^ \
GUIDE TO
NEW ORLEANS
NEW ORLEANS
CITY GUIDE
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
NEW ORLEANS
CITY GUIDE
Written and compiled by the Federal Writers Project of the
Works Progress Administration for the City of New Orleans
ROBERT MAESTRI, MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS, CO-OPERATING SPONSOR
Illustrated
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - BOSTON
QHbe XUtaertffte Dress Cambridge
1938
COPYRIGHT, 1938, BY THE MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE
THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM
fcfce XUfcerfiifce $re<*
CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
WALKER-JOHNSON BUILDING
1734 NEW YORK AVENUE NW.
WASHINGTON. D. C.
HARRY U. HOPKINS
The greatest power against which the city of New Orleans
has had to pit its strength has been also the source of
its life: the Mississippi River. The struggle to use
and control it has resulted in brilliant feats of.
commerce, engineering, sanitation, and medioal research.
The writers of the Federal Writers 1 Project of
New Orleans have, I think, succeeded in conveying the
quality of their romantic and powerful city; the sense of
its strength and destiny, as well as its gaiety, ease and
its art of living,
"What this book does for the oity of New Orleans, the
American Guide series aims to do for the life and times
of the forty-eight startes and a number of important
American cities and townsprobably the most ambitious
attempt as yet made to portray honestly and completely the
history, struggles, and triumphs of the American people.
If the Federal Writers manage to complete this job in the
same competent manner evidenced in their publications made
available to date, we can expect the series to become a
standard reference collection for students of almost every
aspect of American life.
Harry L.
Administrator
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
HARRY L. HOPKINS, Administrator
ELLEN S. WOODWARD, Assistant Administrator
HENRY G. ALSBERG, Director of Federal Writers Project
CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
JT. S. MAESTRI
MAVOM
January 14th, 1938,
The Sew Orleans City Guide is the first
major accomplishment of the Federal Writers*
Project of Louisiana. More than a conventional
guidebook, this volume attempts to describe
the history and heritage of New Orleans, as
well as its numerous points of interest.
As Mayor of New Orleans, I am greatly
pleased that this publication is being made
available to the public.
Mayor of New Orleans.
PREFACE
THE New Orleans City Guide has been compiled and edited by the work
ers on the New Orleans division of the Federal Writers Project of Louisi
ana, and is one of an extensive series of American guides being compiled
by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration.
Its purpose is to present as complete a picture as possible of New Orleans
within the limits of a volume that is not too unwieldy. For generous
co-operation in supplying information, offering advice and suggestions,
and for other assistance during the preparation of this volume, grateful
acknowledgments are due to many persons and institutions, both public
and private. We are particularly indebted to the following four people
who have read and criticized the manuscript as a whole: the Reverend
Harold A. Gaudin, President of Loyola University; Mr. Robert Usher,
Librarian of the Howard Memorial Library, who in addition wrote the
paragraph on the founding of New Orleans which has been incorporated
in the French Quarter Tour; Mr. Richard Kirk of Tulane University;
and Mr. Hermann Deutsch of the New Orleans Item.
We are also indebted to a number of people who read and criticized
parts of the manuscript dealing with their own special fields, including
Mr. Nathaniel Curtis and Mr. Moise Goldstein Architecture; and Mr.
Stanley Clisby Arthur French Quarter Tour.
We are likewise indebted to the libraries, museums, and newspaper
offices of the city and to the Association of Commerce for their con
sistent co-operation. Other acknowledgments are made in the text and
in the bibliography.
We are indebted for certain of the photographs to the New Orleans
Association of Commerce, the Times-Picayune, and the Historic Amer
ican Buildings Survey. Most of the photographs, however, and all of
the drawings are the work of staff artists and photographers.
Although few cross-references have been used in the text, the detailed
index should make it simple for the reader to find whatever he is looking
for.
LYLE SAXON, State Director
EDWARD P. DREYER, Assistant State Director
CONTENTS
FOREWORD v
By Harry L. Hopkins, Federal Administrator, Works Pro
gress Administration
FOREWORD vii
By Robert S. Maestri, Mayor of New Orleans
PREFACE ix
By Lyle Saxon, State Director, Federal Writers Project
NEW ORLEANS OLD AND NEW xix
GENERAL INFORMATION xxv
CHURCH GUIDE xxvii
HOTEL AND OTHER ACCOMMODATIONS xxxiii
NIGHT LIFE xxxvii
RECREATIONAL FACILITIES Ixi
Amateur and Professional Sports Events
RESTAURANTS liii
CALENDAR OF EVENTS bdii
i. NEW ORLEANS: THE GENERAL
BACKGROUND
NATURAL SETTING 3
HISTORY 7
GOVERNMENT 40
RACIAL DISTRIBUTION 43
xii Contents
II. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
COMMERCE, INDUSTRY, AND LABOR 47
TRANSPORTATION 51
FOLKWAYS 56
SOCIAL LIFE AND SOCIAL WELFARE 67
EDUCATION 72
RELIGION 77
SPORTS AND RECREATION 84
RADIO 88
NEWSPAPERS 90
ARTS AND CRAFTS 96
LITERATURE 109
THEATER 123
Music 131
ARCHITECTURE 145
SCIENCE 156
CREOLE CUISINE 163
THE CARNIVAL 174
CEMETERIES 186
SOME NEGRO CULTS 199
GAY TIMES IN OLD NEW ORLEANS 212
GARDENS 220
III. SECTIONAL DESCRIPTIONS AND TOURS
French Quarter Tour 229
Water-Front Tour 270
Motor Tour 1 (Canal Street to Lake-Front) 286
Contents xiii
Motor Tour 2 (Bayou Road to City Park) 304
Motor Tour 3 (Audubon Park to Universities) 313
Motor Tour 4 (Irish Channel to Garden District) 345
Algiers Tour 358
Here and There 363
ENVIRONS
Plantation Tour 371
St. Bernard Plaquemines Tour 379
New Orleans Covington Tour 384
Plaquemines Delta Tour 387
New Orleans Grand Isle Tour 391
CHECKLIST OF SOME NOTED PERSONALITIES 395
CHRONOLOGY 399
STREET NAMES IN NEW ORLEANS 403
PLACE NAMES 405
GLOSSARY 407
BIBLIOGRAPHY 411
INDEX 417
ILLUSTRATIONS
I. OUT OF THE PAST
Fort Pike
W. Lincoln Highton
Whitewashing the tombs for All
Saints Day
Lafitte Blacksmith Shop
Napoleon House, residence of
Mayor Girod
Eugene Dclcroix
The Old Ursuline Convent
Survey of Historic American Build
ings
II. RIVER, TOWN, AND SEAPORT
Ships of all nations and all types
dock at New Orleans
The Steamboat Natchez loaded
with cotton bales
New Orleans sky line
Shushan Airport
Huey P. Long Bridge across the
Mississippi
The Crescent City
Courtesy of the Association of Com
merce
Public grain elevator on water-front
Canal Street, separating the old
from the new city
III. ARTS AND CRAFTS
The Cabildo Door
The Cabildo
W. Lincoln Highton
The George W. Cable house
The Grace King house
Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre
Annual Open Air Art Exhibit in the
French Quarter
between pages 30 and ji
Tombs reflected in the Lagoon,
Metairie Cemetery
Antique shops, Royal Street
Sieur de Bienville
The Baroness Pontalba
The Forsyth House where Jefferson
Davis died
The Orleans Club
Margaret s Statue
Old St. Louis Cemetery
W. Lincoln Highton
between pages 60 and 61
Ferries cross and recross the Missis
sippi to Algiers
The New French Market
Unloading bananas
Everyone drinks cafe au lait at the
French Market
Coffee Wharf, showing flags used to
assort coffee
The sea wall along Lake Pontchartrain
toward the beach and amusement
park
Nets hung up to dry near Lafitte
between pages 106 and 107
The Blackberry woman (Bronze by
Richmond Barthe)
The City Hall, designed by Gallier
Delgado Art Museum
St. Joseph s altar
XVI
Illustrations
IV. CITY OF MANY BUILDERS
St. Louis Cathedral, seen from the
Pontalba Apartments
W. Lincoln Highton
The Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral, the
Presby tere and the lower Pontalba
Building in Jackson Square
The Old Bank of Louisiana, de
signed by Latrobe
Detail of the Cathedral
W. Lincoln Highton
V. AT THE MARDI GRAS
Ready for the Carnival
Courtesy of Times-Picayune
Rex, Lord of Misrule
Courtesy of the Association of Com
merce
Masks for the revellers
King Zulu
Courtesy of Times-Picayune
Death and Medusa at the Carni
val
An old-fashioned group in a car
riage
VI. NEW ORLEANS FOLKS
Chimney sweeps
Little communion
A spasm band
Tourists (drawing by Caroline
Durieux)
Cemeteries (drawing by Caroline
Durieux)
Tante Eulalie et Mademoiselle
VII. VIEUX CARRE
A courtyard, 529 Royal Street
Madame John s Legacy
The Court of the Lions
Le Prete House, one of the strangest
in the Vieux Carre
Sieur George s House, made famous
by Cable s romance
Orleans Street with a rear view of
St. Louis : Cathedral. Convent
of the Holy Family at the left.
between pages 152 and 153
The Pontalba Apartments
W. Lincoln Highton
Stairway in the Pontalba Apartments
W. Lincoln Highton
The Britten House famed for its corn
stalk fence
A Bayou St. John Plantation House
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Old Mortu
ary Chapel
Trinity Church (Episcopal)
between pages 182 and 183
The King of Comus greets the
Royal Family of Rex
Courtesy of Times-Picayune
The maskers on the floats toss favors
into the streets
Courtesy of Times-Picayune
The Knights come riding
Courtesy of Times-Picayune
Maskers dance in the street
Clowns waiting for Rex
Street maskers
Courtesy of Times-Picayune
between pages 212 and 213
Mimi (drawing by Caroline Duri
eux)
Shutter girl (drawing by Caroline
Durieux)
Mother Carrie (drawing by Caroline
Durieux)
Zeline and Joe (drawing by Caroline
Durieux)
between pages 258 and 259
The Beauregard House
Old Absinthe House
Courtesy of the Association of Com
merce
Looking toward the Cabildo and the
Cathedral
W. Lincoln Highton
A courtyard restaurant, the Grima
House
Illustrations
xvu
VIII. IN AND ABOUT THE CITY
The Seal Pool, Audubon Park
Oak Trees on the beach of Lake
Pontchartrain
Packenham Oaks
W. Lincoln Highton
Bridle path, Audubon Park
Peristyle, City Park
Newcomb College
The Baptist Bible Institute
between pages 336 and jj/
Gibson Hall, Tulane University
Loyola University
At the Race Track
Administration Building, Dillard Uni
versity
The old Carrollton Court House, now
McDonogh School No. 23
Altar of the Church of the Immacu
late Conception (Jesuit)
NEW ORLEANS OLD AND NEW
HAVE you ever been in New Orleans? If not you d better go.
It s a nation of a queer place; day and night a show!
Frenchmen, Spaniards, West Indians, Creoles, Mustees,
Yankees, Kentuckians, Tennesseans, lawyers and trustees,
***********
Negroes in purple and fine linen, and slaves in rags and chains.
Ships, arks, steamboats, robbers, pirates, alligators,
Assassins, gamblers, drunkards, and cotton speculators;
Sailors, soldiers, pretty girls, and ugly fortune-tellers;
Pimps, imps, shrimps, and all sorts of dirty fellows;
A progeny of all colors an infernal motley crew;
Yellow fever in February muddy streets all the year;
Many things to hope for, and a devilish sight to fear!
Gold and silver bullion United States bank notes,
Horse-racers, cock-fighters, and beggars without coats,
Snapping-turtles, sugar, sugar-houses, water-snakes,
Molasses, flour, whiskey, tobacco, corn and johnny-cakes,
Beef, cattle, hogs, pork, turkeys, Kentucky rifles,
Lumber, boards, apples, cotton, and many other trifles.
Butter, cheese, onions, wild beasts in wooden cages,
Barbers, waiters, draymen, with the highest sort of wages.
THIS was written more than a hundred years ago, when New Orleans
had already passed its first century mark, by one Colonel Creecy, a
man of parts and of gusto. New Orleans today, with a population of
nearly half a million, the largest city south of the Mason-Dixon line,
and one of the largest ports in the United States, is remembered with
xx New Orleans Old and New
pleasure by countless travelers who have taken the colonel s advice.
Alligators, to be sure, are now seldom encountered outside of curio
stores; but cotton speculators are still at large. Sailors and pretty girls,
horse-racers and cock-fighters are always with us, to say nothing of the
pimps and the imps and the shrimps. And there are the Mardi Gras,
the French Quarter, the cemeteries above ground, the river, the lake,
the food, and the drinks.
Traditionally the city that care forgot, New Orleans is, perhaps, best
known for its liberal attitude toward human frailties, its Live and Let
Live policy. To the tourist the city is first of all a place in which to
eat, drink, and be merry. Generations of gourmands and tipplers have
waxed fat on gumbo and bouillabaisse and pompano, and gay on gin
fizzes and absinthe drips and Sazerac cocktails; many of them, Thackeray
and Mark Twain included, have communicated their appreciation of the
American Paris to the world. Generations of revelers have gone their
joyous way through Carnival Season to Mardi Gras, that maddest of
all mad days when every man may be a king, or, if he prefers, a tramp or
a clown or an Indian chief, and dance in the streets. Generations of
dandies and sports and adventurers have, with their ladies, played
fast and loose in the gambling-houses and * sporting houses of the Ameri
can Marseilles. Ever since the middle of the eighteenth century, when
the Marquis de Vaudreuil attempted to set up in Nouvelle Orleans a
miniature Versailles, a reputation for gaiety and abandon has persisted.
These, then, the joys of the flesh, the traveler first remembers.
But there are other memories in that strange jumble of recollections
which the visitor to New Orleans takes away. For New Orleans is like
wise a pious and virtuous city. For a hundred years Catholicism was the
religion commanded by law, and the Catholic Church still controls the
largest congregation in the city, adding, with its processions and feasts
and rituals, color to the lives of even non-Catholics. Other religious de
nominations have, of course, long since established strong followings.
New Orleans today is a city of much faith and of many faiths, where
people still pray and where the personal columns of the newspapers give
daily evidence that prayers are still answered.
And then there is the French Quarter, that Vieux Carre or Old Square
which lies below Canal Street and along the Mississippi River. Once
the walled city of Nouvelle Orleans, it remains today one of the most
interesting spots in the United States.
Here one finds the narrow streets with overhanging balconies, the
beautiful wrought-iron and cast-iron railings, the great barred doors and
New Orleans Old and New xxi
tropical courtyards. Many of these fine houses are more than a century
and a quarter old, and they stand today as monuments to their forgotten
architects. For it must be remembered that New Orleans was a Latin
city already a century old before it became a part of the United States;
and it was as unlike the American cities along the Atlantic seaboard as
though Louisiana were on another continent. Louisiana was closely allied
to France and Spain, and had almost nothing to do with the American
Revolution; it became a part of the United States through purchase.
Even today New Orleans American city though it is still retains a
definite Latin quality.
Dividing the older downtown section of the city from the uptown or
American section lies Canal Street, a magnificent thoroughfare, one of
the widest streets in the United States, and reputed to be one of the
four best-lighted streets in the world. In winter it is full of the usual
urban bustle of the American city, but in summer, when life becomes
slow and lazy, Canal Street at night presents a charming picture. It is
rather like a slow-motion moving picture as white-clad men and women
stroll along the brightly lighted thoroughfare, stopping to imbibe the
ever-popular iced drinks, then continuing the evening promenade.
Going uptown (or south) from Canal Street, one reaches the Garden
District, bounded by St. Charles, Jackson, and Louisiana Avenues and by
Magazine Street. Built nearly a hundred years ago, it is a beautiful
section today, recalling an earlier, happier, and more leisurely period.
Here stand large, handsome houses built by the first Americans who came
to Louisiana after the Purchase in 1803. The houses are set deep in
gardens; there are broad verandas (called galleries in Louisiana) and
the large white columns of the Greek Revival. There are graceful cast-
iron railings, white doorways bright through vines and palm trees, and
high brick walls enclosing gardens which blossom with magnolias, crepe-
myrtles, oleanders, azaleas, and gardenias. There is scarcely a day in the
year when flowers cannot be seen.
Continuing uptown beyond the Garden District, we find more broad
avenues lined with great trees and well-kept lawns and gardens. This
section extends for miles. St. Charles Avenue is the main thoroughfare,
and the adjoining streets are filled with pleasing houses and gardens.
The residential district is full of charm. Even the humbler homes have
flowers and well-kept hedges; and there are large and beautiful parks.
New Orleans is a city that lives outdoors in summertime.
