1874 Mark Twain writes about West End in Life on the Mississippi
Illustration from Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi West End in the chapter titled 'The Metropolis of the South' 1874 And by-and-bye we reached the West End, a collection of hotels of the usual light summer-resort pattern, with broad verandas all around, and the waves of the wide and blue Lake Pontchartrain lapping the thresholds. We had dinner on a ground-veranda over the water--the chief dish the renowned fish called the pompano, delicious as the less criminal forms of sin. Thousands of people come by rail and carriage to West End and to Spanish Fort every evening, and dine, listen to the bands, take strolls in the open air under the electric lights, go sailing on the lake, and entertain themselves in various and sundry other ways. Source: http://www.casayego.com/mtwain/41/41.htm