Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

DELGADO
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
Top: The faculty and staff assembled on the
front steps of Isaac Delgado Hall at the
Delgado City Park Campus, c. 1950.
Below: Brochure describing courses
of study—all free—and the location
of the Isaac Delgado Central Trades
School, c. 1930.
Since its inception in 1921, the story
of Delgado Community College has
been inextricably linked with that of
New Orleans—the community which
has sustained it, and which it has served.
Through changing times, societal needs,
and economic circumstances, the college
has responded—emerging as Louisiana’s
oldest and largest community college.
Like many great stories, Delgado’s
began with the visionary actions of a
dedicated civic leader. Isaac Delgado, a
Jamaican immigrant who made his fortune
as a sugar grower, and went on to
become a successful businessman and philanthropist,
foresaw the need for a school to train
young men in the manual trades. This resulted
in his bequest to the City of New Orleans,
of funds which brought about the construction
of Delgado Central Trades School, a landmark
structure that still anchors the college’s
original fifty-seven-acre campus adjacent to
New Orleans City Park.
The school opened in September 1921 and
provided a wide range of vocational training
to an initial enrollment of 1,300 young men.
The school thrived in its early years, but in an
all-too-common predicament of educational
institutions, it struggled with underfunding in
the years leading up to the Great Depression.
The onset of World War II created the need
for skilled technicians and workers, however,
and the school experienced a brief period
of resurgence.
Delgado’s role in the war effort was notable
with Higgins Industries, the famous shipbuilders,
operating a huge facility right next
door to the college’s City Park Campus where,
with the help of its students, faculty, and
graduates, dubbed “Delgado Men,” thousands
of landing craft and PT boats essential to winning
the war were built.
During the post-war years, Delgado again
had to face the issue of financial instability.
Dealing with this issue, among many others,
Director Marvin E. Thames also recognized
the need to redefine its mission. This new
direction began with a Tulane University
study in 1956-1957, which proposed that the
school be reconstituted as a junior college
technical institute. The school was renamed
Delgado Trades and Technical Institute to better
reflect its new purpose.
The transition continued during these
pivotal years. The Institute awarded its first
degrees in 1960, and as its role and scope
in the community evolved, its name was
changed twice (to Isaac Delgado College and
Delgado Vocational-Technical Junior College).
It gained approval as a model multi-campus
comprehensive community/junior college,
with Dr. Thames as founding president. In
1970, control of the college was transferred
from the city to the state, under the auspices
of the Louisiana State Board of Education.
NOTABLE NEW ORLEANIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
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