In 1894, the Illinois Central Railroad established railroad yards and a roundhouse at what is now the town of Harahan, which was incorporated in 1920 and named for James T. Harahan, a former president of the railroad. In 1915, Harahan was linked to New Orleans by the Orleans-Kenner Traction Company (O-K Line). An early building of interest is the two-story stuccoed-brick Harahan Elementary School (1926; 6723 Jefferson Highway), designed by William R. Burk in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Its central domed rotunda is covered by a red-tiled conical roof, and the main entrance is decorated with scalloped arches and twisted columns. St. Rita Catholic Church (1964; 7100 Jefferson Highway), designed by James Lamantia Jr. for Burk, Le Breton and Lamantia, is a small but monumental basilican church of blond brick with a steeply pitched roof and a tapered tower made from concave panels of precast concrete at each end.
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