Every month, we hear from Richard Campanella about his Cityscapes column for Nola.com and The Times-Picayune.
This month Campanella explores Andrew Higgins' makeshift, pop-up factory to make a new kind of vessel for the Navy in 1941, in the 1600 block of Polymnia Street — then (as now) a residential area. In just two weeks, hundreds of workers produced and delivered 50 vessels, based on a prototype tested in Lake Pontchartrain.