St. Charles Avenue eventually reaches Carrollton Avenue, and this
neighborhood was once the separately incorporated town of Carrollton.
xxii New Orleans Old and New
Near the river-front above Canal Street is the old American business
section, in some ways very much like the French Quarter, which lies be
low Canal Street. Nowadays it is given over to wholesale dealers near
Canal Street, and to a poor neighborhood as one goes farther uptown.
This section is known today as * The Irish Channel because of the numbers
of Irish families who once lived there. It bears the reputation of being
tough, but it is probably no tougher than other localities lying along the
docks.
The visitor to New Orleans is always interested in the Port and in the
docks, which extend for fourteen miles along the river. Here are vessels
which sail the Seven Seas, and flags of all nations flutter at the mast
heads. Ferries cross and recross the Mississippi, which is approximately
a half mile wide at New Orleans. Sea gulls follow the ships, searching for
food, and make the visitor realize that the Gulf of Mexico is not far
away.
The wharves are divided into sections, each with its particular use;
there are grain wharves, cotton sheds, and, most interesting to the visitor,
the wharves where the great green bunches of bananas are transported from
ships to freight cars. When a banana ship is in port, the wharf presents
a scene of great activity; hundreds of laborers carry the fruit to the wait
ing cars. Old Negro women, fat and wearing snowy turbans on their
heads, move about in the crowd selling sandwiches and sweet cakes.
Those who taste their wares find the dainties both appetizing and tooth
some. All day long the groaning conveyors lift bunches of bananas from
the hold of the ship, and all day long the men continue to move in a line
carrying them. Darkness falls and the lights flash on; there are long
swaying shadows, and the fruit is doubly green in the artificial light.
The hours pass by and the men continue at their labor. Then there is a
shout and the great conveyors stop. The ship is empty. The line breaks,
the men scatter, forming another line before the paymaster.
The coffee docks, the cotton docks, and the molasses sheds all present
interesting scenes of activity during the working day. But as a rule it is
only the banana wharf which presents an interesting activity in the
evening.
Across the river from the foot of Canal Street lies Algiers, a part of
New Orleans, but connected directly with it by ferry traffic only, and
preserving to a considerable extent the atmosphere of a small Louisiana
town. Gretna, Harvey, Marrero, and Westwego are other towns which
line the river above Algiers and are likewise reached by ferries. Nine
miles above the city the Huey P. Long Bridge, the twenty-ninth and one
New Orleans Old and New xxiii
of the finest spans across the Mississippi, gives New Orleans an unbroken
highway to the west.
Toward the northern boundary of the city lie the suburban districts
Gentilly and Metairie and beyond them is Lake Pontchartrain,
which plays an important part in the social life of New Orleans in the
summer. One of the largest lakes in the country, its water is somewhat
salty, as it connects with Lake Borgne, which, in turn, connects with the
Gulf of Mexico. Here the city has erected a sea wall for protection from
the high waves of tropical storms; and here, off the wall from West
End to the Industrial Canal, the people of New Orleans swim. On Sun
days and holidays many thousands spend the day at the lake. There are
also amusement parks, restaurants, and open squares with palms and
flowers. In addition to the lake shore, there are Audubon and City Parks,
each equally lovely and well kept, and each provided with large swimming
pools, tennis courts, and golf links. A pleasant feature is night swimming
and tennis, as pools and courts alike are illuminated. At present (1937),
both parks and the lake shore are being beautified by the Federal
Government through Works Progress Administration projects.
Throughout a tour of the city one cannot fail to be impressed by streets
whose names are derived from saints, soldiers, authors, and astronomers,
from classical mythology and Indian legend, from fish and fowl, and from
the heavenly bodies. And should the visitor be too startled by Calliope s
journey from Jefferson Davis past the Spanish Governors, Miro and
Galvez, and eventually to Tchoupitoulas, or by St. Claude s meeting
first with Piety and then with Desire, or too puzzled by words such as
Creole, lagniappe, and banquette, a brief account of street names as well
as a glossary of unusual words and phrases in constant use in New Or
leans has been added at the back of the book.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Railroad Stations: Union Station, 1001 S. Rampart St., for Gulf Coast
Lines, Illinois Central, Southern Pacific, and Yazoo and Mississippi Valley;
Terminal Station, 1125 Canal St., for Gulf Mobile, and Northern and
Southern Railway; 701 South Rampart St. for Louisiana and Arkansas;
foot of Canal St. for Louisville and Nashville; 1125 Annunciation St. for
Missouri Pacific and Texas and Pacific.
Steamship Piers: Poydras St. for Delta Line; Galvez St. for Luckenbach
Line; Louisa St. for Standard Fruit; Thalia St. for United Fruit. Bien-
ville St. for Morgan Line (Southern Pacific).
Bus Stations: 1520 Canal St. for Teche-Greyhound Lines; 207 St. Charles
St. for Missouri Pacific Trailways.
Airport: Shushan Airport, 9 miles from city on Lake Pontchartrain;
Eastern Air Lines and Chicago and Southern Air Lines; 20 minutes from
Canal St. Taxi, $1.50 per passenger each way.
Ferries: Canal St. Ferry to Bouny St., Algiers; Jackson Avenue Ferry to
Huey P. Long Ave. (Copernicus St.), Gretna; Louisiana Ave. Ferry to
Destrehan Ave., Harvey; Napoleon Ave. Ferry to Barataria Road,
Marrero; Walnut St. Ferry to Westwego. All except Louisiana Ave.
Ferry give 24-hour service.
Excursions: River excursion steamer, leaving from the foot of Canal
St., makes day and night harbor trips from October to May. Several
weekly excursions via Harvey Canal are made to Grand Isle. For in
formation and schedules consult Grand Isle Chamber of Commerce,
Carondelet Building.
Taxis: Fare 40^ (i or 5 passengers) within city zone (roughly the metro
politan area west of the Inner-Harbor Navigation Canal), with pro
portionate increase beyond. Have understanding with taxi-driver before
making out-of-zone trips.
xxvi General Information
Street-cars: Trolleys and motor-busses serve all sections of the city. Fare
li with universal transfer. All lines except Napoleon Ave. start at Canal
St.
Traffic Regulations: Care must be taken to observe the signal lights and
direction signs at street intersections. These signs are either in center of
street or on sidewalk. Many one-way streets, indicated by arrow signs
at every intersection, will be encountered throughout the city; all cross-
streets between Decatur and Rampart on Canal are one-way streets.
Watch for No Left Turn signs. When left turn is permitted in business
sections, get into traffic lane on extreme left and turn on red light.
Stop, slow, and red arrow signs at dangerous corners must be obeyed
under penalty of arrest. Persons under 16 years of age not allowed to
drive. Secure a visitor s permit, without cost, from the License Examiner
before 12 o clock noon of the day following arrival; good for 30 days.
For parking consult signs or traffic officer.
Street Order and Numbering: Streets are numbered uptown and downtown
(north and south) from Canal Street, beginning with 100. Corners and
sides of streets are described as uptown or downtown (upriver or down
river) and as river or lake (woods). Streets running from river to lake are
numbered away from the river. Even numbers are on river and uptown
side of street, and odd numbers on lake and downtown side. Note that
streets crossing Canal between North and South Peters and North and
South Rampart have different names on opposite sides of Canal St.
Accommodations: Hotels and boarding-house rates vary according to
season and occasion. Accommodations in private homes are obtainable
during Mardi Gras and Mid- Winter Sports Carnival. Tourist and trailer
camps are located on US 90 and 61. Consult Association of Commerce,
or daily newspaper bureau. (See Hotels and Restaurants.)
Information Service: Association of Commerce and all leading hotels and
newspaper offices.
Theaters and Motion-Picture Houses: Twelve motion-picture theaters
(some admitting Negroes) in business section, including one exclusively
for Negroes; occasional road shows; concerts, ballets, and operas at
Municipal Auditorium.
Concert Halls: Municipal Auditorium, Jerusalem (Shriners ) Temple, and
Dixon Hall (Newcomb College). Concerts, plays, etc., are also held at
school auditoriums such as McMain High School and Rabouin Trade
School.
Sports and Recreation: See Recreational Facilities, Amateur Sports Events,
and Professional Sports Events.
CHURCH GUIDE
Adventist
Seventh Day Adventist, 1500 Camp St.
Seventh Day (Negro), 2412 Delachaise St.
American Old Catholic
American Old Catholic, St. John Chapel, 3151 Dauphine St.
Assembly of God
First Assembly of God, 1033 Friscoville Ave.
Spain Street, 1017 Spain St.
Baptist
Calvary, 802 Olivier St., Algiers
Canal Boulevard, 5324 Canal Blvd.
Carrollton Avenue, 2428 Carroll ton Ave.
Central, 129 S. Jefferson Davis Pkwy.
Coliseum Place, 1376 Camp St.
Emmanuel, 1017 N. Dorgenois St.
First, 3436 St. Charles Ave.
First, Opelousas Ave. and Seguin St., Algiers
Franklin Avenue, 2515 Franklin Ave.
Gentilly, 5141 Franklin Ave.
Grace, N. Rampart and Alvar Sts.
Lakeview, West End Blvd. and Polk Ave.
Napoleon Avenue, Napoleon and S. Claiborne Aves.
St. Charles Avenue, 7100 St. Charles Ave.
Valence Street, 4626 Magazine St.
Zion Travelers (Negro), 404 Adams St.
Catholic
All Saints, 1419 Teche St., Algiers
Annunciation, 1221 Mandeville St.
xxviii Church Guide
Corpus Christi (Negro), 2020 St. Bernard Ave.
Holy Ghost (Negro), 2001 Louisiana Ave.
Holy Name of Mary, 418 Verret St., Algiers
Holy Name of Jesus, 6363 St. Charles Ave.
Holy Redeemer (Negro), 2122 Royal St.
Holy Trinity, 725 St. Ferdinand St.
Immaculate Conception (Jesuits Church), 132 Baronne St.
Incarnate Word, 8316 Apricot St.
Mater Dolor osa, 1226 S. Carrollton Ave.
Our Lady of Good Counsel, 1307 Louisiana Ave.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, noi Conti St.
Our Lady of Holy Rosary, 3368 Esplanade Ave.
Our Lady of Lourdes, 2406 Napoleon Ave.
Our Lady of Sacred Heart, 1728 St. Bernard Ave.
Our Lady Star of the Sea, 1901 St. Roch Ave.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel, 2523 Prytania St.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, 3226 Canal St.
St. Alphonsus, 2043 Constance St.
St. Ann s, 2125 Ursuline Ave.
St. Anthony of Padua, 4630 Canal St.
St. Augustine s, 1210 Gov. Nicholls St.
St. Cecilia s, 4219 N. Rampart St.
St. Dominic s, 224 Harrison Ave.
St. Francis de Sales, 2209 Second St.
St. Francis of Assisi, 631 State St.
St. Henry s, 812 General Pershing St.
St. James Major, Lotus nr. Gentilly Blvd.
St. Joan of Arc (Negro), 919 Cambronne St.
St. John the Baptist, 1139 Dryades St.
St. Joseph, 1810 Tulane Ave.
St. Katherine (Negro), 1509 Tulane Ave.
St. Leo the Great, 2916 Paris Ave.
St. Louis Cathedral, Chartres St. bet. St. Peter and St. Ann Sts.
St. Mary of the Angels, N. Miro and Congress Sts.
St. Mary s Assumption, Josephine bet. Constance and Laurel Sts.
St. Mary s Italian, 1114 Chartres St.
St. Matthias, 4224 S. Broad St.
St. Maurice, 605 St. Maurice Ave.
St. Michael s, 1526 Chippewa St.
St. Patrick s, 716 Camp St.
St. Peter Claver (Negro), 1919 St. Philip St.
St. Peter and St. Paul, 2317 Burgundy St.
St. Rita s, 2620 Pine St.
St. Rose of Lima, 2541 Bayou Rd.
St. Stephen s, 1007 Napoleon Ave.
St. Theresa Little Flower of Jesus, 9002 Quince St.
St. Theresa, 1109 Coliseum St.
St. Vincent de Paul, 3049 Dauphine St.
Church Guide xxix
Christian Science
First, 1436 Nashville Ave.
Second, 630 Common St.
Third, 2333 Fern St.
Church of Christ
First, 2919 Camp St.
Church of God
First, 4967 DeMontluzin St.
Church of the Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene, 8518 Oak St.
Congregational Church
University (Negro), 2420 Canal St.
Disciples of Christ
Carrollton Ave. Christian, 4540 Carrollton Ave.
St. Charles Ave. Christian, 6200 St. Charles Ave.
Episcopal
Christ Church Cathedral, 2919 St. Charles Ave.
Church of the Annunciation, 4515 S. Claiborne Ave.
Church of the Holy Comforter, 4481 DeMontluzin St.
Grace, 1501 Canal St.
Mount Olivet, 530 Pelican Ave., Algiers
St. Andrew s, 8021 Zimple St., cor. Carrollton Ave.
St. Anna s, 1313 Esplanade Ave.
St. George s, 4600 St. Charles Ave.
St. John s, 800 Third St.
St. Paul s, 1127 Gaiennie St.
St. Philip s, Henry Clay Ave. and Chestnut St.
Trinity, 1329 Jackson Ave.
Evangelical
Bethany, 3712 S. Broad St.
Bethel, 2205 Franklin Ave.
First, 1829 Carondelet St.
Jackson Avenue, 705 Jackson Ave.
St. John, 8439 Belfast St.
St. Matthew s, S. Carrollton Ave., cor. Willow St.
St. Paul s, 5901 Patton St.
Salem, 930 Milan St.
Trinity Evangelical, 4439 Canal St.
HOTEL AND OTHER ACCOMMODATIONS
ALTHOUGH New Orleans normally possesses ample hotel and other
facilities for the many thousands who come yearly to enjoy its mild cli
mate, romantic atmosphere, Mid-Winter Sports Carnival, and world-
famed Mardi Gras, to prevent possible inconvenience or disappointment
it is suggested that visitors write or wire in advance for accommodations
desired, especially during the winter months.
Hotels
DeSoto Hotel, 420 Baronne St. ; 226 rooms all with hot and cold running
water, and 175 with private bath; rates $1.50 up, European plan; garage
50^ extra; convention hall, writing-room, restaurant (lunch 60^, dinner
$1), coffee shop, and bar.
Jung Hotel, 1500 Canal St.; 700 rooms, all with private bath, running
ice water, ceiling fans, servidor, and outside exposure; rates $3-$4,
European plan; parking lot 15^ extra; roof garden, three convention halls,
dining-room, coffee shop, bar, Turkish baths, barber shop, and beauty
parlor.
Lafayette Hotel, 628 St. Charles St.; 80 rooms, all with running water
and ceiling fans 55 with private baths; rates, $1.75 up, European
plan; garage 50^ extra.
LaSalle Hotel, 1113 Canal St.; 100 rooms 70 with ceiling fans, and 50
with private bath; rates, $1.25-$2.50, European plan; garage 50^f extra.
Monteleone Hotel, 214 Royal St.; 600 rooms 540 have radios, 500 have
private baths, and all have hot and cold running water and ceiling fans;
rates $1.50-$3.50. European plan; garage 50ff, parking lot 15^; conven
tion hall, dining-room, coffee shop, bar, and beauty parlor.
New Orleans Hotel, 1300 Canal St.; 275 rooms, all with private bath and
ceiling fan; rates $3 up, European plan; garage 50^ extra; convention
hall, air-conditioned dining-room and coffee shop, writing-room, and
barber shop.
Roosevelt Hotel, 123 Baronne St.; 700 rooms, 400 air-conditioned; rates
$3.50 up. European plan; garage 50^ extra; convention halls, dining-
rooms, coffee shop, bar, cocktail lounge, beauty parlor, Turkish baths,
etc.
xxxiv Hotel and Other Accommodations
Senator Hotel, 208 Dauphine St.; 115 rooms 68 with private baths;
rates $1 up.
St. Charles Hotel, 211 St. Charles St.; 600 rooms with hot and cold water,
and radio all with private bath; rates $3 up; European plan; dining-
room, bar, barber shop, beauty parlor, writing-rooms, etc.
Apartment Hotels
Carol Hotel, 3628 St. Charles Ave. (St. Charles car from Canal and
Baronne Sts.), thirty-six blocks from Canal; 42 rooms, each with private
bath and ceiling fan; rates by the day $1.50 up, lower by week or month,
a la carte or table d hote dining-room service.
Pontchartrain Apartment Hotel, 2031 St. Charles Ave. (St. Charles car
from Canal and Baronne Sts.) ; 80 efficiency apartments in four sizes, all
with private baths; rates $3 per day up, $85 per month up; garage
50f day, weekly and monthly rates available.
Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A.
Y.M.C.A., 936 St. Charles Ave. (Lee Circle); 40 rooms for local and
visiting members only. Central floor bath; recreational facilities avail
able.
Y.W.C.A., 929 Gravier St.; accommodations for 53 private rooms,
double rooms, and dormitories (4 beds) ; central baths, coffee shop, recrea
tional facilities; rates 75jf, $1, and $1.50; weekly and monthly rates
available.
