Delgado Community College

Isaac Delgado, the original benefactor of the College for whom the school was named, was a nineteenth century immigrant from Jamaica who became a wealthy New Orleans businessman and sugar planter. His philanthropies included the arts, medicine, and education. In a 1909 codicil to his will, he bequeathed the residue of his estate to the City of New Orleans to establish a manual trade school for young boys. With funds from this bequest, land was purchased for the current fifty-seven-acre City Park Campus adjacent to New Orleans Municipal City Park. The original building on City Park Avenue was constructed and furnished with the bulk of the bequest. In September of 1921, Delgado Central Trades School opened its doors with a program of vocational trades for 1300 boys and young men. After thriving in the 1920s, Delgado was left without adequate funding during the years of the Great Depression. Revived during World War II by the need for technically skilled workers in aircraft construction and maintenance, and in the metal and woodworking trades, Delgado had a brief period of glory in the 1940s, only to once again fall into desperate financial straits during the 1950s. In the mid-fifties, under the leadership of its Director, Marvin E. Thames, Sr., Delgado began to search for a new mission and adequate funding. In 1956-1957, Tulane University made a survey of Delgado’s role and scope in a changing economy. Its prime recommendations were that Delgado be expanded to a technical institute at the junior college level and that its main function be to provide post-high-school educational programs for technicians—and that the school be properly funded. The recommendation was adopted by the Delgado Board of Managers and the New Orleans City Council. As a result, the name of the institution was changed to Delgado Trades and Technical Institute, and a technical two-year college program was implemented. In 1960, the first graduates of Delgado Institute received their college degrees.

Today, Delgado is renowned as Louisiana’s oldest and largest community college, serving men and women of all ages who reflect the diversity of the New Orleans metropolitan area. Delgado is a comprehensive, multi-campus community college and a major institution of higher education in the State of Louisiana. Its seven locations form a center for professional and advanced technology career education, academic pre-baccalaureate education, and traditional occupational training.