:30 of Urbex Zen - Flying Through NAS New Orleans

Early history
The land underlying the Naval Support Activity is part of an immense West Bank concession given to Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, founder of New Orleans, in 1719 by the Compagnie des Indes. The land changed hands numerous times before being purchased by the United States government on 1849-02-14 for the site of a proposed Navy yard. The Navy yard was not built, however, and the land was leased off for farming. In May of that year, additional ground was purchased by the Navy to enlarge the original site. In November 1901, the Naval Dry Dock YFD-2 arrived and the US Naval Station was formally established.
The original buildings, some of which still stand, were completed on the site in 1903.
The Naval Station remained open until September 1911. Following four years of inactivity, it was reopened in 1915 as an industrial Navy yard for repair of vessels. The station continued in full operation until June 1933, when it was placed in a maintenance status. During the Great Depression, the Louisiana Emergency Relief Administration and later, the WPA, operated the third largest transient camp in the United States on the Naval Station. Opened in May 1934, the transient camp sheltered, worked, and trained approximately 25,000 homeless men before it closed in March 1936. In December 1939, the station was reactivated and eventually became a base to handle transient naval personnel.
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World War I and World War II
Located on the East Bank of the Mississippi River are the three largest buildings of the Naval Support Activity. The three giant buildings that tower six floors above the river each contain over one half million square feet of floor space and house a major part of NSA tenants. The 30 acres of land and three buildings have a history that began in June 1919, when the buildings were constructed for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps for use as a general logistical depot during World War I. These buildings were partially used by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps after completion until February 1931.