Tourist Camps
A number of tourist camps are located on US 90, 61, and 65; rates $1
per day up.
Accommodations for Negroes
Page Hotel, 1038 Dryades St.; 15 rooms all with hot and cold shower
baths, running ice water; rates 75ff to $1.50, European plan; no extra
charge for auto parking and telephone.
Patterson Hotel, 761 S. Rampart St.; 26 rooms, all with baths; rates 75ff
to $1.50.
Y.M.C.A., 2 2 20 Dryades St. (Freret car from Canal and St. Charles
Sts.); room list available; transients placed in private homes.
Y.W.C.A., 2436 Canal St. (Cemeteries or West End car from any place
on Canal St.); accommodations for 36 transients; central bath; meals
served on request; rates $1.50 week up.
Additional Information
There are many other small hotels, tourist camps, tourist homes, and
boarding-houses which may be found listed in the telephone directory, or
Hotel and Other Accommodations
xxxv
easily identified while driving about the city by the signs displayed.
St. Charles Avenue above Poydras Street as far up as Jackson Avenue is
lined with small hotels and rooming houses, as. likewise are Canal from
Claiborne to Broad, Esplanade from the river to North Galvez, and
Royal from Ursuline to Canal. Mention is made of these particular
streets largely because of their accessibility and profuse accommodations;
however, there are many other thoroughfares upon which such facilities
may be found.
NIGHT LIFE
NEW ORLEANS, traditionally the city that care forgot, offers to
lovers of night life an unusual and varied number of night clubs and
bars, ranging from the more expensive ones in the better hotels, to the
Harlem clubs and honky-tonks of the less select sections of the city.
There is to be found entertainment to suit every taste, with a corre
sponding range of rates.
At the arrival of dawn, disciples of the night turn to the French Market,
where society matrons and truck-drivers sit on stools and drink coffee
in friendly proximity. Another well-known place for ending the evening
is the all-night poor boy stand of the Martin Brothers (2004 St. Claude
Ave.), where appetites otherwise insatiable can be appeased for ten cents.
In New Orleans, as elsewhere, clubs and bars move, change names, go
out of business, or, from time to time, are closed by the police. This
is particularly true of the hotter of the hot spots. The places listed
below are those at present in operation (autumn, 1937). For later de
velopments, ask the cab-driver. Telephone for reservations and infor
mation concerning minimum and cover charges.
Clubs and Bars on or Above Canal Street
The Blue Room, a night club and cocktail lounge, is located on the
first floor of the Roosevelt Hotel (122 Baronne St.). It offers, by way of
entertainment in its nightly floor show, dance numbers by nationally
known teams. Syncopated music is furnished by such orchestras as those
of Phii Harris, Smith Ballew, and Frankie Masters. The Blue Room is
frequently redecorated. Here may be found a circular bar, whose pride
is the Ramos Gin Fizz made from the original recipe of the famous
Ramos Bar. Dinner is served from 6 to 9 P.M. ; music is furnished by the
same orchestra which plays for the dancing from 10 P.M. to 2 A.M.
Cocktail hours are from 2.30 to 5.30 on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Crescent Billiard Hall, 117 St. Charles St. (second floor), was one of the
first billiard halls opened in New Orleans. In addition to pool and billiard
rooms, cocktail lounge, and bar, there is a room devoted to games.
xxxviii Night Life
Halson Cocktail Lounge, in the Pontchartrain Apartment Hotel at 2031
St. Charles Ave., is open to the public from 11.30 A.M. until 12.30 A.M.
In addition to stronger drinks, light refreshments are served. Cocktail
hours are from 4 P.M. to 9 P.M.
Roosevelt Bar, one of the better-class bars of the city, is a rendezvous in the
Roosevelt Hotel. Here, as in the Blue Room, the specialty is the Ramos
Gin Fizz ; all of the nationally known drinks as well as southern favorites
are available. The doors are open from 8.30 A.M. to 2 A.M. customarily,
though during the Mardi Gras season the bar remains open all night.
St. Charles Bar (St. Charles Hotel), 211 St. Charles St., is classed among
the oldest and best-known bars in the city. A wide variety of drinks is
served, especial pride being taken in its Planter s Punch and Old
Fashioned cocktail. Cocktail hours, at which there is music, are from
4.30 to 7 P.M. and from 9.30 until midnight. The bar is open from 7 A.M.
to 12.30 A.M. ; during the Carnival season it remains open all night.
St. Germain Cocktail Lounge, 1753 St. Charles Ave., is open from 1 P.M.
until the last customer leaves. Bridge groups and parties are especially
catered to.
Sazerac Bar, 300 Carondelet St., is the only bar in the city where the
famous Sazerac Cocktail is mixed from a famous recipe. The doors
are open from 8 A.M. until 9 P.M. Ladies are served only one day a year
Mardi Gras.
French Quarter Clubs and Bars
Absinthe House Bar, 400 Bourbon St., has the original marble-topped bar
formerly housed at 238 Bourbon St. (the old Absinthe House) which at one
time was famous for its absinthe frappe. The bar is open from 6 A.M. to
3A.M.
Club Plantation, 942 Conti St., is open from 10 P.M. to 5 A.M. An orchestra
furnishes music for dancing, and floor shows are presented at 2 and at
4 A.M. The club was formerly operated by Pete Herman, blind ex-
bantamweight champion (1922); the specialty is Planter s Punch.
Dog House, 300 North Rampart St., is open from 9 P.M. until 4 A.M.
Both jazz orchestra and floor show are colored, and three performances
are given nightly, 11 P.M., 1.30 and 3 A.M. A high-class place, says the
proprietor, for middle class people, and one where they can have freedom
of body and soul. The taxi girls bring their lunch.
La Lune, 800 Bourbon St., is one of the more popular spots of the French
Quarter. The establishment is conducted in Mexican style, with Don
Ramon and his orchestra furnishing music for dancing. Excellent Mexi
can dinners are served and tequila may be had. The club is open from
9 P.M. to 6 A.M.
Monteleone Hotel Bar, located in the Monteleone Hotel at 214 Royal St.,
serves sandwiches and drinks. The specialty is the Vieux Carre Cocktail.
The bar is open from 7 A.M. until midnight.
Night Life xxxix
New Silver Slipper, 426 Bourbon St., has three floor shows nightly
11.30 P.M., 1.30 and 3 A.M.
Nut Club (Cafe de L Opera), 507 Bourbon St., open from 10 P.M. until
5 A.M., presents floor shows nightly at 1 and 3 A.M. Music is furnished
by the Nut Club Ensemble, and dinner is served from 5 to 10 P.M.
Original Absinthe House, 238 Bourbon St., was erected in 1798, and has
served as a place of revelry almost continuously ever since. The doors are
open from 9 P.M. until 4 A.M. There are two floor shows nightly, 12.30
and 3 A.M.
Pat O Brien s, 638 St. Peter St., is at present one of the most popular of
the small bars of the Quarter and on Saturday and holiday nights is apt
to overflow with tipplers of every description.
Prima s Shim Sham Club, 229 Bourbon St., is open during the winter
months from 10 P.M. to 5 A.M. There are three floor shows nightly,
11.30 P.M., 1.30 and 3.30 A.M.
Sloppy Jim s is located at 236 Royal St., just below the Monteleone
Hotel. The specialty here is the Sloppy Jim Cocktail. A wide variety of
other drinks is served. The bar is open from 9 A.M. until 12 P.M.
Also in the Vieux Carre, amid the somewhat distinctive atmosphere and
odors of the French Market, are several Decatur Street hot spots
whose names are perhaps indicative of the type of entertainment to be
found. One is greeted by such names as the King Fish, where * Ya Man
and his colored orchestra produce sizzling jazz, the Silver Moon, Guestella s,
and Rudy s, the former names of which were Popeye s, the Rose Bowl,
and Mama s Place, respectively. At these places the floor shows are
marked by the utmost abandon, to say the least. The performers range
in color from a high yaller to ebony. Floor shows are at 11.30 P.M.,
1.30 and 3 A.M.
Suburban Night Clubs
Chez Paree, 8502 Pontchartrain Blvd., is one of the best of the suburban
clubs. Music is furnished by a local orchestra, and floor shows are pre
sented at midnight and at 2 A.M.
Cotton Club, 2935 Jefferson Highway, is open from 10 P.M. to 3 A.M.
Entertainment is furnished by a local orchestra and there are two floor
shows nightly, 12.30 and 2.30 A.M.
Pirates Den, Avenue A and 38th St. (near Pontchartrain Blvd.), serves
drinks and sandwiches. The place remains open at night as long as the
crowd lingers; the bar is open all day.
Prima s Penthouse, West End, especially popular during the summer be
cause of its proximity to Lake Pontchartrain, is open from 10 P.M. until
2A.M.
Gambling
Beyond the city limits in the adjacent parishes of Jefferson and St.
Bernard are several large and elaborately appointed gambling-houses:
xl Night Life
the Old Southport and the Original Southport in Jefferson Parish (taxi
40(f within a half block of either place), and the Jai Alai, Arabi Club,
and Riverview in St. Bernard Parish (taxi 75). All may be reached by
street-car. Although gambling is, strictly speaking, illegal, these places are
usually open for business from dusk to dawn.
Pleasure Boats
There is nightly dancing on Mississippi River boats from September
through the following June; the Capitol in the earlier part of the season,
the President later. Both boats leave the foot of Canal Street at 9
P.M. and return at 12.30 A.M.
Negro Night Clubs
The Negro night clubs of New Orleans are patterned after those of
Harlem. The proprietors visit Harlem to study the color schemes and
acquire the atmosphere of night clubs there, because * it serves well along
publicity lines. Even the music and floor shows are handled in the Harlem
manner nothing less than red hot. The tunes are loud, but have the
swing that causes Negroes to move their bodies and tap their feet.
They b lieve in mugging. All kinds of whiskies are served; champagne
or any kind of cocktail may be purchased. When a colored man steps
out he is out.
Negro night clubs open at present include: the Tick Took Tavern, 235
S. Rampart St.; the Rhythm Club, 3000 Jackson Ave.; the Cotton Club,
1301 Bienville St.; and the Japanese Tea Garden, 1140 St. Philip St.
Special programs and floor shows vary. White persons are admitted to
these night clubs at any time. Reservations may be made by telephone.
RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
Audubon Park (Magazine car from Canal and Magazine Sts. or St.
Charles car from Canal and Baronne Sts.) has 247 acres of gardens,
lagoon, zoological exhibits, and recreational facilities. Tennis courts,
baseball diamonds, football gridirons, picnic grounds, playgrounds
(including merry-go-round, etc.), bridle path, swimming pool, band
stand, i8-hole golf course, boating, and fishing are recreational facilities
to be found in the park. (See respective sports for hours, reservations,
and admission charges.)
City Park (Esplanade bus from Canal and Burgundy or City Park from
Canal and Bourbon Sts. go to different entrances; Cemeteries car from
any place on Canal transfer to Carroll ton bus at Carrollton Ave.),
the sixth largest municipal park in the United States (extension work
under the Works Progress Administration is raising its rank) affords
the most extensive recreational facilities to be found in the city. Facili
ties, including those now under construction, will eventually provide
a stadium with a seating capacity of 25,000, a yacht basin, 12 baseball
diamonds, 33 tennis courts, two i8-hole golf courses, football gridirons,
picnic grounds, bridle paths, play grounds, a swimming pool, a band
stand and boating and fishing. (See respective sports for hours, reserva
tions and admission charges.)
Lake Pontchartrain Shore (West End car from any place on Canal St. to
West End; transfer to Robert E. Lee bus at West End to go to Pont
chartrain Beach; to reach Milneburg take Frenchmen bus from Canal
and Chartres Sts. and transfer to Milneburg bus at Frenchmen and
Gentilly Road; taxi fare to Beach is 70^) has miles of sandy bathing
beaches from West End to Milneburg. Extensive work under the Works
Progress Administration will provide tennis courts, baseball diamonds,
horseshoe courts, wading pools, etc. Cruisers, skiffs, and other craft
may be rented at various places along the lakefront. An amusement
park is located at Pontchartrain Beach.
New Orleans Athletic Club, 222 N. Rampart St., has a fully equipped
xliv Recreational Facilities
Fishing (See Hunting and Fishing.)
Golf
Audubon Golf Club, 473 Walnut St. (St. Charles car from Canal and
Baronne Sts. to Walnut; walk three blocks toward river). The i8-hole
course (5718 yards) is open to guests of members and patrons of leading
hotels. Professional instructions are available.
City Park Golf Courses (walk along bayou at Esplanade entrance and
turn right after crossing railroad tracks) are the only public links in the
city. Two i8-hole courses are available; No. i (6445 yards) and No. 2
(5500 yards) have a 50^f fee, which entitles the golfer to play an entire
day. On No. i it is necessary to engage a caddy (75f). Books entitling
the purchaser to play as often as desired may be obtained for $3, exclu
sive of caddy fees. Professional instruction is available.
Colonial Country Club. (See above.)
Lakewood Country Club. (See above.)
Metairie Golf Club. (See above.)
New Orleans Country Club. (See above.)
Gymnasiums
Behrman Public School Gymnasium, 2800 Prytania St., corner of Wash
ington Ave. (St. Charles car from Canal and Baronne Sts.), is operated
as part of the recreational activities of the Orleans Parish School Board
for basketball games and swimming classes. All school children, from
both public and parochial schools, are permitted to enjoy its facilities
free of charge.
Marullo s, 343 Baronne St. (private gym for men); 316^2 St. Charles St.
(for women).
New Orleans Athletic Club. Available to guests of members only.
Y.M.C.A. Classes are held at 12.15 P.M. Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays, and at 5.30 P.M. Tuesdays and Thursdays; available to guests
of members only.
Y.M.H.A . Available to guests of members only.
Y.W.C.A. Morning classes are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays at 10. Evening classes are held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and
Thursdays at 6.15. Gym facilities are available to non-members.
Riding
Audubon Riding Club, Audubon Park.
Airport Riding Academy, Milneburg (Frenchmen bus from Canal and
Chartres Sts.) ; taxi 70^.
Golden Spur Riding Academy, 3000 Jefferson Highway (out S. Claiborne
Ave. and US 61); taxi $1.50.
Bridle paths are located in Audubon Park and City Park, along the
levee above Audubon Park, and along the lake-front at Lake Pontchar-
train.
Recreational Facilities xlv
Swimming
Audubon Park Natatorium, open from 6 A.M. to 10 P.M. daily from May
to September, is divided into two 75 X 225-feet sections graduating in
depth from three to nine feet. A children s wading pool, diving boards,
chutes, etc., are among the facilities.
City Park Natatorium, open from 6 A.M. to 10 P.M. daily from May to
September, is a 75 X 2oo-feet pool graduating in depth from two to
nine feet. Suits and towels may be rented.
Lake-front swimming may be enjoyed along the Pontchartrain sea wall
from West End to Little Woods. A Negro beach is located a short dis
tance west of Shushan Airport. Signs indicate the depths at various
intervals along the sea wall. At Spanish Fort a beach (Pontchartrain
Beach) has been made by pumping in sand from the lake.
Masonic Temple Natatorium, 333 St. Charles St., open from 7 A.M. to
10 P.M. from May to September, is a 17 x 42-feet pool graduating in
depth from three to six feet. Suits and towels may be rented.
New Orleans Athletic Club Pool (20 X 40 feet), open from 9 A.M. to
11 P.M. daily, is fed from a salt-water well and graduates in depth from
3>^ to 7X feet. Only members and their guests are admitted.
New Orleans Country Club Pool, measuring 40 X 1 20 feet and graduating
in depth from three to ten feet, is open from May to September. Only
members and their guests are admitted.
Y.M.C.A. Natatorium is a 20 X 6o-feet pool graduating in depth from
two to nine feet. Only members and their guests are admitted.
Y.M.H.A. Natatorium, open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M. daily, is a 20 X 60-
feet pool graduating in depth from four to eight feet. Only members and
their guests are admitted.
Tennis
Audubon Park has a total of 23 all-weather courts, 19 of which are illumi
nated for night playing. The ticket office is located in front of the Nata
torium. Reservations must be made in person unless the player possesses
a ticket book entitling him to telephone reservations for day or night.
Reservations may also be made through Dunlap s Sporting Goods
Company, 138 Carondelet St.
City Park has a total of 30 tennis courts for day and night playing.
Reservations must be made in person at the ticket office near the Dumaine
St. entrance.
Lakewood Country Club has four courts for the use of members and their
guests.
New Orleans Country Club has seven courts for the use of members and
their guests.
The New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club, 4025 Saratoga Street (Freret car
from Canal and St. Charles Sts.), has enjoyed an uninterrupted existence
xlvi Recreational Facilities
since December 15, 1876, the date of its organization. The use of the
eight courts and a comfortable clubhouse is restricted to a member
ship of 140. Club tournaments are held regularly, and an annual city-
wide tournament is played on the courts.
