BOUNDARIES

Kenner is located on the west side of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are Lake Pontchartrain to the north; the Mississippi River to the south; the unincorporated areas of Metairie and River Ridge to the east; and St. Charles Parish to the west.

HISTORY

Originally, inhabited by the Tchoupitoulas Indians, the area along the Mississippi River was the first land in the New Orleans Metropolitan Area on which Europeans set foot. In 1855, Kenner was founded by Minor Kenner on land that consisted of three plantation properties that had been purchased by the Kenner family. At the time, all land north of what is now Airline Hwy was swampland. Kenner’s growth began in the late 1950s when developers began subdividing, draining and filling the swampland in the northern half of the city. During the 1960s, the construction of Interstate 10 and improvements to Veterans Memorial Highway aided the rapid development of Kenner as a suburb of New Orleans. By 1979, Kenner’s population was 60,524 making it the 6th largest city in state. Today, Kenner is home to the Louis Armstrong International Airport (New Orleans’ main airport), the Pontchartrain Center, Oschner Medical Center and the Esplanade Mall.