What was built
- Established or development period
- 1939
- Peak period
- 1954–1964
- Who built the community
- Black New Orleanians and Black-operated concessions at the segregated lakefront amusement park built for Black residents barred from Pontchartrain Beach.
- Black population
- Drew tens of thousands of Black visitors each season from across the Gulf South.
- Businesses
- Black-operated concessions, food stands, bathhouses and entertainment bookings.
- Financial institutions
- Not yet documented
- Churches
- Not yet documented
- Schools
- Not yet documented
- Hospitals
- Not yet documented
- Newspapers
- Not yet documented
- Entertainment & cultural institutions
- An amusement park, Olympic-size pool and a stage that hosted Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Etta James.
- Other community institutions
- Not yet documented
- Black land & property ownership
- Publicly owned land operated for Black use under segregation; the surrounding Black eastern New Orleans communities held substantial home ownership.
- Economic significance
- A Black seasonal economy and the only lakefront access permitted to Black residents for a generation.
What happened
- What happened?
- Lincoln Beach was closed in 1964 when the lakefront was desegregated and Black residents were nominally admitted to Pontchartrain Beach. The site was abandoned rather than integrated or maintained, and it decayed for nearly sixty years.
- Trigger or precipitating event
- Desegregation of the New Orleans lakefront and the decision to abandon rather than maintain the Black facility.
- Underlying historical context
- Segregation created the site; desegregation was used as grounds to close it, a pattern repeated with Black pools, parks and schools across the South.
- Method of destruction / displacement
- Government Acquisition · Economic Disruption · Displacement
- Date or period of destruction
- 1964 closure; decades of abandonment
- Confirmed / documented deaths
- Not yet documented
- Estimated deaths
- Not yet documented
- People displaced
- Concessionaires, seasonal workers and the community's only lakefront access.
- Homes destroyed
- Not yet documented
- Businesses destroyed
- Not yet documented
- Acres or property lost
- A public recreational asset built for Black residents, left to ruin.
Afterward
- What happened to the land?
- Abandoned city-owned lakefront; partially reopened to the public in the 2020s.
- Was compensation paid?
- Not applicable.
- Was the community rebuilt?
- Partially, the City of New Orleans has funded phased restoration and reopened portions of the site.
- What was rebuilt?
- Not yet documented
- Destroyed or displaced again?
- Not yet documented
- Second displacement date
- Not yet documented
- Second displacement cause
- Not yet documented
- What exists there today?
- A partially restored public lakefront site with a community-led restoration campaign.
- Descendant, reparation & restoration efforts
- The Lincoln Beach Coalition and city restoration funding.
- Historical significance
- Documents how desegregation was frequently implemented by closing Black facilities rather than opening white ones.
Sources
- Primary recordFind
New Orleans Public Library, City Archives
- Source lookupFind
The Historic New Orleans Collection
- Source lookupFind
City of New Orleans, Lincoln Beach restoration project records
- Source lookupFind
Amistad Research Center, Tulane University
"Find" opens a focused search for legacy references that do not have a stable link; "Open" goes directly to the source.
Last verified: 2026-09-20. This is a living historical collection. Additional communities and documentation will be added as research and verification continue.