Herald

Orleans Parish

The Herald was founded in 1893 as the Algiers Herald by Harry L. Sease (1857-1904), a former steamboat clerk and railroad telegrapher. Upon Sease’s death, ownership of the paper passed to his son-in-law and fellow New Albany, Indiana native Charles Victor Kraft (1871-1949).

Published on Thursdays in eight to fourteen pages, the Herald served Algiers, a neighborhood of New Orleans located on west bank of the Mississippi River opposite the French Quarter and central business district. In the late nineteenth century Algiers became known for its railroad yards and shipbuilding facilities. Since 1901 it has been the site of a U.S. Naval base.

Stating in its masthead that it was “Devoted to the Upbuilding of the West Side of the River,” the Herald frequently reported on civic improvements. In the 1910s, charters of Algiers businesses were printed in each issue, often taking up two or more full pages. By the 1920s, a page entitled “Of Interest to Labor” had appeared.
In addition to society news and news of clubs and churches, the paper reported at length on the local entertainment scene. Particular attention was given to the New Orleans theater, with most issues devoting an entire page to the programs of the Tulane, Crescent and Orpheum theaters. Around 1920, reporting was expanded to include silent movies. Kraft held a medical degree from the Kentucky School of Medicine in Louisville and occasionally offered advice on medical and sanitary issues, including the 1918 influenza epidemic. Also of interest is a “Woman’s World” column, reports on American aid to Europe during World War I, and coverage of the great New Orleans hurricane of 1915. 

The Herald came under new ownership in 1953 and was renamed the West Bank Herald. It appears to have ceased publication around 1960.