Trap Shooting
Jefferson Skeet Club, opposite the Colonial Country Club on Jefferson
Highway (out S. Claiborne Ave. and US 61), is open on Saturdays and
Sundays.
NEGRO RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
Young Men s Christian Association, 2220 Dryades St. (Freret car from
Canal and St. Charles Sts., or Jackson car from Canal and Baronne Sts.
to Jackson Ave. ; walk one block uptown) , has recreational facilities includ
ing an outdoor tennis court, soft-ball diamond and basketball court,
four pool tables, ping pong table, and tables for bridge, whist, chess, and
checkers. Guests of members have access, free of charge, to all facilities.
Young Women s Christian Association, 2436 Canal St. (West End or Ceme
teries car from any place on Canal St.), permits guests of members to
have access, free of charge, to all the facilities which include an outdoor
tennis and volley-ball court, and bridge tables. Tap and ballet dancing,
along with stunts, form a part of the entertainment on Activity Day
every Thursday from 5.30 to 9.
Billiards
Autocrat Social and Pleasure Club, 1725 St. Bernard Ave. (St. Bernard
bus from Canal and Burgundy Sts.). Three pool tables; available to
members and their guests only.
Pelican Billiard Hall, 303 S. Rampart St. Eight pool tables.
Y.M.C.A., 2220 Dryades St. Four pool tables; available to members
and their guests only.
Gymnasiums
San Jacinto Club, 1422 Dumaine St. (City Park car from Canal and
Bourbon Sts.). Gym (facilities for calisthenics and boxing) for members
and their guests only.
Swimming
Lake Pontchartrain. The section of the sea wall reserved for Negroes is
located a short distance west of Shushan Airport.
Thorny Lafon Pool, Sixth and S. Robertson Sts. (Freret car from Canal
and St. Charles to Sixth St.; walk one block right), measuring 60 X 30
feet and graduating in depth from four to seven feet, is an outdoor pool
open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M. Admission for night and Sunday swimming
is lO^f; free during the day.
Recreational Facilities xlvii
Tennis
Y.M.C.A. Two courts available to members and their guests.
HUNTING AND FISHING
US 90 traverses the tidal pass and lake districts along the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad from New Orleans to Pearl River, a favorite hunting
and fishing area close to New Orleans. At Chef Menteur, Lake St.
Catherine, and Rigolets there are ample accommodations. Both black
bass and salt-water fish are found at all these points. Duck and snipe
shooting is usually good.
A popular hunting trip out of New Orleans is to the State shooting
grounds at Pass-a-Loutre in the delta of the Mississippi River, an excel
lent duck-shooting locality. Reservations and necessary information may
be secured at the office of the Department of Conservation, New Orleans
Court Building, Chartres and Conti Sts. Mallard, canvasback, pin-tailed,
and other choice ducks abound in the thousands of acres set aside here
partly as a public shooting grounds and partly as a bird refuge.
La 1 and 31 lead to the hunting and fishing territory of St. Bernard
Parish and the upper and central parts of Plaquemines Parish. Some of
the more important points are Reggio, Yscloskey, Delacroix Island,
Pointe-a-la-Hache, and Buras. Duck and snipe are generally plentiful
throughout this territory in the hunting season.
Down Bayou Barataria (cross on the Napoleon Ave. Ferry to Marrero
and follow La 30), one has the choice of many waterways and great
expanses of swamp and marsh, where snipe, duck, and deer hunting are
dependable. Beyond lie Little Lake, the lower Barataria Country, and
Grand Isle, all excellent hunting and fishing grounds. A tarpon rodeo is
held every summer at Grand Isle. There are not many public camps in
this district, but the facilities of numerous clubs are available to visitors,
who can secure common tackle and ammunition from stores at Barataria
or Lafitte. Guides, boats, and bait are also obtainable. There are hotels
at Grand Isle.
West of New Orleans on US 90 is Lockport, convenient base for hunt
ing on lower Bayou Lafourche, including duck grounds about Larose,
Cut-Off, Cher Ami, and Golden Meadow. A little farther west, out of
Houma, waters and marshes affording some of the best hunting and fish
ing in Louisiana are accessible. At Wonder Lake the black bass fishing
is exceptionally fine.
The Bonnet Carre Spillway area, 32 miles up the Mississippi River from
New Orleans, is a fishing preserve, under control of a club that leases
the area from the Government. The spillway tract extends from the
Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain and includes good spots for bass,
good rabbit country, and some snipe grounds near the lakeshore.
xlviii Recreational Facilities
Between New Orleans and Hammond is a great deer-hunting district
near Pass Manchac, Lake Maurepas, and the lower Amite River. There
are also fine fishing grounds for bass and other species in this territory.
Bears are encountered occasionally in the Lake Maurepas region and
sometimes wild hogs furnish an exciting form of sport.
For some kinds of fresh-water fishing and for quail and turkey hunting
it is necessary to go north and northwest of New Orleans. Bogalusa,
Covington, Pontchatoula, Hammond, Baton Rouge, and New Roads
are good bases for anyone interested in sport with inland types of game
and fish. The quail shooting in the Feliciana Parishes is especially good,
and some of the best woodcock and wild turkey shooting in the Florida
Parishes is available in this area.
AMATEUR SPORTS EVENTS
Baseball is played every Sunday afternoon by a number of semi-profes
sional and amateur teams at the following parks: Hi-Way Park, 3800
Jefferson Highway (out S. Claiborne Ave. and US 61) ; Holy Cross Park,
4900 Dauphine St. (St. Claude car from N. Rampart and Canal Sts.);
Lincoln Park, S. Broad and Clio Sts. (West End or Cemeteries car, any
place on Canal St. transfer to southbound Gentilly-Broad bus at
Broad St.); Warren Easton Park, Hagan Ave. and Bienville St. (West
End or Cemeteries car, any place on Canal St. to Jefferson Davis Park
way; walk two blocks downtown). College, high school, and other ama
teur teams of the city play on diamonds throughout New Orleans.
Basketball games are played, in season, by Dillard University (Negro),
Dominican College (female), Loyola University, Tulane University,
Ursuline College (female), Xavier University (Negro), and the high
school and private preparatory schools. During the Mid- Winter Sports
Carnival a basketball game is staged between two outstanding teams.
Boxing contests are staged under the auspices of the Southern Amateur
Athletic Union at various times at the New Orleans Athletic Club, 222 N.
Rampart St., the Kingsley House, 1600 Constance St. (Magazine car
from Canal and Magazine to Felicity St.; one block toward river), and
the Knights of Columbus, 836 Carondelet St. Annual (Southern Amateur
Athletic Union) championships are held at the Coliseum, 401 N. Roman
St. (West End or Cemeteries car from any place on Canal St.; walk
four blocks downtown). Tulane University s team engages other teams
of the Southeastern Conference at the gymnasium (Freret car from
Canal and St. Charles Sts. to Tulane Campus). Negro matches are held
irregularly at the St. Joan of Arc School, Cambronne and Freret Sts.
(St. Charles car from Canal and Baronne Sts. to S. Carrollton and
Freret; walk three blocks uptown), and the San Jacinto Club, 1422
Dumaine St. (City Park car from Canal and Bourbon Sts. to Marais
St.). A boxing tournament between city teams is conducted under the
auspices of the Mid- Winter Sports Association.
Recreational Facilities xlix
Football games of national importance are played by Tulane and Loyola
Universities with Southern and intersectional teams. The Tulane Stadium
is located at Willow and Calhoun Sts. (Freret car from Canal and St.
Charles St. to Calhoun; walk four blocks north), and the Loyola Stadium
at Freret and Calhoun Sts. (Freret car at Canal and St. Charles Sts.).
The annual Sugar Bowl game is played at the former on New Year s Day.
High schools and preparatory schools usually play at the above-men
tioned stadia in addition to the old Tulane stadium and prep field
located in the intervening area, and at the new Municipal stadium built
under the Works Progress Administration in City Park. Dillard and
Xavier Universities (Negro schools) also play football at Dillard Uni
versity, Gentilly Road (Gentilly car from Canal and Bourbon Sts.),
and Xavier University, Washington and Pine Sts. (Tulane car from any
place on Canal between the river and Loyola St. to Washington; walk
three blocks right) .
Golf tournaments, the Men s City Open and the Women s City Tourna
ment (the latter for club members only) are held annually at various
courses in the city (see under Golf, above, for location of links). Admis
sion is free. Tulane University s golf team engages other universities in
dual matches. An intercollegiate tournament is held during the Mid-
Winter Sports Carnival.
Polo is played at Jackson Barracks, St. Claude Ave. and the St. Bernard
Parish line (St. Claude car at N. Rampart and Canal Sts.), every Wednes
day, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon between three local teams. Admis
sion is free, except for charity games played with out-of-town teams,
for which the charge is usually 50f. Ample parking space is afforded
along both sides of the playing field.
Tennis matches, the City Tournament (held at various courts) and the
New Orleans Public Park Tournament (held at City Park) are staged
annually. Admission to the former is free, but charges are usually made
for the finals of the Public Park matches (see under Tennis, above, for
location of courts) . The tournament conducted at the close of every year
under the auspices of the Mid-W T inter Sports Association attracts many
of the Nation s ranking stars. Tulane, Loyola, Dillard (Negro), Xavier
(Negro), and Dominican College (female) also play tennis.
Track and Field meets are held at Loyola and Tulane stadia. The most
outstanding meet is held annually in conjunction with the Sugar Bowl
game. World and national champions participate. Each year on the
Saturday closest Jackson Day (January 8) leading cross-country men
from the city and vicinity run over a course (Spanish Fort to the Cabildo)
which in December, 1814, was the route taken by the garrison of Spanish
Fort as it ran to join Jackson s forces leaving for the Chalmette front.
Dillard (Negro), Xavier (Negro), and Dominican College (female) also
engage in track and field meets.
Yacht races are held Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons,
weather permitting, under the auspices of the Southern Yacht Club.
1 Recreational Facilities
Schooners, 2i-footers, star class, knockabouts, fish class, auxiliary knock
abouts, Gulf one-designs, and yawls engage in races over a six-mile and
a seven-and-a-half-mile triangular course. Long-distance races to Biloxi
and the Chefuncte River are held every year.
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS EVENTS
Baseball
Heinemann Park, Carrollton and Tulane Ave. (Tulane car from any
place on Canal St. between Loyola and the river), is the home of the
1 Pelicans, New Orleans representative in the Southern Association.
Both night and day games are held. The seating capacity is 9500, with
2000 additional temporary seats available for the Dixie Series. The
Cleveland Indians, who farm players with the local team, train at
the park each spring.
The Crescent Stars, the New Orleans Black Pelicans, and the Algiers
Giants (Negro teams) play irregularly at Crescent Star Park, Dorgenois
and St. Anthony Sts. (Frenchmen bus from Canal and Chartres Sts. to
Dorgenois; walk three blocks uptown), Lincoln Park, S. Broad and Clio
Sts. (West End or Cemeteries car, any place on Canal St., transfer to
southbound Gentilly-Broad bus at Broad St.), and Heinemann Park.
Boxing
Coliseum Arena, 401 N. Roman St. (West End or Cemeteries car, any
place on Canal St. to Roman; walk three blocks downtown). Five pre
liminaries of four rounds each and a main bout of ten rounds usually
make up the card. White and colored are admitted. Seating capacity is
7500.
Cockfighting
Cockfights are held on Sundays from October to July at one or the other
of the following pits: Bisso and Mills Pit, South Kenner, located about
1 8 miles above the city on the west bank of the river (US 61 from Canal
St. and S. Claiborne Ave.; cross Huey P. Long Bridge (toll-free) and
turn right on US 90) ; Four Horsemen Pit, located in St. Bernard Parish
below Menefee Airport (State Highway 1 from Canal and N. Rampart
Sts.).
S hall s Pit, ShalPs Dairy Farm, is situated two miles east of Kenner
(State Highway 1 Jefferson Highway from Canal St., and S. Clai
borne Ave.).
Racing
Fair Grounds, main gate, Sauvage and For tin Sts. (Esplanade bus from
Burgundy and Canal Sts. to Lopez; shuttle bus to entrance), offers
approximately 100 days of racing beginning on Thanksgiving Day each
Recreational Facilities
year. Seven races are held daily starting at 2.30; Daily Double, second
and third races, Quinella, last race. The certificate system of betting,
much the same as pari-mutuel is in effect. The glass-enclosed, steam-
heated grandstand has a seating capacity of about 6000. Several $1000
handicaps are held each year, with the Louisiana Derby ($6000 purse)
the feature race. White and colored are admitted.
South Kenner Park (see Cockfighting above for directions) offers racing
on its half-mile track on Sundays and holidays, the season extending
from April to November. A bus, leaving from Canal and Saratoga Streets
at 1 P.M., makes a round trip (25f) to the track; taxis, leaving from
Canal and Rampart Sts., offer round trips for 50^. The eight-race pro
gram starts at 2.15 P.M. Book-making, or oral betting, is in practice
with a quinella offered in the last race.
St. Bernard Kennel Club, St. Bernard Parish, 5.3 m. from Canal and
Rampart Sts. (St. Claude car from Canal and Rampart; transfer to St.
Claude bus; taxi $1), stages ten dog races nightly on its quarter- mile
track. The season extends from late spring to fall. Seating capacity is
about 1200; the pari-mutuel system of betting is used.
Wrestling
Coliseum Arena (see Boxing} stages wrestling matches every Thursday
evening at 8.30 P.M. Three bouts are usually held. The first event is a
half hour, one-fall match, and the others are one and two hour bouts,
best-two-out-of-three falls. White and colored are admitted.
RESTAURANTS
EATING and drinking rank as fine arts in New Orleans and the traveler
finds the flavor of the past kept vitally alive in its restaurants. Year after
year the older institutions go on, in the same buildings and the same
atmosphere, serving the famous Creole dishes in undiminished excellence;
and even the newer restaurants conform to the tradition of good food
and service.
New Orleans Creole cuisine, evolved many years ago, had as its basis
French delicacy piquantly modified by the Spaniard s love of pungent
seasoning, the Indian s use of native herbs, and the Negro s ability to
mix and bake. Into its evolution, too, went a singularly abundant and
diverse food supply, with not only a wide variety of fish, game, and
vegetables at the very door and exotic products available from the near
by tropics, but a steady flow of delicacies imported from the old country.
A traveler to New Orleans in 1803 commented on the astonishing import
of luxuries, out of keeping with so small and new a place: Malaga,
Bordeaux, Madeira, olive oil (a most important article of consumption),
brandied fruits, liqueurs, vinegars, sausages, anchovies, almonds, raisins,
prunes, cheese, vermicelli.
New Orleans restaurateurs still scour far countries for certain important
ingredients of their dishes; and, although game, long the piece de re
sistance of restaurant cuisine, has been made contraband by recent laws,
and many of the flavorous old herbs have disappeared, much remains.
The Gulf pompano, which Mark Twain called delicious as the less
criminal forms of sin ; the sheepshead, a fish almost equally as popular;
redfish, red snapper, oysters, shrimp, crabs, crawfish, and frog legs;
chicken or poulet, cooked in a hundred different ways, each one better
than the last; avocados, burr artichokes, fresh pineapple, fresh mush
rooms, and fresh asparagus these are only a few of the products
available to local chefs today as in the past.
New Orleans, having taken the trouble to concoct its delicious, many-
tasting foods, may raise a quizzical eyebrow at the occasional spinach
Restaurants
and lettuce-leaf devotee who happens along, but to the appreciative
gourmet she extends a joyous welcome. This spirit of gracious catering,
found alike in the noted restaurants and in many of the humblest, is a
sort of noblesse oblige deriving from the fine tradition of the past; for the
city boasts of a long line of distinguished old hostelries.
The first restaurateurs were largely Spaniards, who laid small emphasis
on food and featured rather delectable drinks, Spanish music, and Spanish
dancing. Fashionable Creole gentlemen, when they foregathered to sip
their wines and discuss the price of indigo, the imminent duel, or the
latest news from Europe, preferred, however, the quieter and more
elegant cafes: Maspero s, Hewlitt s, or John Davis s. If a man required
good, solid food and was unfortunate enough not to be able to eat at
home the prevailing practice there was only the Restaurant d Or-
leans, the exclusive Le Veau Qui Tete, and the somew r hat rowdy Hotel de
la Marine, haunt of the Lafitte pirates and other colorful characters.
With the period of phenomenal wealth which began about 1830, the
habit of dining out really began. Many brilliant banquets were given
under the frescoed dome of the old St. Louis Hotel, or at the St. Charles,
whose famous gold service was brought out on state occasions. Suppers
and after- the- theater parties took place at those rival city restaurants,
Moreau s and Victor s, who vied in the excellence of their dishes and
the distinction of their guests. And the Gem sprang into fame with its
fabulous free lunches.
