Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

St. Louis and other points on the important Strekfus Steamboat Line. During 1926 and 1927
Celestin also had two recording sessions with Columbia Records. Within this decade the Tuxedo
added the Tuxedo Brass Band, a marching ensemble of about seven instruments.
Through the Great Depression years of the 1930s the band played occasionally. When Pearl Harbor
shut the band down, “Papa” got a job working in a shipyard. Near the end of World War II he was hit
and run over, his legs badly damaged, leading to two more years out of action. But after World War II
night clubs began to populate Bourbon Street, and it was at the Paddock Lounge at 315 Bourbon that
Celestin re-invigorated Dixieland Jazz in New Orleans. He played there and on the society circuit to
standing room crowds almost until his death.
For further reading/listening, see Robert Homes website https://www.brief-case.org/ devoted to the life and music of
“Papa Celestin.”
A NDREW J ACKSON H IGGINS
(1886-1952)
Andrew Higgins created the largest locally-owned manufacturing business in New Orleans history—Higgins
Industries. At the peak of World War II the company employed over 25,000 workers
in seven plants. More remarkable was the nature of the work force, which included many
women and African-Americans, one of the few such labor pools in America. To create this large and
diverse a company virtually overnight testifies to Higgins’ genius.
Higgins’ genius came in various forms. As did others, he started small, while new ideas occurred
to him from his own imagination and from the world around him. He began his career importing
timber to the United States, then added sawing
and shaping, then manufacturing plywood, finally
boat building. His most successful early boat
was the Eureka flat-bottomed swamp boat, which
was equipped with a tunnel up the middle housing
the shaft and propeller. The first model had
adequate speed, but by constantly modifying the
hull shape Higgins created a truly fast and
maneuverable boat. The more than 20,000 plywood
landing craft or “Higgins Boats” he built
during World War II became the essential tool
that enabled the Allied forces to invade Europe.
Inspired by their employer’s innovative spirit,
Higgins’ loyal employees became a hall mark of
his industries. People hired in the 1920s stayed
on to work for him through the World War II. He
employed every graduate of Delgado Trades
School, a vital resource to his work force, which
prided itself upon its training and discipline.
For all his genius Higgins was never popular in New Orleans. His confidence made him somewhat
overbearing, which did not endear him to society. Wartime spending and wages kept organized labor
at bay, but the end of the war brought the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of
Industrial Organizations struggling to unionize his plants. Unsurprisingly, Higgins resisted, closing
his local plants and putting thousands out of work. During the post-War period, his genius was not
able to find the peacetime products that would sell.
Andrew Jackson Higgins.
JACK AND DAVE MCGUIRE COLLECTION, LOUISIANA
RESEARCH COLLECTION, TULANE UNIVERSITY.
BIOGRAPHIES
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