The Ninth Ward or 9th Ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana, which is located in the easternmost downriver portion of the city. It is geographically the largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans. On the south, the Ninth Ward is bounded by the Mississippi River. On the western or "upriver" side, the Ninth Ward is bounded by (going from the River north to Lake Pontchartrain) Franklin Avenue, then Almonaster Avenue, then People's Avenue. From the north end of People's Avenue the boundary continues on a straight line north to Lake Pontchartrain; this line is the boundary between the Ninth and the city's Eighth Ward. The Lake forms the north and northeastern end of the ward. St. Bernard Parish is the boundary to the southeast, Lake Borgne farther southeast and east, and the end of Orleans Parish to the east at the Rigolets.
While there is substantial overlap, the 9th Ward should not be confused with city planning designation of the ninth planning district of New Orleans. The 9th Ward includes land in planning districts 7, 8, 10, and 11 (not to be confused with New Orleans East, the 7th, 8th, 10th, and 11th wards).[1]
Among the famous natives and residents of the 9th Ward are music legend Fats Domino, Magic, NBA player Eldridge Recasner, NFL Player Marshall Faulk, authors Kalamu ya Salaam and Poppy Z. Brite, actor John Larroquette, trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, and the prominent Batiste musical family.
From 2012 to 2016, the 9th Ward was represented in the Louisiana House of Representatives by Democrat Wesley T. Bishop. When Bishop was elected in 2015 to the Louisiana State Senate, another Democrat, Jimmy Harris, a lawyer and long-term government employee, filled the District 99 state House seat.
