Harvey is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. Harvey is on the south side (referred to as the "West Bank") of the Mississippi River, within the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner metropolitan statistical area. The 2020 census determined that 22,236 people live in Harvey.
History
During the French colonial era, the first owner of this land was Jean-Baptiste d'Estrehan de Beaupre, royal treasurer and comptroller for the French Louisiana colony. He established a plantation here. He used his slaves to dig the ditch that would become the Harvey Canal, cutting south from the banks of the Mississippi River to the back of Bayou Barataria, to provide better access.
Years later, d'Estrehan paid German settlers in the area to work on widening the ditch; they used wooden shovels. He paid them with small parcels of land located downriver in Mechanicsham, now the city of Gretna. D'Estrehan built his home where the ditch met the river banks, naming the settlement "Cosmopolite City".
Harvey was founded as a company town at its founding, developed by Joseph Hale Harvey (born March 7, 1816). During this time, Joseph Harvey would rename Cosmopolite City after his family surname. Harvey's wife, née Louise Destrehan, was a great-granddaughter of Jean Baptiste d'Estrehan. She was the daughter of Nicolas Noel d'Estrehan and granddaughter of Jean Noel Destréhan.
Harvey and Destrehan initiated construction of the canal locks leading to the Mississippi. Their son, Horace Harvey (c. 1860–1938), carried on the development of the canal and its surroundings.
Geography
Harvey is located east of the Intracoastal Canal on the Mississippi River, at coordinates . It is bordered to the east by Gretna, to the west by Marrero, to the southwest by Woodmere, and to the north, across the Mississippi, by New Orleans. The closest highway crossing of the river is the Crescent City Connection northeast of Harvey.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Harvey CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 7.16%, are water.