But it was at the suburban inns that the most skillful chefs presided
and memorable feasts occurred. At Carrollton Gardens, near the levee
where today the St. Charles street-car turns into Carrollton Avenue,
inviting meals were served on the broad verandas of the hotel overlooking
the grounds, with their summer houses and pagodas, their jasmines and
honeysuckle vines. The lake end restaurants at Milneburg, Spanish
Fort, and West End were popular. These were quaint wooden buildings
with large rooms and many porches, set on piles over the lake, with well-
tended parks and flower gardens in front. It was at Milneburg, and
under the supervision of the noted chef Boudro, that a dinner was
tendered in 1856 to Thackeray. At that comfortable tavern on Pont-
chartrain, Thackeray commented afterward, we had a bouillabaisse
than which a better was never eaten at Marseilles and not the least
headache in the morning, I give you my word.
At a later date, came Leon s/ a resort of both high-class gamblers and
fastidious epicures; the unique market restaurants, Begue s, Maylie s,
Tuj ague s; and the innumerable little French restaurants, with names
like Les Quatres Saisons (The Four Seasons), Le Pelerin (The Pilgrim),
etc., of which Lafcadio Hearn said, Each one, like those of Paris, has
some particular specialty, and the chicken, shrimps, mushrooms, and
wines are universally excellent.
Today, the restaurants are largely French and Italian, but it is also
possible to get good German and Mexican food.
Restaurants Iv
French Restaurants
Antoine s, 713 St. Louis St., proprietor, Roy^ Alciatore, open 11 A.M. to
10.30 P.M. Make reservations in advance. Ala carte service only, with
minimum charge of $1 per person. Private rooms for dining and for
banquets. A representative meal can be had from $3 to $3.50 per person.
This old restaurant, with its tall, gabled roof, wrought-iron balconies,
and mellow lighting, possesses an air of quiet distinction. Almost a hun
dred years old, it has become widely known both here and abroad for the
perfection of its cuisine.
Antoine Alciatore, founder of the restaurant, was born in Marseilles,
Fiance, and had already acquired skill as a chef before coming to New
Orleans in 1840. By 1876, with his establishment in the present building,
he was ranked as a leading restaurateur.
The interior of the restaurant is quaintly old-fashioned, and is both
lighted and heated from antique gas chandeliers in the ceiling. No jazz
music breaks on the diner s ears; as one of its proprietors was wont to
insist: The aroma of good food and the tinkle of wine glasses is music
enough.
What to eat at Antoine s? There is so much that is excellent one be
comes slightly confused, as did Will Rogers: Why, listen, they got a soup
they herded around in front of me that was crawfish boiled in white
wine and aromatic herbs. Why, they got tortoise-shell terrapin that is
served in its own shell. Omelette souflee historiee! Say, they make all
of them out of golden pheasants eggs. The two dishes invented by the
restaurant which have won greatest fame are the huitres en coquille a la
Rockefeller (oysters Rockefeller) and pompano en papillate (pompano
cooked in a paper bag with a particularly luscious sauce); no other
restaurant has been quite able to equal them on these dishes. Antoine s
is also noted for its bisque d ecremsses a la cardinal (crayfish bisque),
poulet chanteclair (chicken marinated in red wine before cooking), and
omelette soufflee, a superb dessert.
Antoine s mystery room (so called because of a famous picture which
originally hung there) is a most popular place for intimate dinners, and on
its walls are testimonials from prominent guests. There one will find
Calvin Coolidge s laconic With appreciation and Taft s flourishing
signature. But perhaps Irvin S. Cobb s comment is the most character
istic: Once upon a time, being seduced by certain poetic words of
Thackeray, I made a special trip to a certain cafe in Paris to eat bouil
labaisse. I found it distinctly worth while. Later I went to Marseilles,
the home of this dish, and there ate it again and found it better. And
then I came back to America and ate it at Antoine s in New Orleans and
found it best of all.
Arnaud s, 813 Bienville St.; proprietor, Arnaud Cazenave; open 9 A.M.
to 12.30 A.M. Table d hote lunch, 10.30 A.M. to 3 P.M., 50jj to 75ff, de
pending on entree; there is also a lunch consisting of appetizer or soup,
dessert or coffee, for 30j. Table d hote dinner, 4.30 to 11 P.M., 75f to
$1.25, depending on entree. French specialties a la carte.
Ivi Restaurants
Arnaud s was established as late as 1921, but has been a leading
restaurant almost from the beginning. Arnaud himself is a very popular
host.
The restaurant employs a large staff of cooks and waiters, ready to
serve, on short notice, almost any French or Creole dish, with perhaps
slightly more emphasis on French cooking than Creole. Among its
specialties are shrimps Arnaud, filet de truite Amandine, breast of turkey
en papillate, oyster Whitney, langouste Sarah Bernhardt, stuffed crab
Rejane, and crepe suzette Arnaud.
Begue s, 504 Madison St.; proprietor, Katie Laporte. Hours: breakfast,
11 A.M. to 3 P.M., $1 to $1.25. Begue s, a market restaurant located
originally at 207 Decatur Street, lives today chiefly in its past. This
restaurant, flourishing in the gay nineties and the favorite haunt of
Eugene Field on his New Orleans visits, was famous for its Bohemian
breakfasts, six-course affairs lasting from 11 o clock to 2 or 3 P.M. Its
specialties were kidney stew with red wine and calf s liver a la bourgeoise.
The present restaurant is situated upstairs over a corner garage in the
rooms where Hypolite Begue had his latter-day restaurant.
Broussard s, 819 Conti St.; proprietor, Joseph Broussard; open 9 A.M.
to 10.30 P.M. (later, if necessary). Creole breakfast, 9 to 11 A.M., 75fi;
table d hote lunch, 11.30 A.M. to 2 P.M., 50^ to 75jf, depending on entree;
table d hote dinner, 5.30 to 10 P.M.; seafood dinner, $1; chicken dinner,
$1.25; steak dinner, $1.50. Banquet room and rooms for private dinners.
Reservations should be made for a party.
Broussard s Restaurant is a small plain building, with no attempt at
ornamentation beyond a few tavern lights in front. When the weather
permits, guests usually prefer to dine in the courtyard, a large, narrow
strip, part of a fine old garden, with shrubbery and bright flowers lining
the walls. Roses, calla lilies, violets, chrysanthemums, and hibiscus bloom
here as late as December.
The forte of this restaurant is preparing little dinners for special
parties. Some of the dishes from which the place has made its reputation
are chicken papillate, oysters a la Broussard, and the Broussard Surprise,
a dessert resembling crepe suzette.
Commander s Palace, 1403 Washington Ave.; manager, Felix Tranchina.
Hours: 10 A.M. to 12 midnight. Private dining-booths; reservations not
necessary. One item that it claims as an exclusive dish is soft-shell
turtle ragout, which is obtainable during the warm months.
Galatoire s, 209 Bourbon St.; proprietors, Gabriel, Leon, and Justin
Galatoire. Hours: 8 A.M. to 10.30 P.M.; merchants lunch, 11 A.M. to
2 P.M., 60^f; table d hote dinner, 5 to 8 P.M., $1; with small bottle of wine,
$1.25. Reservations should be made for dinner parties; private dining-
rooms available.
Galatoire s excels in its Marguery sauce, served usually with filet de
truite. The crab meat here is all hand-picked, and all of the crab dishes
are delicious, particularly crab meat au gratin. Dinkelspiel salad is a meal
in itself, its base being crab meat, surrounded by many tempting hors
d oeuvres.
Restaurants Ivii
Lucien Gaye s, 603 Royal St.; proprietor, Lucien Gaye. Hours: 7 A.M.
to 10 P.M. Lucien Gaye s is a French restaurant of the bourgeois type,
where good, plain French food is obtainable.
La Louisiane, 725 Iberville St. ; proprietor, Mrs. Omar Cheer. Hours:
8 A.M. to 10 P.M.; table d hote lunch, 11-2, 75^f; table d hote dinner,
5.30-8, $1. Private dining-rooms, ballrooms, banquet rooms; make
reservations for dinner party, banquet, or ball.
La Restaurant de la Louisiane, established in 1881 by Louis Bezaudin,
has been the scene of many brilliant social affairs. The restaurant occupies
one of the most interesting and beautiful buildings of New Orleans, the
former mansion of the merchant prince Zacharie. It is a three-story
structure, with white facade and green shutters; balconies, edged with
handsome ironwork, jut over the arched entrance and windows beneath.
Inside, there is a succession of spacious rooms, with mirrored walls,
crystal chandeliers, brocade draperies, and softly carpeted floors.
Under the management of Fernand Alciatore, the French cuisine was
brought to a rare perfection that attracted guests from far and near.
La Louisiane s guest-books are full of the names of people famous in the
early years of the twentieth century.
Some of the dishes featured by the restaurant are bisque ecrevisse
Louisiane, canape crab Louisiane, redfish courtbouillon, turkey Ro-
chambeau, filet de truite marguery, and baked Alaska.
Maylie s, 1001 Poydras St.; proprietor, W. H. Maylie. Hours: 11 A.M.
to 9 P.M.; table d hote lunch, 11-2, 50^; table d hote dinner, 5.30-9, $1;
open Sunday for dinner only, 5.30-9. Make reservations for party.
Maylie s Restaurant, in the neighborhood of the old Poydras Market,
was established in 1878 as an informal market restaurant. Later, when
it became noted for the excellent quality of its food, it was conducted
on a strictly stag basis. Its patrons are still mostly men, many of them
prominent in business circles, who go out of their way to enjoy what
Maylie s offers them in the way of both food and relaxation. The two
dishes by which the house is best known are the bouilli (boiled beef) and
hardshell crab stew. Wine is included with both lunch and dinner.
Rising out of a boxed space within a small central hallway of the
restaurant, and extending through the roof, is a wistaria vine sixty-five
years old. The stem of this vine is as large as an ordinary tree trunk,
and the foliage grows both inside and outside of the building.
Tujague s, 823 Decatur St.; proprietor, John Castet. Hours: 6 A.M. to
9.30 P.M.; table d hote breakfast, 10-2.30, 50ff; table d hote dinner,
5-8.30, 60^f; make reservation for private parties.
This restaurant, established about 1880 and located near the French
Market, retains some of the characteristics of the old-fashioned market
restaurants. Marketmen are still served here in a special room in the
back. The food, though usually plain French fare, is very appetizing.
Vieux Carre, 241 Bourbon St.; proprietor, P. Lacoste. Hours: 10 A.M. to
10 P.M.; table d hote luncheon, 10-3, 50ff; table d hote dinner, 3-10,
This is one of the best of the small restaurants of New Orleans.
Iviii Restaurants
Though it has no noted specialties, it serves an excellent type of French
cooking. The restaurant is quiet and conservative, both in its appearance
and clientele.
German Restaurants
Kolb s, 125 St. Charles St.; proprietor, Conrad Kolb. Hours 7 A.M. to
I A.M. for a la carte service; breakfast and luncheon a la carte; table
d hote dinner, 5 to 9 P.M., grill 85^ to $1.25; dining-room, $1 to $1.50.
Private dining-rooms and banquet rooms; make reservations for parties.
Kolb s, though serving a great variety of dishes, is the only restaurant
in New Orleans that makes a specialty of German food. The interior of
the main dining-room at Kolb s is a very interesting reproduction of some
of the features of a German tavern, while on one side is a Dutch Room
with fireplaces and chimneys.
The food in general is excellent and the surroundings are very pleasant.
Among the German dishes the proprietor recommends the following:
wiener schnitzel with vegetables, German pot roast with potato pancake,
stewed goose with dumplings, pig knuckles with sauerkraut, and home
made pork sausage with red cabbage.
At night a Tyrolean orchestra in costume plays wine and beer classics,
and both orchestra and guests join in singing old folk songs.
Italian Restaurants
Masera s, 807 St. Louis St.; proprietor, Joseph Masera. Open 9 A.M. to
12 midnight, a la carte orders. Table d hote dinner, 5 to midnight, $1.
Masera s was established toward the beginning of the present century,
and is well known for its Italian specialties.
B. Montalbano, 724 St. Philip St.; proprietor, B. Montalbano. Open 10
A.M. to 10 P.M.; table d hote, 65^ up to 6 P.M.; 75^ from 6 to 10 P.M.;
make reservations for a party, as seating capacity is very limited.
This establishment is a unique mixture of delicatessen shop, religious
shrine, and restaurant.
The Roma Room, where meals are served, has been blessed by Pope
Pius XI. Here has been constructed an improvised altar, with a copy
of the Vatican at the top, and in the corners on either side small votary
candles are kept burning continuously. Colored prints of religious pic
tures from Rome are inset into the wall by means of gay-colored strips
of oilcloth. The ceiling is decorated with Christmas-tree trimmings of
colored balls and tinsel. In these Italian peasant surroundings, there
has been placed a long table with room for about a dozen guests. The
usual dinner is chicken ravioli or spaghetti and chicken, with an elaborate
dish of Italian antipasto.
Turd s Italian Gardens, 223 Bourbon St. ; proprietor, Ettore Turci. Open
II A.M. to 11 P.M. for a la carte orders. Table d hote dinner, 5.30 to
9 P.M., 80^f.
Turci s is one of the leading Italian restaurants in New Orleans. It
was established by Signer and Signora Turci, opera singers from Northern
Restaurants lix
Italy, who toured the United States with various companies before
settling down to the restaurant business. As a consequence, Turci s has
always been the favorite haunt of visiting opera singers. The restaurant
serves home-made ravioli, home-made noodles, and various kinds of
Italian spaghetti.
The following Italian restaurants are also well known for their Italian
food and seafood specialties: Tortorich Restaurant, 441 Royal St.; Gen-
tilich Caterers, 900 Rampart St., situated across from the Municipal
Auditorium and patronized by after- theater parties; and the uptown
places: S. Dominici, 3633 Prytania St.; Manale s Restaurant, 1838
Napoleon Ave.; Zibilich Restaurant, 3750 S. Claiborne Ave.; Tranchina s,
2505 Carondelet St.; and Delmonico s, 1300 St. Charles Ave.
In connection with the Italian restaurants, it is interesting to note that
Ursuline St., between Royal and Chartres, is commonly called Spumone
Block from the number of little confectionery shops established there
which serve Italian ices (spumone, cassata, alkeno, and sciallotti) and
cakes (cannola, etc.).
Mexican Restaurants
La Lune, 800 Bourbon St. Open 9 P.M. to 6 A.M. The Mexican food at
La Lune is excellent and reasonably priced.
Tea Rooms and Restaurants
Court of the Two Sisters, 615 Royal St.; proprietor, Jimmie Cooper.
Open Sundays and weekdays. Lunch, 12 to 2.30, 50^; dinner, 5 to 10.30,
60f to $1.
The Court of the Two Sisters possesses an interesting background.
The courtyard, originally one of the finest in New Orleans, is quite
large, and still attractive with its old willow and fig trees. It is a favorite
spot for dining in the summer. Seafood dinners and chicken dinners
are featured.
Courtyard Kitchen, 820 St. Louis St.; proprietor, Mrs. J. P. Burton.
Open weekdays only. Lunch, 12 to 2.30, 85?f; tea, 2.30 to 5, 25^ up.
Breakfast a la carte may be obtained from 8 to 12. Special party break
fast by arrangement, particularly on Sundays. Make reservations for
parties.
The Courtyard Kitchen is so called from the fact that it is in the out-
of-door kitchen of a former home. The dining-room is furnished as an
ante-bellum kitchen and during the winter months log fires are kept
burning in its huge fireplace. On sunshiny days tables are set for luncheon
and tea in the courtyard, one of the most beautiful in New Orleans.
This establishment is noted for gumbo, stuffed crabs, Southern style
chicken, hot biscuit, home-made cakes, and desserts. Colored maids
dressed as mammies serve the food.
Green Shutter Tea Room, 710 St. Peter St.; proprietor, Miss Celeste
Eshleman. Open weekdays only, from October 1 to June 1, 9 A.M. to
5 P.M. Lunch, 12 to 2 P.M., 45^ to 75ff; tea, 2 to 5 P.M., 25^ up. Sun-
Ix Restaurants
day breakfast served at 12 o clock, by reservation. For minimum party
of thirty, $1 each.
The Green Shutter is housed in a quaint old Spanish home, with low,
sloping roof and heavy green shutters on windows and doors. The
uneven brick floor, wooden beams, and plastered walls of the main dining-
room remain exactly as when this house was built. Featured dishes are
Creole gumbo, jambalaya, grillades with yellow grits, and waffles with
sausage and bacon.
Patio Royal, 417 Royal St.; proprietor, Mrs. Jeanne Castellanos. Open
weekdays; lunch, 11.30 A.M. to 3 P.M., 75^ to $1; dinner, 5 to 9 P.M., $1;
Sunday night supper dances, 8 P.M. to 12, $1.50. Bar open from 10 A.M.
to 9 P.M.
