Gretna

Modern-day Gretna was formed from three nineteenth-century communities: Mechanikham, Gretna, and McDonoghville. Mechanikham, laid out in 1836 by Nicolas Destrehan from a plan by Benjamin Buisson, consisted of a common (now Huey P. Long Avenue) stretching southeast from the Mississippi River, with two streets on each side. In 1838, the St. Mary’s Market Steam Ferry Company developed a four-block-wide community immediately downriver from Mechanikham, named Gretna, although from the mid-nineteenth century on the two villages were often together referred to as Gretna. The town is said to have been named for Gretna Green in Scotland because of its reputation during the 1840s as a mecca for quick marriages and elopements performed by a justice of the peace at any hour. In 1913, the adjoining downriver community of McDonoghville, laid out by John McDonogh on his land in 1815, was incorporated into Gretna.

Many of Gretna’s early settlers were Germans, and its early industries included shipbuilding and sawmills, both stimulated by the arrival of the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad. In 1884, Gretna became the Jefferson Parish seat. Although commercial establishments now favor U.S. 90 rather than Huey P. Long Avenue, the latter retains several significant early-twentieth-century buildings. In addition to the old courthouse (OR213), these include the Beaux-Arts classical First National Bank of Jefferson Parish (c. 1925; 203 Huey P. Long) and, at number 519, a three-story brick elementary school, designed by Stevens and Nelson in 1910, which now serves as the German-American Cultural Center.