New Orleans, Louisiana, had yellow fever epidemics in 1853, 1854, 1855 1858, and it’s sometimes said that the city was nicknamed “Necropolis of the South.” However, there is not a single known citation of this alleged nickname before 1970.
   
Metairie Cemetery—not the city of New Orleans - was called the “Necropolis of the South” in 1875 and 1877. “The cemetery no doubt is one of the best laid out in the city. In the course of time it will become the great necropolis of the South” was printed in The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, LA) on May 7, 1875. “Undoubtedly the Metairie Cemetery is destined to be the great Necropolis of the South” was printed in The Daily Picayune on November 2, 1877.
   
“The villain targeted for extinction is the female of the genus Aedes aegypti, a mosquito which can carry yellow fever and once gave New Orleans the unwelcome title of ‘Necropolis of the South’” was printed in The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) on June 4, 1974. “Some called it ‘Queen of the South’; others ‘the Necropolis of the South’” was printed in the article “Coronavirus evokes memories of New Orleans’ bout with yellow fever — and hopes of solution” by Richard Campanella on NOLA.com on April 5, 2020.
       
Other New Orleans nicknames include “America’s Most Interesting City,” “Baghdad-on-the-Bayou,” “Big Crescent,” “Big Easy,” “Big Greasy,” “Big Sleazy,” “Birthplace of Jazz,” “Chocolate City,” “Chopper City,” “City of a Million Dreams,” “City of Yes,” “City That Care Forgot,” “City That Forgot to Care,” “Convention City,” “Crawfish Town,” “Creole City,” “Crescent City,” “Erb City,” “Gateway of the Mississippi Valley,” “Gumbo City,” “Hollywood South,” “Jump City,” “Mardi Gras City,” “Metropolis of the South,” “N’Awlins,” “Nerlins,” “No Orleans” (after Hurricane Katrina), “NOLA,” “Northernmost Banana Republic,” “Northernmost Caribbean City,” “Old Swampy,” “Paris of America,” “Queen City,” “Saint City,” “Silicon Bayou,” “Silicon Swamp” and “Sweet Lady Gumbo.”
         
   
Wikipedia: New Orleans
New Orleans (/njuː ˈɔːrli.ənz, -ˈɔːrˈliːnz, -ˈɔːrlənz/, or /ˈnɔːrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃]) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana.
     
Newspapers.com
7 May 1875, The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “The Metairie Cemetery,” pg. 8, col. 6:
The cemetery no doubt is one of the best laid out in the city. In the course of time it will become the great necropolis of the South.
 
Newspapers.com
2 November 1877, The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “All Saints’ Day: Yesterday’s Visitations at the Homes of the Dead” pg. 1, col. 7:
Undoubtedly the Metairie Cemetery is destined to be the great Necropolis of the South. As far as location ornaments, care and poetry are concerned, we say that this great city of the dead is unrivaled.
 
4 June 1974, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), pg. 1, col. 3:
YELLOW FEVER PESTS
Mosquito Control Stepped Up
By DON LEWIS
(...)
The villain targeted for extinction is the female of the genus Aedes aegypti, a mosquito which can carry yellow fever and once gave New Orleans the unwelcome title of “Necropolis of the South.”
   
6 February 1977, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “City’s Battle with Mosquitoes Isn’t over, UNO study finds,” sec. 2, pg. 10, col. 2:
The decade of the 1850s saw the climax of yellow fever in Louisiana. The four epidemics of 1853, 1854, 1855 and 1858 claimed approximately 18,425 lives, and New Orleans gained a national reputation as “the Necropolis of the South.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Yellow fever in 19th century New Orleans : necropolis of the South
Author: Christine Moe
Publisher: Monticello, Ill. : Vance Bibliographies, 1979.
Series: Public administration series—bibliography, P-375.
Edition/Format:   eBook : Document : English
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Centennial year of yellow fever eradication in New Orleans and the United States, 1905-2005.
Author: W Tomlinson Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, USA.; RS Hodgson
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: The Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society : official organ of the Louisiana State Medical Society, 2005 Jul-Aug; 157(4): 216-7
Summary:
This article briefly details the history of the 1905 yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans and the successful and permanent eradication of The Pestilence. First the authors will give some medical and historical background regarding Bronze Jack from its transmission from West Africa by the Spanish slave trade to the New World, through the Caribbean to New Orleans, the great port city which became the Necropolis of the South. We will then focus on the summer of 1905 when New Orleans experienced what proved to be the last epidemic in the history of New Orleans and the United States, and the methods employed to combat it. This year, 2005, marks the centennial of one of the truly remarkable and critical accomplishments of medicine and public health
     
OCLC WorldCat record
A river and its city : the nature of landscape in New Orleans
Author: Ari Kelman
Publisher: Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, ©2006.
Edition/Format:   Print book : State or province government publication : English
Contents: Prologue: Nature’s Highway to Market—
1. A Batture Laid Out for the Particular Use of the Public—
2. Human Genius, Organed with Machinery—
3. The Necropolis of the South—
   
Google Books
Southern Queen:
New Orleans in the Nineteenth Century
By Thomas Ruys Smith
London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing
2011
Pg. 93:
As bad as those years were, it was in the 1850s that the city truly became known as the Necropolis of the South.
 
Twitter
Galway pub fan
@ToddParkman
Replying to @champsuperstar
@champsuperstar Hard to believe New Orleans was once called “The Necropolis of the South.”
9:28 AM · Sep 24, 2015·Twitter Web Client
 
Twitter
Gordon Russell
@GordonRussell1
In tomorrow’s paper, @nolacampanella looks back at past epidemics afflicting New Orleans, once know as the “Necropolis of the South.” Yellow fever was the most stubborn & prolific killer; it took decades before docs realized mosquitoes were the source:
Coronavirus evokes memories of New Orleans’ bout with yellow fever — and hopes of solution
The COVID-19 pandemic has given people everywhere a crash course in epidemiology, public health, data analysis and human geography.
nola.com
2:48 PM · Apr 5, 2020·Twitter Web App
     
NOLA.com
Coronavirus evokes memories of New Orleans’ bout with yellow fever — and hopes of solution
BY RICHARD CAMPANELLA | CONTRIBUTING WRITER APR 5, 2020 - 12:05 PM
(...)
Paradoxical nicknames circulated as New Orleans rose to rank among the largest cities and busiest ports on the continent. Some called it “Queen of the South”; others “the Necropolis of the South.”
 
Twitter
Jay Adkins
@_JayAdkins
New Orleans is no stranger to sickness, disease and death. We’ve been here numerous times before. This place was once known as the “Necropolis of the South.”
Quote Tweet
Richard Campanella
@nolacampanella
· Apr 6
In today’s Picayune-Advocate, by yours truly: ‘The Strangers’ Disease’ in New Orleans, 1796-1905.
https://nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_3275b118-7758-11ea-9288-fb2d42bded76.html
9:45 AM · Apr 6, 2020·Twitter for iPhone