Patio Royal, located in the old Paul Morphy Home, has many beautiful
and striking features. The Spanish Room is furnished with treasures
from abroad rugs from Algeria, tapestry and brass from Morocco,
torcheres from Granada, lamps from Seville, and red straw-bottomed
chairs from Paris. Two lovely wrought-iron gates swing under the
arches separating the Spanish Room from the dining-room proper.
The porte-cochere entrance leads from the dining-room into a passage
way, embellished with large stone jars, to an attractive courtyard in the
back.
The Patio is very popular for luncheon parties and dinner dances.
Private rooms available for parties. Make reservations for parties only.
The Southern Marigold, 619 Royal St.; proprietor, Mrs. Mary B. Baldwin.
Open weekdays only, December 1 to April 1. Luncheon, 12 to 2.30, $1;
dinner, 6 to 8, $1.50.
This place is unique in New Orleans, in that absolutely no French or
Creole dishes are served. Instead there is the best of Southern cooking.
Mrs. Baldwin is also proprietor of a very successful restaurant at Niagara
Falls.
Hotel Restaurants
Jung Hotel (Florentine Room), 1500 Canal St.; manager, Arthur Land-
street. Open 8 A.M. to 9 P.M.; a la carte service all day; table d hote
lunch, 12 to 1.30 P.M., 75ff; table d hote dinner, 6 to 9 P.M., $1.
Monteleone Hotel, 214 Royal St.; maitre d hotel, Rene Cazaubon. Open
6 A.M. to 12 midnight for a la carte service; lunch, table d hote for busi
ness men, 11 to 2 P.M., 40?f to 50^ (lunch is not served table d hote
on Sunday); dinner, table d hote, 5 to 9 P.M., 75f to $1.
Roosevelt Hotel (Fountain Room), 123 Baronne St.; manager, Lou Lemler.
Open 6 A.M. to 12 midnight for a la carte service; table d hote lunch,
12 to 2 P.M., 45# to 90j; table d hote dinner, 5 to 9.30 P.M., 85^ to $1.50;
club breakfast, 6 A.M. to 12 noon, 30^ to 75ff.
Music for dinner dancing from 6 to 9.30 P.M. is furnished by ranking
orchestras from large metropolitan cities. For the luncheon period
there is a local orchestra.
Restaurants Ixi
St. Charles Hotel, 211 St. Charles St.; manager, H. O. Guion. Open
6 A.M. to 12 midnight; breakfast, 6 to 11 A.M., 35^ to 90?; table d hote
lunch, 11 A.M. to 2 P.M., 45 to 80& table d hote dinner, 5 to 8.30 P.M.,
8fy to $1.50.
Store Restaurants (not open on Sundays)
D. H. Holmes, 819 Canal St.; manager, M. J. Briant. Open 7 A.M. to
9 P.M.; lunch, 11 A.M. to 2 P.M., 50^, 60jf, and 75ff; dinner, 5 to 9 P.M.,
Maison Blanche (The Rendezvous), 901 Canal St.; manager, W. H.
Renaker. Open 9 A.M. to 6 P.M., a la carte; club breakfast, 9 to 10.30 A.M.,
15f< to 35ff; lunch, 10.30 A.M. to 3 P.M., 25^ to 65ff.
Solaris, 201 Royal St.; manager, Mrs. O. M. Harshman. Open 7.30 A.M.
to 6.30 P.M.; breakfast, 7.30 to 11 A.M., 10^ to 50^; lunch, 11 A.M. to
3 P.M., 45^ to 65ff; a la carte service all day.
Miscellaneous Restaurants
French Market Co fee Stands, Decatur and St. Ann, and Decatur and
St. Philip Sts. Open day and night, except from 12 noon to 4 P.M.
Delicious coffee and doughnuts, 10?L
Cluck s, 124 Royal St.; manager, Henry A. Gluck. Open day and night.
Special lunch, 45ff; special dinner, 65f and 75ff; special plates, 25f to 40ff.
Martin Brothers, 2004 St. Claude Ave.; proprietor, Benny Martin. Open
day and night. Prices: poorboy sandwich, whole loaf, 25^f, half loaf, 15f,
one third loaf, 10^, quarter loaf, 5^f; special plate lunch, 20^ and 25^;
special supper (plate), 20^; Sunday chicken dinner, 25ff.
St. Regis, 121 Royal St.; proprietor, Gaston Bertoniere. Open 6 A.M. to
12 midnight for a la carte orders; table d hote lunch, 11 A.M. to 5 P.M.,
45j; table d hote dinner, 5 P.M. to 12 midnight, 65^f.
Thompson s, 133 St. Charles St.; manager, W. H. Dodds. Open day and
night; lunch starts at 10.30 A.M.; dinner at 4.30 P.M.
Cafeterias
(While some of the New Orleans cafeterias feature American food, most
of them also serve Creole dishes.)
Holsum s, 718 Gravier St.; manager, W. G. Brown. Breakfast, 7 to
9.30 A.M.; lunch, 11 A.M. to 2.30 P.M.; dinner, 5 to 8 P.M.
Morrison s, Masonic Temple, 333 St. Charles St.; manager, G. H. Ptomy.
Breakfast, 7 to 9.30 A.M.; lunch, 10.45 A.M. to 2.30 P.M.; dinner, 4.45
to 8 P.M.
Morrison s, 918 Gravier St.; manager, R. C. McClammy. Lunch, 11
A.M. to 2.30 P.M.; dinner, 5 to 8 P.M.
St. Regis, 121 Royal St.; manager, Gaston Bertoniere. Lunch, 11 A.M.
to 2 P.M.; dinner, 5 to 8 P.M.
Ixii
Restaurants
Wise s, 233 Carondelet St.; manager, Herbert Wise. Breakfast, 7 to 10
A.M.; lunch, 10 A.M. to 2.30 P.M.; dinner, 5 to 8 P.M. Closed all day
Sunday.
Negro Restaurants
Astoria, 235 S. Rampart St.; manager, Miss Vera Braden. Open day and
night; a la carte service at all times; table d hote lunch, 12 to 1.30 P.M.,
lot to 35^f; table d hote dinner, 2 to 6 P.M., 25^ to 40
Douglas, 1320 Iberville St.; manager, C. Douglas. Open day and night;
a la carte service at all times; table d hote lunch, 12 to 2 P.M., 15$ to
25?f; table d hote dinner, 2 to 7 P.M., lo to 2ty.
National Lunch Room, 501 S. Rampart St.; manager, A. Harris. Open
from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.; a la carte service all day; table d hote lunch, 12
to 2 P.M., lOjzf to 25^; table d hote dinner, 2 to 7 P.M., 15ff to 25.
Pelican, 301 S. Rampart St.; manager, A. J. Fabacher. Open day and
night; a la carte service at all times; table d hote lunch, 12 to 1.30 P.M.,
15^ to 35?f; table d hote dinner, 2 to 6 P.M., 20^ to 30
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The abbreviation nfd signifies that the event occurs during the
month, but has no fixed date.
Dec.
Jan.
Jan.
Jan.
Jan.
Feb. or
March
27
9
8
nfd
March
19
March or
April
nfd
March or
April
nfd
March or
April
Easter
April
nfd
April
nfd
April
nfd
April
3
May
ist Fri.
May
nfd
June
3
June
nfd
Aug.
nfd
Aug.
nfd
Oct.
nfd
Nov.
i
Nov.
Thanks
giving
Dec.
24-25
Mid-Winter Sports Carnival. Sugar Bowl football classic
(New Year s Day), tennis and golf tournaments, bas
ketball game, yacht regatta, track and field meet, and
inter-city boxing match.
Emancipation Day.
Twelfth Night (King s Day and the official beginning of
Carnival). During short seasons balls are held before
King s Day.
Jackson Day (Battle of New Orleans).
Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday). Parades start on previous
Thursday with night parade of Momus; followed on
Friday night with parade of Hermes; Saturday with
Nor, children s parade; Proteus Parade on Monday
night, and Rex and Comus parades on Mardi Gras.
Zulu King and neighborhood organizations have parades
in various parts of the city.
St. Joseph s Day (mi-car erne}.
Spring Fiesta, second or third week before Easter.
Flower Show.
Sunrise Services. Tulane Stadium, 7 A.M.
Opening of Southern League baseball season.
Lower Mississippi Valley Musical Festival. Dillard
University.
Horse Show.
Louisiana Livestock Show.
McDonogh Day. Statue in Lafayette Square decorated
by school children.
Cooking School.
Confederate Memorial Day (Jefferson Davis birthday).
Automobile Show.
Southern Yacht Club Regatta.
Governors Yacht Race. New Orleans and Biloxi alter
nate as host.
Opening of theater and concert season.
All Saints Day. Decoration of cemeteries.
Beginning of racing season.
Doll and Toy Fund Christmas Tree for poor children.
Whites on Christmas Eve and Negroes on Christmas
Day.
i. NEW ORLEANS: THE
GENERAL BACKGROUND
NATURAL SETTING
Geography. Surrounded by swamps and low-lying delta lands, New
Orleans proper (29 56 North Latitude; 90 84 West Longitude) is an
urban oasis lying in a dike-enclosed area between the Mississippi River
and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 miles from the mouth of the river. The city
and parish boundaries are coterminous, New Orleans being the fourth
largest city in land area (365 square miles, of which 166 square miles are
water) in the United States. The boundary is very irregular; its total
length is 115 miles. On the north lie Lake Pontchartrain and Rigolets
Pass; on the east, Lake Borgne and St. Bernard Parish; on the south, St.
Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson Parishes; and on the west, Jefferson
Parish. The Mississippi forms part of the boundary on the east, south,
and west. The greatest distance within the city limits is thirty-four and
a half miles from northeast to southwest; the distance between the river
and the lake varies between five and eight miles.
Although the built-up section occupies only a small proportion of this
large area, the city has expanded to a considerable extent beyond its
original limits (the present Vieux Carre). Extension has been made both
upstream and downstream and northward to Lake Pontchartrain; a strip
of territory (Algiers) on the west bank of the river has also been an
nexed.
The popular name, Crescent City/ is derived from the fact that the
site of the original town was on a sharp bend of the river.
Topography. The average elevation of the city, which is below the high-
water levels of both the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, is but
one foot above mean Gulf level. The highest natural formations in the
city, about fifteen feet above mean Gulf level, are the strips of land ad-
New Orleans : The General Background
jacent to the river, the natural levees which confine the water to the chan
nel during ordinary and all but the highest stages of the river.
The greater portion of the city would suffer from floods every year were
it not for the surrounding artificial levee system. Levees constructed along
the river and the Pontchartrain lake-front, across the swamps and along
the waterways are all interconnected, thus enclosing completely the built-
up section of the city, which is drained by means of canals and pumping
stations. The levees along the river average about 23 feet and those along
the lake-front and across the swamps and marshes about nine feet above
mean Gulf level. Approximately thirty-nine per cent of the total land
area of New Orleans is enclosed within levees. The unprotected sixty-one
per cent is the peninsula and lands which lie along Lakes Pontchartrain
and Borgne and extend northeastward from Micheaud to the Rigolets
Pass. This area, for the most part subject to overflow by high tides from
the Gulf, consists of delta fingers, coastal islands and ridges of low eleva
tion, and intervening coastal marshes.
There are several navigable waterways within the municipal limits of
the city, all connecting with Lake Pontchartrain. The New Orleans
Navigation Canal begins at South Rampart Street at the edge of the busi
ness district and runs northward, entering the lake near the northwestern
corner of the city. Farther east, the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal,
commonly known as the Industrial Canal, provides a channel five and
one half miles long, with a depth of thirty feet and a width of three hun
dred feet, connecting the river and the lake. Bayou St. John, formerly
a navigable stream, begins at Lafitte Avenue and Jefferson Davis Park
way and runs northward to the lake. Other navigable waters in
clude Chef Menteur Pass, Lake St. Catherine, and a number of small
passes and canals in the marsh area northeast of the built-up section
of the city; the Mississippi River, Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne,
Rigolets Pass, and Bayou Bienvenue, all navigable, form part of the
boundaries.
Lake Pontchartrain on the north, one of the largest lakes in the United
States, is approximately forty-one miles long and twenty-five miles wide
and comprises an area of 635 square miles. Of this area 146 square miles
are included within the boundary of New Orleans.
Climate. Semi-tropical in nature, with an average yearly temperature
of 69.5, the weather of New Orleans is remarkably equable, subnormal
cold and excessive heat being rare. The winters and summers are gener
ally moderate, Gulf breezes and the proximity of numerous bodies of
water serving to modify extremes of temperature. Recordings of over
Natural Setting
100 and below 20 very seldom occur. The mean annual precipitation is
59.45 inches, an annual rainfall that exceeds that of any other large city
in the United States with the exception of Mobile and Miami. The highest
annual rainfall in New Orleans, 85.73 inches, occurred in 1927; the lowest,
31.7, in 1899.
The prevailing winds are from the Gulf, generally from the southeast.
Tropical hurricanes, which harass most points of the Gulf Coast, very
seldom strike New Orleans. Occasional fogs occur in the spring and winter
months, particularly along the river-front, but are, as a rule, of short
duration.
Geology and Paleontology. The Parish of Orleans, located near the
southeastern extremity of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, lies wholly
within the delta. With the exception of a few minor outcrops of sea-island
sand and lake-shore deposits of sand and clam shell, all surface formations
within the parish are alluvial. The major topographic features are the
natural levees along the Mississippi and Gentilly ridges and along Bayou
Sauvage, a former outlet of the river.
The higher parts of these ridges, or frontlands, are composed of sandy
loams. These dip and graduate into the backlands, where the soil is
composed of a lighter loam and waxy clay. Deposits of stiff, blue clay
fill the area between the ridges, except near the lake shores and passes,
where the alluvial material has been reworked by tidal action. Here the
soil consists of mucky masses of partly decomposed vegetation inter
spersed with a fine, drab-colored clay. Fine peat soil formed by marsh
vegetation in a state of partial decay sometimes accumulates over exten
sive low areas to a depth of from one to three feet on the surface of the
blue clay.
Fossils consist mainly of marine shells and oysters associated with sea
shore deposits, and clam shell (Rangia cuneatd) associated with the clay
deposits. Indian relics are numerous on the shell ridges near the lakes,
and broken bits of pottery can be found mixed with oyster and clam-shell
fossils along the lake beaches. Iron concretions and fossil cypress wood
are found in the blue clay.
Drainage. The low elevation of New Orleans makes drainage of the city
a difficult problem. Water has to be removed by pumps from the metro
politan section of the city, which is protected from outside high water by
encircling ievees. Ten pumping stations and more than 870 miles of
drainage canals and pipelines have been installed for that purpose. Under
ground tributary canals, fed by gutters and drainpipes, lead the water
into the main system, from which it is pumped into Bayou Bienvenue and
New Orleans : The General Background
flows by gravity into Lake Borgne. An additional safety measure is
provided for in the Bonnet Carre Spillway, which makes possible the
diversion into Lake Pontchartrain of Mississippi flood waters at a point
twenty miles above New Orleans.
HISTORY
SPANIARDS DISCOVER THE LAND
LEGENDARY accounts of early voyages by Spanish explorers are cu
riously substantiated by ancient maps which show that the mouth of the
Mississippi River and the immediate vicinity of present-day New Orleans
were known to Europeans only a short time after Columbus led the way
to the New World.
On the Tabula Terre Nove, a map made by Waldseemiiller before 1 508
from an original, probably the Cantino map of 1502, and on other early
charts, there appears the three-tongued mouth of a river, whose location,
west of a well-defined Florida, suggests the delta of the Mississippi. In
asmuch as the discovery of Florida is attributed to no earlier an explorer
than Ponce de Leon (1513), the only possible inference is a previous dis
covery, unrecorded in history except by cartographers.
Later knowledge of the river may have come from the half -legendary
voyages of Alvarez de Pineda and Cabeza de Vaca, intrepid adventurers
who explored the Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico. According to a pic
turesque account, Pineda in 1519 discovered the great river, to which he
gave the name Rio del Espiritu Santo. At its mouth he found a large
town, and for a distance of six leagues upstream counted forty villages in
habited by giants and pigmies wearing ornaments of gold in their noses
and ears. All that was lacking in this beautiful and densely populated
El Dorado, where the rivers ran to the sea heavily laden with gold, was the
Fountain of Youth, for want of which, perhaps, the Spaniards thought
the country not worth conquering.
Less fantastic is the voyage of De Vaca, leader of the survivors of the
Narvaez expedition, which was commissioned by the Spanish Govern
ment in 1528 to explore and conquer the Gulf Coast from Florida to
8 New Orleans : The General Background
Mexico. Escaping from the hostile Indians at Apalachicola Bay, De Vaca
and his men, making their way along the coast in makeshift boats, passed
the mouth of a broad river, presumably the Mississippi, which poured so
large a stream into the Gulf that his men were able to obtain fresh water
far out at sea. One account of this journey relates that, with the exception
of De Vaca and three men, the entire force capsized and was lost in the
current, while another narrator states that a tropical storm destroyed all
but the leader and a few men, who tarried six years among the Indians
before reaching Mexico.
