A visitor walking up Camp Street from Canal in the mid-1880s would have sensed Newspaper Row before seeing it, from the scurry of newsboys and the sounds of their singsong sales pitch.

Alternating granite and cast-iron pillars and varying treatments of window lintels, cornices and parapets give this row a pleasant multi-facade appearance.

326-328 Camp Street was once the headquarters of The Daily Picayune newspaper that lent the Picayune Place Historic District its name. Image courtesy of NOLA DNA, LLC (noladna.com)

The tight cluster of aggressive journalists made for a bustling and colorful atmosphere, one that sometimes boiled into brawls and shoot-outs. Mostly, though, the row buildings were filled with diligent journalists, editors, typesetters and workers intent on meeting deadlines and surviving in the fiercely competitive market.

The New Orleans Item newsroom at work, circa 1900

The New Orleans Item “the south’s oldest afternoon daily paper”.

This Newspaper Row back alley bustled with so many orphaned newsboys awaiting the latest edition that the Sisters of Mercy of St. Alphonsus opened an orphanage for them. It operated at 20 Bank Place, now 324 Picayune Place, currently one of the quietest public spaces in downtown New Orleans. Image courtesy of Preservation Resource Center (prcno.org).