Carrollton Station is in the oldest continually operating barroom in the Carrollton neighborhood. The building’s origins go hand-in-hand with the streetcar barn across the street. In 1891, construction began on the barn in an area where there was little but small family farms and dairies. Bavarian baker John Leonard Eiswith saw an opportunity and purchased 1/4th of the 8100 block of Willow Street, then named Fifth Street.

 On January 24, 1893, Eiswirth was granted permission from the city to open his corner bar. With his son, John Jr., the men immediately opened the doors. Eight days later, the first electrified streetcar in New Orleans departed from the new Carrollton barn.

After John Sr. passed away in 1895, his son took over the business. He refashioned it into the Carrollton Restaurant & Bar, where streetcar employees and their riders could grab hot meals, raw oysters, and spirits to wash them down with. The earliest regulars were the men who worked for the streetcar company and who also lived in the neighborhood, becoming an important landmark in streetcar history.

The restaurant and bar continued operating through Prohibition. Although liquor sales were illegal, the Volstead Act was not strictly enforced in New Orleans if barkeepers made friends with the right people and did not flaunt their insubordination. Operating as multiple establishments throughout the 20th century, including the famous Willow Inn, Carrollton Station, as it is known today was established in 1980.

-Bio courtesy of Emily Manger / @thecarrolltonian