Navarre (New Orleans, Louisiana) | neighbourhood

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At the start of the 19th century what would become Navarre was mostly undeveloped swamp land a good distance from the developed parts of the young city along the Mississippi River. The narrow high ground alongside Bayou Metairie became a road, along the sides of which farmland was developed. The first of the area's important landmarks to be developed was Greenwood Cemetery, in 1852. The Canal Street, City Park, and Lake Pontchartrain Railway ran along one edge of the neighborhood on its way out alongside the Orleans Canal to Old Spanish Fort on Lake Pontchartrain. Otherwise, the land after a distance equivalent of a couple blocks back from Metairie Road was swamp.

The 1880s and 1890s saw the first work at reclaiming the swampland in the area for development, and by the early 20th century the area back to Florida Avenue was largely drained. There was substantial development, mostly as white middle class residential single family homes, in the 1920s. The area in the back section of Navarre was the site of the United Fruit Company radio facilities, until it was redeveloped residentially in the 1940s.

During World War II, the U.S. Navy PT boats were manufactured in the Navarre section of New Orleans. The foundation of the PT boat factory is still visible behind Delgado University.