History Finds a New Home

In New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, the former McDonogh 19 Elementary School carries an important place in Louisiana’s Civil Rights history. On November 14, 1960, six-year-olds Leona Tate, Gail Etienne and Tessie Prevost entered the formerly all-white school escorted by U.S. Marshals, becoming the first Black students to attend previously segregated white schools in Louisiana.  

Decades later, the same building is serving the community in a new way. Alembic Community Development and the Leona Tate Foundation for Change redeveloped the historic property as the Tate, Etienne and Prevost Center, or TEP Center, combining Civil Rights education, nonprofit programming and 25 affordable apartments for seniors. Completed in 2022, the $16.2 million development brought a long-vacant historic property back into use while creating housing for older residents in the Lower 9th Ward. 

From Historic School to Mixed-Use Community 

McDonogh 19 closed in 2004, and the building sustained additional damage during the levee failures following Hurricane Katrina the next year. Although the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, it remained vacant for years. The Leona Tate Foundation for Change had long sought to preserve the school and use it as a place where visitors could learn about New Orleans school desegregation and the broader Civil Rights Movement.  

Alembic Community Development began working with the foundation after Alembic founder Benjamin Warnke met Tate in 2015. The organizations later formed a joint venture to acquire, develop, own and operate the property. Together, they purchased the school in 2020 and moved forward with its rehabilitation. 

The completed TEP Center encompasses approximately 39,000 SF across the former school and cafeteria buildings. Its uses include the Leona Tate Foundation for Change’s interpretive center, the Lower 9th Ward Living Museum, anti-racism education and training space, nonprofit offices and affordable senior housing.  

Affordable Housing Within a Historic Property 

Housing is a central part of the TEP Center’s continued use. The development includes 25 studio and one-bedroom apartments for seniors age 55 and older. Twelve apartments serve households earning below 30 percent of Area Median Income, while 13 serve households at 60 percent of AMI.  

By incorporating housing into the rehabilitation, Alembic and the Leona Tate Foundation for Change created an operating model that could support the property while adding affordable homes in the Lower 9th Ward. Alembic has noted that the building needed to serve both its historical purpose and its current community, with housing and nonprofit space helping support the property’s ongoing use.  

The development was financed through a combination of federal and state New Markets Tax Credits, federal and state Historic Tax Credits, City of New Orleans Community Development Block Grant funds, a National Housing Trust Fund loan from the Louisiana Housing Corporation, financing from Reinvestment Fund and grants from several public and private sources.  

Keeping the Story in the Building 

Preserving the site required careful attention to the places where its history occurred. One of the most significant spaces is the second-floor hallway outside the former principal’s office. In 1960, Tate, Etienne and Prevost waited there while their parents met with the principal and white families removed their children from the school. 

During rehabilitation, the project team incorporated that portion of the hallway into the interpretive center using glass partitions, allowing visitors to experience the setting while maintaining the defining characteristics of the historic school. Alembic worked with the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office and National Park Service on the treatment of the space.  

The TEP Center also houses the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond and Beloved Community, along with programming focused on Civil Rights history, racial equity and the history and culture of the Lower 9th Ward.  

A New Purpose for McDonogh 19 

On May 4, 2022, Leona Tate, Gail Etienne and Tessie Prevost returned to the site for the ribbon cutting of the building that now bears their names. The ceremony marked the completion of a two-year rehabilitation and the reopening of McDonogh 19 as the TEP Center.  

At the ribbon cutting, Gale Etienne said, "We are here today to celebrate a full circle. In 1960, three little Black girls marched up the steps there ... the only thing we were told was that we had an opportunity that we needed to take advantage of and that this would be an opportunity for other little Black girls and boys in the city." (NOLA.com)

The project has since received national recognition for its historic preservation work, including a 2023 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

The Tate, Etienne and Prevost Center now serves several purposes within one historic property. It provides affordable housing for seniors, gives nonprofit organizations a permanent home, and preserves a place where three six-year-old girls became part of Louisiana’s Civil Rights history.