Kenner

History

In 1855, Kenner was founded by Minor Kenner on land that consisted of three plantation properties Oakland, Belle Grove and Pasture that had been purchased by the Kenner family. At the time, all land north of what is now Airline Highway was swampland. In Kenner on May 10, 1870, "Gypsy" Jem Mace defeated Tom Allen for the heavyweight championship of the bare-knuckle boxing era; a monument marks the spot near the river end of Williams Boulevard. From 1915 to 1931, a New Orleans streetcar line operated between New Orleans and Kenner. The line ran between the intersection of Rampart and Canal in New Orleans and the intersection of Williams Blvd and Jefferson Hwy in Kenner. Kenner's growth began in the late 1950s when developers began subdividing, draining and filling the swampland in the northern half of the city. During the 1960s, the construction of Interstate 10 and improvements to Veterans Memorial Highway aided the rapid development of Kenner as a suburb of New Orleans. In 1982, Pan Am Flight 759 crashed in a residential area of Kenner when a microburst forced it down. Eight people on the ground were killed, as were all 145 people aboard the aircraft. Six houses were completely destroyed and five more substantially damaged. In October 2017, an explosion on the surface of an oil rig platform in Lake Pontchartrain north west of the Treasure Chest Casino injured seven people.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.7%) is water. The city of Kenner is located on the west side of Greater New Orleans, in Jefferson Parish. Its boundaries are Lake Pontchartrain to the north, the Mississippi River to the south, the unincorporated areas of Metairie and River Ridge to the east, and St. Charles Parish to the west.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  23,278
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,224
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  15,887
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  15,607
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,941
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  11,625
• Fish Crow

  Corvus ossifragus A.Wilson, 1812 · Aves
  11,532
• Laughing Gull

  Leucophaeus atricilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,956

Largest nearby schools

• Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy
  Other · Kenner · 2,283 students · 15:1 ratio
• Bonnabel Magnet Academy High School
  High · Kenner · 1,478 students · 26.9:1 ratio
• Grace King High School
  High · Metairie · 1,463 students · 25.2:1 ratio
• East Jefferson High School
  High · Metairie · 1,348 students · 27:1 ratio
• Riverdale High School
  High · Jefferson · 1,019 students · 23.7:1 ratio
• John Q. Adams Middle School
  Middle · Metairie · 900 students · 28.1:1 ratio
• Haynes Academy School for Advanced Studies
  High · Metairie · 892 students · 28.8:1 ratio
• Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy
  High · Avondale · 850 students · 28.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3 — 2005-12-20
  9 km ESE of French Settlement, Louisiana