[StBernard] Barracks recovery viewed as symbol for Gulf Coast

[Westley Annis]

Barracks recovery viewed as symbol for Gulf Coast
9th Ward base could be in use within 18 months 
Friday, September 14, 2007
By Paul Rioux
St. Bernard bureau 
Swamped by more than 10 feet of water during Hurricane Katrina, the
172-year-old Jackson Barracks could again serve as headquarters for the
Louisiana National Guard in as few as 18 months thanks to a fast-track $200
million rebuilding project that officials hope will jump-start recovery in
the Lower 9th Ward and western St. Bernard Parish. 

 
"We were 100 percent destroyed by Katrina," Maj. Gen. Hunt Downer said. "But
hold on, we're coming back, and we're rebuilding safer, stronger and
smarter." 

Downer shared his optimism for the military installation's future at a news
conference Thursday after giving a tour to Donald Powell, head of President
Bush's Gulf Coast reconstruction plan. 

"Jackson Barracks will be a powerful symbol of recovery, like the Superdome
and the bridge in Mississippi," Powell said, referring to the U.S. 90 bridge
over St. Louis Bay. "This is progress, real progress." 

Downer said the Guard's headquarters, which have been moved to Camp
Beauregard in Pineville, could return to Jackson Barracks when the first
buildings are completed in 18 months. 

He said 90 percent of the structures on the 100-acre base along the New
Orleans-St. Bernard Parish border are expected to be renovated within five
years. 

Steady rain Thursday afternoon prompted Guard officials to cancel a planned
media tour of the rebuilding efforts. 

Downer said the project's financing includes $163 million from the
Department of Defense. Another $37 million in state money will be used to
restore historic antebellum homes on the base as well as the Jackson
Barracks Military Museum. 

Noting that Jackson Barracks had a $100 million impact on the local economy
before Katrina, Downer said the rebuilt base will fuel recovery efforts in
the Lower 9th Ward, Arabi and Chalmette. 

"Keep in mind: We're citizen soldiers," he said. "We eat in the mom-and-pop
restaurants and shop at the stores around the barracks." 

Before the storm, Jackson Barracks served as a base for more than 3,000
soldiers and had 650 year-round employees, 100 of whom lived there with
their families. It remains unclear how many will return once work is
complete. 

The construction work has unearthed numerous historical artifacts linked to
the military base, which was completed in 1835 at a cost of $180,000. 

Some of the finds displayed Thursday were a slug from a muzzle-loading
.58-caliber musket that was standard issue in the 1860s, a wooden die likely
used for gambling in the 1870s and fragments from a bottle of Hostetter's
Stomach Bitters, an alcohol-based medicinal tonic. 

"Isn't that stuff neat?" Col. Doug Mouton asked. "It tells the story of what
a soldier's life was like in the 19th century." 

. . . . . . . 

Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux at timespicayune.com or at (504) 826-3321.