Slidell is a city in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.

Named after the statesman, John Slidell, this town is a growing suburb of the New Orleans area. Since Hurricane Katrina, Slidell and its surrounding areas have seen a tremendous population surge.

Get in

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Amtrak, two trains a day pass through. Your other alternative is automobile. Shuttle services that run between the New Orleans airport and hotels on the Mississippi gulf coast may also be available, but you'll have to check availability since Katrina.

Get around

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You'll pretty much need a car. There are several unreliable cab services in town, the worst of which is Camelia Cab.

Do

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Find a swamp tour in the nearby Honey Island swamp. It will change how you view Louisiana

Drink

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Olde Town - hopping bar scene



Slidell is a city in St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana, situated on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 25,695. Slidell is a suburb of New Orleans.

Geography

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Slidell is located at (30.279040, -89.777744).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.4 km² (12.1 mi²). 30.5 km² (11.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.8 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (2.64%) is water.

Climate
The climate of Slidell is humid subtropical, with short, generally mild winters and hot, humid summers. Precipitation in winter usually accompanies the passing of a cold front. Hurricanes also pose a severe threat to the area, and the city is particularly vulnerable because of its low elevation.

Cityscape
Slidell is located at the southeastern tip of St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana's famous Ozone Belt. It is about three miles from the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and is surrounded by rivers and bayous.

History

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Beginning
Slidell, Louisiana was founded around 1882 during construction of a major new railroad from New Orleans to Meridian, Mississippi, connecting there with Cincinnati, Ohio and eventually with New York, NY. The New Orleans and Northeastern (n.o.n.e.) Railroad established a building camp at first high ground north of Lake Pontchartrain which eventually grew into the city. Slidell was chartered as a town in 1888 by the Louisiana legislature.

Sometime prior to Slidell’s formal incorporation in 1888, its first streets were laid out in a grid pattern, mostly east of the railroad, running three blocks along the road by four blocks deep. Bonfouca Street, now Bayou Lane, lay in the short stretch between the railroad and the bayou. East of the tracks, the north-south streets were Bayou (now Front), First, Second, Third and Fourth. The east-west streets were Fremaux, Erlanger, Bouscaren and Cousin.

Erlanger, slightly wider than the others and designated as an avenue, was named by Baron Frederick Erlanger, head of the banking syndicate which financed the railway. Baron Erlanger named the town for his deceased father-in-law, John Slidell, who had been a prominent state, national and confederate political figure. Supposedly, John Slidell had never set foot in the town.

Colonel Leon J. Fremaux, a prominent Louisiana engineer and planner, drew the original plans for Slidell and named...