64 Parishes

Geographer's Space

Gretna’s Mechanickham

Geographer's Space with Richard Campanella, Episode 9

by Chris Robert

Published: March 26, 2020
Last Updated: March 26, 2020

What’s in a name? Join geographer Richard Campanella on a jaunt through history as he explores the possible origins of the name Mechanickham, or Mechanicksham, a 19th-century community in Jefferson Parish. Read more about Mechanickham in Campanella’s Geographer’s Space column in the winter 2018 issue of 64 Parishes.

Richard Campanella, a geographer with the Tulane School of Architecture, is the author of Cityscapes of New Orleans, Bienville’s Dilemma, Bourbon Street: A History, and the forthcoming The West Bank of Greater New Orleans (LSU Press, summer 2020). Campanella may be reached through richcampanella.com, [email protected]; or @nolacampanella on Twitter.