The first white men to view the site of New Orleans were Luis Moscoso
and the survivors of De Soto s expedition, who sailed down the river in
1543 on their way back to civilization. More than a century later, during
which time the lower Mississippi lay neglected by explorers, Sieur de la
Salle, with a party of fifty men, descended from the Great Lakes, making a
stop on March 31, 1682, at the Indian village of Maheoula, a Tangipahoa
settlement, which, from Tonty s mention of it as being twenty leagues
from the western channel of the mouth, must have been close to the pres
ent location of New Orleans. On April 9, 1682, at a point not far down
stream (27 North Latitude), a cross was erected with a column bearing
the arms of France and an inscription claiming the territory in the name
of Louis XIV.
THE FRENCH FOUND THE CITY
Although the Mississippi was one of the first great rivers of North
America to be discovered and explored by Europeans, and although every
other important stream on the Atlantic seaboard had a fortified settle
ment erected at its mouth shortly after its discovery as a safeguard against
inland exploration by rival European nations, it was not until almost a
hundred and fifty years after the discovery of the Mississippi that an at
tempt was made to establish a settlement at the mouth of the river. For
that purpose Louis XIV sent out an expedition under La Salle in 1684;
but sailing too far westward, he landed at what is now Matagorda Bay,
Texas, in the belief that he was entering the western channel of the Mis
sissippi. Convinced of his error after landing, he sought the Mississippi
in vain, and was finally forced to abandon the project and attempt an
overland journey to Canada, during which he was treacherously killed by
one of his men.
History 9
A more successful attempt to rediscover and secure the mouth of the
Mississippi was made in 1698, when Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d Iberville,
sailed from Brest with four ships and the wherewithal of colonization.
In February, 1699, the French arrived at Mobile Bay, where they
learned from the Indians that the Mississippi was a short distance to the
west. Proceeding to Ship Island, the fleet anchored and Iberville set out
in small boats in search of the entrance to the river. The mouth of the
Mississippi, lined with mud-coated tree trunks, which they mistook from
afar for rocks, was found on March 2. Running their boats ashore, the
party sang a Te Deum in honor of the occasion, and the next day, Shrove
Tuesday, began the ascent of the river, the appropriate name of Mardi
Gras being given to a bayou twelve miles upstream. Farther on, Indians
of the Bayagoula and the Mongoulacha tribes were met, and on the fol
lowing Friday the party arrived at the present site of New Orleans, where
a buffalo was killed, a cross erected, and some trees marked. The expedi
tion continued as far as the Red River and made its way back to the con
voy by way of Bayou Manchac and Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas,
which were named after the Minister of Marine of France and his son,
respectively.
The following year Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Iber-
ville s brother, left the fort at Biloxi for further exploration of the river.
He ascended as far as the Ouchas and on his way back met an English
frigate of sixteen guns which had anchored twenty-eight leagues from the
mouth of the river. Bienville adroitly dissuaded the English captain from
proceeding up the river by informing him that his was but a small de
tachment of a large French force stationed upstream. The English, being
taken in, weighed anchor and, turning about, sailed to the Gulf; thus
giving rise to the name English Turn, a part of the river not very far from
New Orleans, which has been particularly unlucky for the English, since
at the Battle of New Orleans, a century later, they were turned back again
a short distance from the same spot. By a slim margin the difference
between the personalities of two men was the founding of New Orleans
accomplished by the French rather than the English.
For twenty-four years (1699-1723) the capital of Louisiana remained
on the Gulf Coast. Because of the belief that ships would find difficulty
in gaining entrance to the shallow and debris-obstructed mouth of the
river, no attempt was made to establish a settlement on the lower Mis
sissippi. Adrien de Pauger urged that a narrowing of the channel
through the construction of jetties would increase the current and make
the river a self-dredging agent, but his advice was not heeded for more
IO New Orleans : The General Background
than a century. In the meantime, exploratory work in the vicinity was
carried on by Jesuit priests, voyageurs from the Great Lakes, and
coureurs de bois, traders who did business with the Indians.
It being ascertained that suitable passage could be made for vessels at
the mouth of the river, Bienville decided upon the settlement of New
Orleans. A spot thirty leagues from the mouth, where Bayou St. John
ran from Lake Pontchartrain to within a short distance of the river, was
selected as the location, the place having been used by the Indians, long
before white men invaded the region, as a portage offering a short cut be
tween the Mississippi and the coastal waters to the east. An additional
advantage afforded by the site was the relatively high land found there,
a consideration not to be overlooked in that annually flooded region where
the land hugged the sea in an endless labyrinth of cypress swamps, slug
gish bayous, and coastal bays.
The exact date of the founding of La Nouvelle Orleans, named in honor
of the Regent of France, Philippe, Due d Orleans, has been disputed,
though most historians agree upon the year 1718, at which time, in Febru
ary, Bienville entrusted his engineers with the plotting of the town, the
exact location of which corresponds to the French Quarter of today.
EARLY GROWTH
The new settlement superseded Biloxi in 1723 as the capital of the vast
Colonial empire of Louisiana. Eighteen miles of levee were constructed
above and below the town, government buildings erected, and efforts
made to drain the land. As part of the Mississippi Bubble/ John Law s
grandiose real-estate project, New Orleans enjoyed an early increase in
population, although the majority of immigrants coming to Louisiana in
quest of the easy living advertised in Europe chose to settle along the river
outside of the small town. Beside the civil and military officials, the popu
lation consisted of slaves, soldiers, trappers, and merchants. Classes of
slaves included (i) Negroes imported directly from Africa or from the
French possessions in the West Indies; (2) esdaves naturels, Indian pris
oners of war; and (3) redemptioners, impoverished Europeans, most of
whom were Germans, who had bound themselves to serve for a period of
three years in payment of their passage and were sold to the planters by
ship captains. Because of the rapid increase in slaves, the French practice
of populating Louisiana with convict labor soon came to a stop, resulting
History II
in an improvement in the type of colonist settling in and about New
Orleans.
Under the Company of the Indies, a John Law enterprise, the govern
ment of the Colony was vested in a Superior Council consisting of the
directors of the trading company with a commandant-general, in place of
a governor, at its head. Lower courts were established for the administra
tion of justice, and a right of appeal to the Superior Council was granted.
In 1724, the Code Noir, a compilation drawn up for the regulation of
Negroes on the island of Santo Domingo, was promulgated in Louisiana by
Governor Bienville. Among its additional provisions were those having to
do with the expulsion of Jews from the province, under penalty of confisca
tion of property and imprisonment, and the establishment of the Catholic
religion as the State faith. For more than a century it formed the basis of
white treatment of enslaved Negroes.
The religious administration of the Colony was divided among three
religious orders. The Jesuits were given charge of all territory north of the
Ohio, the Capuchins were assigned to the territory west of the Mississippi
River, and the Carmelite Fathers were placed in charge of the settlement
east of the river with headquarters at Mobile. The Carmelites failed to
fill their assignment and the Capuchins were given charge, while the
Jesuits were allowed to do missionary work among the Indians in the
Capuchin territory, with the understanding that there would be no inter
ference with Capuchin activities. Both orders were under the supervision
of the Bishop of Quebec.
Care for the sick and education for girls were provided for with the
arrival in 1727 of six Ursuline nuns, who founded the Ursuline Convent.
Equally important, however, was the importation during the following
years of young French women (called files a la cassette because of the
chests of clothes and linen given them as dowries by the French Govern
ment) to supply wives for the colonists.
In 1731 the Company of the Indies relinquished its charter and Louisi
ana once more became a province of the Crown. A governor, appointed
by the King as his representative, regulated the simple affairs of the
Colony, and in his executive capacity exercised military and administra
tive authority, enforced by the soldiery of which he was the head. His
dictatorial power also embraced judicial and legislative activity, limited
to a great extent, however, by the fact that all ordinances and royal edicts
emanated from France. The Superior Council was reorganized to consist
of the intendant, procureur-genfral (King s attorney), registrar of the
province, and six prominent citizens. In conjunction with the Governor
12 New Orleans: The General Background
and a commissaire ordonnateur (agent of the King in charge of commcn <
and Crown property) the Council discharged the executive, legislative,
and judicial affairs of the Colony. Justice was administered, without trial
by jury, by inferior courts subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the
Superior Council. The Custom of Paris, a codification of ancient French
law, formed the basis of Colonial law from the beginning.
Marly in its history the town took on a gay and light-hearted appear
ance. Under the governorship of the Marquis de Vaudreuil (1743-53)
the social life of the town was modeled after Versailles, and citizens sought
to outdo each other in the splendor of their social affairs.
The capital of one third of the present area of the United States grew
slowly. At first only that manufacturing which had to do with supplying
the immediate needs of the Colony was undertaken. Sawmills were in
operation soon after the town was founded, and by 1729 brick, pottery,
and tiling were being sold in New Orleans. Shipbuilding, especially the
construction of pirogues, brigantincs, and other small craft, developed as
an industry to meet the demands of growing commerce on the Mississippi.
Never fully rcali/.ing her importance as the port of the Mississippi
Valley, New Orleans lay dormant during the first half of the eighteenth
century. Trade restrictions prohibited commerce with any but the mother
country, and illegal trade with Kngland, Spain, Mexico, Florida, and the
West Indies had to be resorted to. With merchants and officials conniving
with smugglers and pirates, smuggling grew to such an extent that in 1763
the illicit traffic was estimated to represent one sixth of the ollicial trade
total. The bulk of cargoes, shipped in exchange for slaves and Kuropean
merchandise, consisted of lumber, pitch, tar, wax from the wax myrtle,
brick, rice, indigo, sugarcane, cotton, sassafras, and fur pelts. As settlers
crossed the Allegheny Mountains and developed the Middle West, New
Orleans began to grow as a commercial port. The extent to which the
river IrallK had grown by 1750 may be seen in the ! re<|ucnt requests of
Colonial officials for sailors to man the boats used on the river. By i /<>.*
exports totaled $.$04,000; indigo accounted for $100,000, skins and furs
$80,000, and lumber $50,000.
UNDER SPANISH RULE
By the Treaty of Fontainebleau, 170.?, and the Treaty of Paris, 1763,
Louis XV ceded New Orleans, along with the portion of Louisiana lying
west of the Mississippi River, to Spain. It was not until 1764 that the
Hi. stor
French officials were informed of the transaction ami instructed to relin
quish the Colony. For two more years the city remained abandoned by
France and unclaimed by Spain. Indignation on the part of the citi/enry
against the transfer ran high, and was expressed in open resentment
toward the Spanish commissioner, Don Antonio de Ulloa, who took
possession of the Colony in 1766.
On October 28, 1768, a mass meeting of citizens, at which Ulloa s ex
pulsion was demanded, was held in New Orleans. The Superior Council,
acting upon the demands of the assembled populace, issued an order ex
pelling the Spanish commandant, who, with his household, had retired to
a ship lying at anchor in the river. During the night a band of insurgents
carrying torches and flares cut the vessel loose from its mooring, and
morning found the head of the government well on the way toward the
Gulf of Mexico. Serious consideration was given a proposal to found a re
public with a Protector at its head, but fear of foreign intervention acted
against the scheme.
For two years the Colony, the first in America to revolt against a
European power, enjoyed freedom from foreign rule, but on July J4, i 700,
the whole town was thrown into a tumult by news of the arrival at the
mouth of the river of twenty-four Spanish men-of-war and twent
hundred soldiers under the command of Spain s most illustrious general,
Count Alexander O Reilly. No opposition was made upon the arrival of
the flotilla in August, and O Reilly took formal possession on August 18,
replacing the French flag in the Place d Armes with the flag of Spain.
Shortly afterward, twelve leaders of the October revolt were imprisoned,
six being executed for their participation in the bloodless rebellion.
Changes in government were made, and the French law was abolished
and supplanted by the law in force in other Spanish colouic-s. The F\ecu-
tive Department consisted of a governor assisted by an intendant , auditor
of war, auditor of the intendancy, comptroller, and various minor officials,
lioth civil and military powers were vested in the Governor, who ap
pointed commandants in the same capacity for each parish or district.
The Sui>erior Council of the French regime was replaced by a legislative
and quasi-administrative council called the Cabildo, which was composed
of six perpetual regidors, two alcaldes, an attorney-general syndic, and a
clerk. Its judicial function was limited to the jurisdiction of appeals from
the alcaldes courts set up in New Orleans and the chief towns of the prov-
ime. For lack of a legislative body, laws came either direi My from Spain,
the Captain-General of Cuba, the A luirnciu 1 1 a buna (Cuban administra
tive council), or from the Governor himself, who, at the outset of his term,
14 New Orleans: The General Background
promulgated a list of laws in an inaugural address, the bando de buen
gobierno. Centralization of power in the hands of a few officials, lack of a
legislative body, and bureaucracy continued under Spanish rule to char
acterize the government of the Colony.
O Reilly, before his departure in 1770, relieved the commerce of the
Colony to some extent. Its trade had been confined, since Ulloa s ad
ministration, to six ports of Spain. Trade had also been forbidden with
any but Spanish vessels owned and commanded by the King s subjects.
Don Luis de Unzaga, Governor in 1772, tolerantly ignored the forbidden
trade with the British, which had grown considerably, and without which
the commerce of the Province would have suffered greatly. In 1774 the
estimated value of Louisiana commerce was $600,000, of which only
$15,000 passed through legitimate Spanish channels.
With the outbreak of the American Revolution, Spanish officials be
came involved, conniving with the revolting colonists in the war against
England. American agents were permitted to establish bases in the city,
through which they supplied the Atlantic colonies with munitions and
supplies. Most active in this work was Oliver Pollock, a merchant
granted freedom of trade in New Orleans and Louisiana in return for the
shipload of flour he had placed at O Reilly s disposal in 1769, when the
Spanish general was hard pressed in supplying his troops with provisions.
By advancing supplies and credit totaling $300,000 to the revolting
colonists during the Revolution, Pollock played an important part in the
success of the American cause.
Large numbers of French settlers and free Indians, who had refused to
take the oath of allegiance to England after West Florida had been ceded
to that country in 1763, moved to New Orleans or elsewhere in the vicin
ity. Under Don Bernardo de Galvez, son of the Viceroy of Spain and
Governor of Louisiana, an expedition was permitted to be fitted out in
New Orleans and sent against Fort Bute, an English settlement in the
Manchac country. The fort was captured, and British territory as far
north as Natchez was terrorized by the expedition.
As a result of these and other acts, Great Britain declared war against
Spain in 1779, whereupon Galvez, with an army of militia, Indians,
Negroes, and volunteers of every character, took advantage of the oppor
tunity to make a series of successful raids against the enemy at Baton
Rouge, Natchez, Manchac, Mobile, and Pensacola.
In 1788 the city was almost completely destroyed by a great fire.
Tapers lighted in observances of Good Friday of that year ignited the
curtains of the Nunez house on Chartres Street. Swept by a strong south
History 15
wind, the conflagration spread through the town, consuming 856 houses
and laying waste four-fifths of the city. While New Orleans was being
rebuilt, most of the inhabitants were forced to seek refuge among the
planters along the river.
The year 1794 was notable. The first newspaper in Louisiana, Le
Moniteur de la Louisiane, appeared on the streets of New Orleans;
fitienne de Bore, a sugar-cane planter, successfully granulated sugar;
Governor Carondelet authorized construction of a canal from Bayou St.
John to the city ramparts, and the new St. Louis Church, not yet a cathe
dral, was dedicated. A most disastrous occurrence, however, was a fire
that razed 212 of the buildings erected after the Great Fire of 1788.
UNDER THREE FLAGS
By the Treaty of San Ildefonso (1801) Louisiana was ceded to France.
The colonists were not formally notified of the transfer until the arrival
in March 1803 of Pierre Laussat, the Colonial Prefect sent by Napoleon
to take over the Colony. He was coldly received, for although New Or
leans was preponderantly French, the townspeople were not enthusiastic
about the change. The substitution of French assignats of fluctuating
value for Spanish silver, the possibility of new laws affecting commerce,
and the revolutionary policy that had bred the revolt at Santo Domingo
were cause for alarm to a populace grown accustomed to peace under the
Spanish. Laussat was considered a dangerous revolutionnaire by the
royalists and emigres, and so frightened were the Ursuline nuns of the
emissary of an anti-Catholic government that most of them left for
Havana in June, despite the assurance and pleadings of Laussat.
News of the sale of Louisiana to the United States (April 30, 1803)
arrived in August and placed Laussat in an embarrassing position. The
great plans he had contemplated for the Colony during his regime were
of no consequence, since his official capacity was now concerned merely
with the taking over of Louisiana from Spain and the immediate cession
of it to the United States.
