Slidell - The Building of a Railroad - The Building of a City
Work commenced on the northshore on December 3, 1881, and on January 7, 1882, at Meridian, Captain William H. Hardy was the principal speaker for ground breaking ceremonies in announcing the opening of road constructions. All the road clearances and grading were performed by hand with men using axes, shovels, and wheelbarrows. Where water access was not available, oxen's carts pulled hand-hewn timbers to road sites and bridges.
At Robert's Landing, engineers, foremen, and work crews made camp for the next three years. The encamped workmen bought their food, clothing, and large quantities of whiskey, thereby generating several new business enterprises located near the campsite. These establishments later became the rudiments for the town of Slidell.
The railroad stop was named Slidell Station during the first months of 1882, and a building that was built near the current depot site was called the Robert Brick House. It was not long before other construction sites were developed into hotels and boarding houses.
Newspapers reported that "at the creosote works, there is quite a town being built, called Slidell, and a great deal of land in the vicinity has been bought by speculators. Several houses and stores have been put up lately, and town lots are selling at good prices."
The local economy grew as farmers were able to sell all the cows and hogs they could raise and all the produce they could grow to feed the construction crews. Any able-bodied man who wanted a job could get one.
On October 15, 1883, the first train from Meridian completed the long awaited trip to New Orleans. Later that year, on November 18, 1883, the first passenger train ran the Queen and Crescent Route between New Orleans and Cincinnati. When completed, Captain Hardy had accomplished building the world's longest bridge. Hardy later became known as a Railroad Magnate as he followed his first railroad construction with that of the "Gulf & Ship Island Railroad" which created the city and the port harbor facility at Gulfport, Mississippi. He also named the town of Hattiesburg for his wife, Hattie Lott.
Who was John Slidell?
After the tracks were laid, a train depot was built and the station was named Slidell following the request of Baron Emile Erlanger, one of the financial backers of the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. Erlanger was John Slidell's son-in-law through his marriage to Mathilde Slidell. By 1884, not only was the railroad completed, but the first telephone and telegraph line had been extended from Mandeville.
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