd) Saturday of each month, January thru November, unless otherwise noted. There is no meeting in December. 
 
All meetings are free and open to the public and media.
 
Location: Algiers Regional Library, 3014 Holiday Dr., New Orleans Westbank (Algiers), La. 70131, in the large, first floor meeting room. Library Phone: 504-596-2641.
 
AHS meetings, at the library, are not endorsed by or affiliated with the New Orleans Public Library.

We have some exciting presentations coming up, so please do join us. Be sure to share this information with your family members, friends and neighbors. 
 
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AlgiersHistoricalSociety/

Speakers & Volunteers Needed

The Society is always seeking speakers, preferably on Algiers or New Orleans related topics. If you can speak for 20-30 minutes on your life, family, church, music or Algiers experiences, we want you!  The Society is also looking for volunteers. Duties will include typing documents, collecting information from headstones in churchyards, transcribing interviews, photography, etc.  Please contact us if you can help in either area.    algiershistory@yahoo.com

Upcoming Meetings

​Location: Algiers Regional Library, 3014 Holiday Dr. in Algiers. Library phone: 504-596-2641. Large, first floor meeting room.

AHS meetings, at the library, are free and open to the public and media. Also, they are not affiliated with or endorsed by the New Orleans Public Library.

​Saturday, November 16, 2024
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Pelican, Brooklyn, Washington, & Morgan: The History of the Algiers Fire Companies

Presenter: Nikki CARUSO

Prior to its annexation by the City of New Orleans in 1870, Algiers was an independent town with its own fire department dating back to 1851. The original Algiers Fire Department companies were Pelican No. 1, Brooklyn No. 2, Morgan No. 3, and Washington Hook & Ladder No. 1. Like the companies in New Orleans, they formed their own Firemen’s Charitable Association, held parades, and reflected the communities in which they served. This talk will cover the histories of those companies, their role in battling the Great Algiers Fire of 1895, the evolution of their fire stations, and what the companies of the 8th Fire District look like today.

As the daughter of a retired New Orleans Fire Department Captain, Nikki CARUSO grew up hearing stories about the fire department and visiting fire houses around the city. In 2020 – inspired by her dad’s hunt for the location of the original Engine 1 – she began to research the histories of 19th and 20th century fire stations throughout New Orleans. To share her discoveries, Nikki created the Instagram account “Crescent City Stations.” She’s presented on Fire Department History at the Deutsches Haus; for Learning Before Lunch at UNO; Gretna's German-American Cultural Center; and in conjunction with the City Archives, at the New Orleans Public Library.
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Nikki has a BA in Theatre from Appalachian State University, a Master of Arts in American Dance Studies from Florida State University, and is currently working on her Masters of Library Information Science at LSU. While at Florida State, she studied parading traditions in New Orleans and worked as a research assistant for the book “New Orleans Carnival Balls: The Secret Side of Mardi Gras.”