Our story began in 1833 when investor Pierre Marly purchased the rearmost section of Macarty Plantation in the fledgling Town of Carrollton. Such massive land sales were conducted by Canal & Banking Company to fund the construction of New Basin Canal, a planned commercial waterway connecting Lake Pontchartrain with Downtown New Orleans.

Marly, an enterprising free man of color residing in The Marigny, owned several prominent parcels across town. Yet Faubourg Marly – this undeveloped “back’o’town” (suburban) tract extending from the canal’s left bank toward Claiborne – became his most enduring family legacy. We honor him today as the namesake of Marlyville, on the cusp of our neighborhood’s bicentennial.