06/06/2026
“Did you know?”
The Story of Gert Town and the Thompson‑Hayward Area
Gert Town is one of New Orleans’ most historic and culturally rich neighborhoods, and its name has a story rooted in the people who lived there long before the city ever recognized it. The area was originally owned by the Gehrt family, German immigrants whose last name was pronounced “Gert.” As homes and small businesses began to grow around their land in the late 1800s and early 1900s, locals naturally started referring to the area as Gert Town. Over time, the spelling changed, but the name remained — passed down through generations of residents.
As New Orleans expanded, Gert Town became one of the few places where Black families could buy land, build homes, and establish stability during segregation. It grew into a strong, self‑sustaining community filled with churches, corner stores, barbershops, schools, and a deep sense of neighborhood pride. Families knew each other, supported each other, and built a culture rooted in resilience and connection.
In the early to mid‑1900s, Gert Town also became an industrial hub. Factories and rail lines brought jobs and shaped the neighborhood’s layout. Major facilities like the Blue Plate Mayonnaise Factory, the Coca‑Cola Bottling Plant, Sealtest Dairy, and the Thompson‑Hayward Chemical Company operated in or near the community. These industries helped many families make a living, but they also left behind environmental challenges that the neighborhood would later have to confront.
A major turning point in Gert Town’s identity came in 1925 with the founding of Xavier University of Louisiana, the nation’s only historically Black Catholic university. Xavier became a powerful anchor for education, opportunity, and cultural growth. Students, faculty, and families helped shape Gert Town into a center of Black academic excellence and community leadership.
The area often referred to today as the Thompson‑Hayward zone is not a traditional neighborhood name. Instead, it comes from the Thompson‑Hayward Chemical Company, which operated from 1931 to 1986. After the plant closed, environmental agencies studied the soil and mapped out areas affected by contamination. Those maps created what people now call the “Thompson‑Hayward area.” It’s a name tied to environmental history, not to a family or cultural community like Gert Town itself.
Together, these pieces form the story of a neighborhood shaped by landowners, by Black families seeking opportunity, by industry, by education, and by the ongoing fight for environmental justice. Gert Town is more than a location — it’s a community built by the people who lived there, worked there, prayed there, and raised generations there. Its history is layered, powerful, and deeply rooted in the spirit of New Orleans.
