University of New Orleans

Senator Theodore M. Hickey of New Orleans in 1956 authored the act which established the University of New Orleans. At the time New Orleans was the largest metropolitan area in the United States without a public university though it had several private universities, such as Tulane (which was originally a state-supported university before being privatized in 1884), Loyola, and Dillard. The institution was a branch of Louisiana State University, and as such was originally named Louisiana State University in New Orleans or LSUNO. The UNO University Ballroom was named in Hickey's honor late in 2014, more than two decades after his death.
The university was built on the New Orleans Lakefront when the United States Navy relocated Naval Air Station New Orleans. The Orleans Levee Board leased the closed base to the LSU Board of Supervisors. The renovation went quicker than expected. LSUNO opened for classes in 1958, two years ahead of schedule. It was the first racially integrated public university in the South. For …