St. Charles Avenue Gets Higgins Marker
The historic contributions of businessman Andrew Jackson Higgins and Higgins Industries to the success of Allied amphibious invasions in World War II were highlighted Friday with the unveiling of a marker on the neutral ground at 1755 St. Charles Avenue. Sponsored by the University of New Orleans History Department and the Burke Insurance Agency, the marker is located next to the streetcar line and will be seen by thousands each day.
The marker recalls a former office site for Higgins Industries, the boat-building company that became a major player during WWII with the production of more than 20,000 boats critically needed by American forces. The company is especially remembered for its production of landing craft that participated in invasions at Normandy, Salerno, Guadalcanal and hundreds of other sites. The National World War II Museum was founded and developed in New Orleans in part because of the Higgins Industries’ impact on the American war effort. Exhibits and the ongoing restoration of a PT boat at the Museum call attention to Higgins and his seven plants in the area, which at one time boasted a workforce of 20,000.
City and University of New Orleans officials, Museum representatives and members of the Higgins family attended the festive unveiling ceremony.
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One Response to “St. Charles Avenue Gets Higgins Marker”
Michael Edwards says:
I am proud that my two years of work at UNO’s Eisenhower Center for American Studies paid off — I got this marker installed at the site of the original Higgins office. With the generous help of Brad Burke, Jerry Strahan, Gibbs Construction, and Houston’s restaurant UNO helped Mrs. Dawn Higgins Murphy realize that her father is not a forgotten man.