The ceremony of transfer to France was fixed for November 3. By
noon that day the principal part of the population of New Orleans had
assembled in the Place d Armes to wait in the rain while Salcedo, Gover
nor of Louisiana, the Marquis of Casa Calvo, Spanish Commissioner, and
Laussat met in the H6tel de Ville (Cabildo) to read the proclamation of
1 6 New Orleans: The General Background
transfer. Absolution from their oath of allegiance was granted to all
Spaniards not wishing to retain their citizenship, and the keys to Fort
St. Charles and Fort St. Louis were handed to Laussat on a silver plate.
The official party then made its way to the square, where the Spanish flag
was taken down and the French Tricolor raised in its stead.
Twenty days later transfer of the Colony to the United States took
place. Claiborne, Wilkinson, and Laussat met at the Cabildo, and after
conducting ceremonies similar to those of November 30 joined the crowd
assembled in the Place d Armes. After the American troops had arrived
the ceremony of the interchange of flags was gone through. Although the
Tricolor of France descended without a hitch, the American flag stuck
and caused some difficulty in hoisting. A banquet of 450 places, started
at three o clock in the afternoon, was followed by a dance, which ended
late the next morning.
New Orleans was as dissatisfied with the transfer to the United States
as it had been with retrocession to France. The Creole element of the
town, which outnumbered the American residents twelve to one, disliked
Claiborne as governor because he knew little concerning their country,
people, or language. He surrounded himself with Americans, and the
number of them he put in office seemed to the Orleanians to be out of all
proportion to their representation. The introduction of new customs, and
particularly the use of English as the official language, outraged the town.
Insurrectionary placards posted at night, and duels and clashes between
Orleanians and Americans in the streets and in ballrooms, added to the
bitter feeling, which culminated in a petition to Congress for admission to
the Union and the right to elect a governor.
OLD NEW ORLEANS
At this period in its history, New Orleans was still a small town extend
ing about a mile along the turn of the river, from Fort St. Charles to Fort
St. Louis. Three suburbs skirted the fosse and the dilapidated palisades
of the original city (now the French Quarter) ; the Faubourg Ste. Marie on
the south in the region that is now the commercial section; the Faubourg
Treme on the west above Rampart to the cypress swamps of Bayou St.
John; and the Faubourg Marigny on the east below Esplanade, on the
lands of Bernard de Marigny. In this entire area there were twelve to
fourteen hundred buildings, housing a population of approximately
10,000 4000 whites, 2500 free Negroes, and the remainder slaves.
History 17
The Place d Armes (Jackson Square), slightly larger then, opened on
the river. Facing the square and the Mississippi stood the most imposing
building in town, the twin-towered St. Louis Cathedral. Quite as magnifi
cent was the Principal or Hotel de Ville (Cabildo) beside the church,
back of which stood the Calaboose or prison. Other public buildings were
the Ursuline Convent, the Custom House, two hospitals, a barracks, and
a government house.
The buildings on Levee (Decatur), Chartres, and Royal Streets were
constructed of brick, faced with lime or stucco, and had roofs of tile and
slate. Those in the rear were made of cypress with shingle roofs, and were
so combustible that an ordinance had to be passed forbidding the further
erection of timber buildings. As a precaution against flooding during
rainstorms the houses were set on pillars, leaving a kind of cellar on the
surface of the ground. Flights of stairs, vestiges of which remain to this
day in the Vieux Carre, encroached upon the banquette, a sidewalk four or
five feet wide, constructed of bricks with a retaining wall of cypress planks.
Visitors to the city at this time were unanimous in their condemnation
of the unpaved streets which, though well laid out, were little better than
muddy canals. The city blocks were three hundred and twenty feet long;
the streets were thirty-seven feet wide and were lined with ditches to
carry off the seepage from the levee. Advantage was taken in the con
struction of the sewerage system of the curious phenomenon of water
draining away from the river. Criss-cross ditches, when flooded by means
of sluices in the levee, carried the refuse of the town to the swamps and
Lake Pontchartrain. The system proved a failure, however, because of
the indolence of the garbage men (four carts were detailed for removing
filth from the streets), who permitted the conduits to become clogged.
As a result, the slop and garbage thrown in the gutters created a stench
that was only dispelled by flushing rains. The blocks after a hard rain
were completely surrounded by water, and as a consequence came to be
called ilets. The streets were lighted by means of lanterns hung from
hooks attached to corner buildings. They swung in the wind, were put
out by rain, and at best afforded poor light. What with the pitfalls, the
uneven banquettes, and the detours occasioned by lakes of standing water,
walking was an adventure. On more than one occasion high-born ladies
went to balls with their skirts lifted high and their party shoes and stock
ings in their hands.
Fire-fighting must have been a thrilling and terrifying affair. The
Depot des Pompes (engine house) was located at the Cabildo and housed
four engines, twelve dozen buckets, twelve ladders, ten grappling irons
1 8 New Orleans: The General Background
and chains, ten gaffs, twelve shovels, twelve pickaxes, and ten sledge
hammers. From twelve to twenty-two men served each machine, all
volunteers, with an additional company of sappers whose duty it was to
tear down buildings if the fire threatened to spread. When a fire broke
out it was announced to the town by the watchman who stood on the
porch of the St. Louis Cathedral for that purpose. He rang the alarm bell
of the church and waved a flag to indicate to the people the direction of
the fire. All policemen who could be spared were obliged to aid in the
fire-fighting, as were the townspeople met on the way. A reward of fifty
dollars to the engine company first reaching the fire encouraged speed.
The police force, which was frequently reorganized in an effort to pre
serve law and order, continued inadequate, judging from the complaints
made to the City Fathers about the numerous pigsties permitted within
the city limits, the removal of ground from places reserved for the town,
and the reckless driving of Negro cart drivers, who violated the ordinance
against standing while driving. Censure was also brought on the City
Guard when a murdered man found in the Faubourg Ste. Marie was
buried by charitable persons after the police had left him lying in the
streets for three days. To improve the efficiency of the force in catching
desperados stalking the streets at night a sentry box was placed every
four blocks, around which watchmen, carrying swords and lances, were
to patrol in the greatest silence, since the noise that they had hitherto
made enabled the prowlers to know of their whereabouts.
Two cotton mills and a crude sugar refinery were the main industries
of the city. Seafaring craft anchored at the levee near the Place d Armes,
and barges and flatboats from the Mississippi Valley tied up at the Bat-
ture, ten steps from Tchoupitoulas Street. Three banks, the first of which
opened in 1805 on Royal between Conti and St. Louis Streets (now the
Patio Royal), administered to the business needs of New Orleans.
Described by travelers as a Babylon where Creoles, English, Spanish,
French, Germans, Italians, and Americans did little else than dance,
drink, and gamble, New Orleans soon gained notoriety as a wide-open
town. Every sort of entertainment was afforded the citizenry, from bear-
and bull-baiting to Voodoo rites conducted by the Negroes in Congo
Square (now Beauregard Square). In fact, such was the gaiety of New
Orleans on Sundays that horrified visitors were wont to think it a con
venient religion which, while it administered to the needs of the soul, took
care that it did not interfere with the more important pleasure of the
body.
The mania for dancing kept a public ball going twice a week during the
History 19
winter, adults attending one day and children the other. Dancing lasted
from seven until cock-crowing the next morning. Quadroon balls, at
which ladies of slight color and of extraordinary beauty entertained the
jeunesse doree of the town, were gay affairs compared to the sedate balls
held by the white women of society. Latin temperament ran high, and
swords or pistols were often resorted to when a question of honor arose.
Concubinage between whites and blacks was an established custom, but
New Orleans society/ with its roots imbedded in European culture and
elegance, ran its course sedate and unperturbed.
In addition to these amusements the general public found entertain
ment at the French theaters on St. Philip and St. Peter Streets. They
were open three times a week, drawing the greatest crowds on Sunday.
Their presentations, as they were announced in the newspapers, competed
for public favor with exhibitions of elephants and displays of fireworks.
AMERICANS DEVELOP THE CITY
After American annexation numerous Americans, aware of the fortunes
to be made in a city so advantageously situated, began to settle in New
Orleans. Because of the antipathy of the Creoles, who pictured all Ameri
cans as boorish rowdies, the newcomers settled in the Faubourg Ste. Marie
on the upstream side of the town in what is now the business section of
New Orleans. Here they developed a town quite distinct from the old
New Orleans. As time passed and the city began to benefit from unre
stricted trade with other States of the Mississippi Valley the two ele
ments merged, and though the Creoles held themselves aloof socially,
common civic interests and the leveling effect of commercial intercourse
tended to unite the inhabitants.
New Orleans was incorporated February 17, 1805, and the city limits
defined. The municipal government consisted of a mayor, a recorder, a
treasurer, and fourteen aldermen. The latter formed a council whose func
tion it was to make and pass all by-laws and ordinances for the better
government of the affairs of the city corporation. Free white males,
residents of New Orleans for a year, either owners of real estate of five
hundred dollars value or renters paying one hundred dollars a year, were
qualified to vote. James Pitot, builder of one of the first cotton presses
in New Orleans (corner of Toulouse and Burgundy Streets) succeeded
fitienne de Bore as mayor, and on March 4, 1805, the townspeople first
exercised their franchise in an election of aldermen.
2O New Orleans : The General Background
In the same year the Legislature provided for the establishment of New
Orleans first higher institution of learning, the College of Orleans. Schools
in the Colony had been scarce. The Ursuline nuns offered instructions to
seventy or eighty young girls and maintained a schoolhouse near the
convent where female children appeared at certain hours to be gratui
tously instructed in writing, reading, and arithmetic. No mention is
made of similar schools for boys; they had to rely, possibly, upon private
schools such as that conducted by the Reverend Philander Chase on
Tchoupitoulas Street, or that opened at 29 Bienville Street by Francis
Racket, teacher of English, arithmetic, geography, and history. The
College of Orleans, which was finally opened in 1811 through a govern
ment appropriation of $15,000, had a president and four professors
and a curriculum which included Latin, Greek, English, French, Spanish,
philosophy, literature, and the sciences. From 1822 to 1825 the college
was under the direction of Joseph Lakanal, prominent for his work in
reorganizing the French school system under the Directory and Napo
leon.
The New Orleans Library Society was incorporated April 19, 1805,
when an unlimited number of twenty-five-dollar shares were sold and the
first library in New Orleans was established. During the same year, after
a vote of the Protestants in the city favored an Episcopal clergyman, the
first Protestant church was organized.
Many improvements were made in the town during the next few years.
A waterworks carrying water from the Mississippi in wooden conduits
laid a foot and a half below the banquettes was installed by Louis Gleise;
a Negro chain gang was employed in filling in the streets; sidewalks were
built and crossing bridges constructed; and meat markets, notoriously
unclean, had their water closets torn down.
As the center of Aaron Burr s filibustering schemes, New Orleans was
thrown into a panic in the winter of 1806 when a large flotilla with Burr
as its leader was reported descending the Mississippi to use the city as a
base in furthering his intention of separating the Western country from
the United States or, failing in that, to wrest Mexico from Spain. The
banks were to be plundered of $2,000,000 and Louisiana revolutionized.
Great efforts were made to fortify the city against what was said to be
a formidable force. The Chamber of Commerce met to consider ways and
means of defense, money was subscribed, orders given for organization
of the Battalion of Orleans, and volunteers and the militia cavalry ordered
out. In the meantime, Burr with sixty to eighty men kept ahead of
orders for his arrest until he was stopped at Natchez and held for trial, at
History 21
news of which the hysteria in New Orleans subsided as quickly as it had
been aroused.
The first steamboat to descend the Mississippi River arrived in New
Orleans amid great enthusiasm on January 10, 1812. Propulsion by steam
solved the problem of upstream navigation, and was the greatest single
factor in the rapid growth of New Orleans to a major North American
port.
Louisiana was admitted to the Union April 30, 1812. New Orleans,
then the capital of the State, had a population of 24,552 in 1810, having
more than doubled its population in the first decade of the nineteenth
century. This increase was caused largely by the immigration of refugees
from Santo Domingo; almost six thousand arrived in two months in
1809. The city, hard pressed at first to find room for the immigrants,
absorbed them in the course of time. Gay and luxury-loving, they infused
a new spirit into the town and tended to offset the American influence
then beginning to be felt.
REDCOATS STRIKE AT THE CITY
In the last year of the War of 1812 New Orleans became the objective
of an attempted British invasion of the Mississippi Valley. Throughout
the war an attack had been anticipated, but it was not until after the
sack of Washington that the British turned their attention to the Gulf.
The Spanish port of Pensacola was used as a base, from which a campaign
was conducted against General Andrew Jackson. The Lafitte brothers,
Pierre and Jean, who had built up a lucrative privateering business at
Barataria, were invited to join forces with the British. Although the
British offered him rank as captain and protection for his buccaneering
enterprises, Jean Lafitte rejected the offer, but, feigning acceptance, sent
the letters of the English official to Governor Claiborne, along with an
offer of aid in the defense of New Orleans. The hellish banditti, with
whom Jackson was loath to associate, later acquitted themselves bravely
during the Battle of New Orleans.
Jackson and his troops arrived in New Orleans on December 2, 1814,
six days after General Sir Edward Pakenham had left Jamaica with his
fleet and the pick of Wellington s Peninsular veterans. Immediate
preparations were made for the defense of a town which looked to the
future with distrust and gloomy apprehension, in which banks because
22 New Orleans: The General Background
of lack of specie had suspended payment on notes for several months, and
which hoped to be saved only by miracle. The outlying forts at Chef
Menteur, the Rigolets, and along the river were inspected and recon
ditioned; the coastal bayous were ordered to be blocked against the
British ascent.
The enemy arrived at Chandeleur Island December 10, 1814. Since
Lake Borgne was too shallow to permit the frigates to land troops, a
transfer was made to small boats. An engagement for the control of the
waterway occurred on December 14, in which the British with forty-five
open boats manned by twelve hundred men defeated five American gun
boats detailed for scouting purposes in Lake Borgne. During the follow
ing week, while two British officers succeeded with the help of some
Spanish fishermen in reconnoitering Bayou Bienvenue as far as the
Villere Plantation, seven miles below New Orleans, seven thousand
troops were transferred to the mainland.
News of the defeat on Lake Borgne excited feverish activity in the
city. Jackson assumed dictatorial powers and declared martial law.
Lafitte s men were enlisted and messengers were sent to hurry Carroll
and Thomas with their detachments of Tennessee and Mississippi vol
unteers; Coffee and his men, who had been sent to Baton Rouge, were
ordered to advance by forced marches. Great patriotic fervor swept the
town; the Marseillaise, Yankee Doodle, and Chant du Depart rang through
the streets, as men of many nationalities white, black, and Indian
prepared to repulse the redcoats who were coming from no one knew
what direction.
At noon, December 23, 1814, the vanguard of the British army suc
ceeded in advancing unseen, via Bayou Bienvenue, as far as the Villere
Plantation, where Major Villere and the militia under his command were
captured. While the British set up camp and brought up troops from the
fleet at anchor in Lake Borgne, General Andrew Jackson, having been
notified of the strength and position of the invaders, mobilized his men
and drew up plans for an immediate attack. The war-schooner Carolina*
was to anchor off of the levee close to the enemy encampment and give the
signal for a general attack by pouring a broadside of hot shot at the
British. Coffee and his Tennesseans, who had previously marched 120
miles in two days, were to move through the cypress swamps and fall
upon the British flank and rear, while Jackson and his regulars, Plauche s
city volunteers, who ran all the way to New Orleans from Fort St. John
(now commemorated in the Jackson Day Run), d Aquin s colored battal
ion, McRea s marines, and eighteen Choctaw Indians were to strike
along the river.
History 23
At 7:30 P.M. the Carolina sidled up to the levee and opened fire upon
the unsuspecting British as they were cooking supper and preparing their
bivouacs. Confusion reigned as the redcoats put out their fires and ran
for shelter behind a secondary levee. Simultaneously, Jackson and Coffee
advanced to the attack. In the hand-to-hand combat in the dark, in
which bayonets, tomahawks, hunting knives, and fists were used to ad
vantage, the Tennesseans made murderous inroads on the British right
flank, although Jackson s charge was met with stubborn resistance.
After two hours fighting a heavy fog terminated the battle, neither side
having gained any decisive advantage.
The American forces retreated two miles toward New Orleans during
the night and established a breastwork on an abandoned canal between
Chalmette and Rodriguez Plantations. During the following week, while
the intervening area was flooded by a break in the levee to impede an
advance by the enemy, eight batteries were erected and preparations
made for the British attack. The army under Jackson consisted of about
five thousand men made up of volunteers, free Negroes, Choctaw In
dians, Baratarians, and volunteers from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missis
sippi. This motley crew, as strange a force as ever served under one
flag, was expected to withstand the assault of between eight and nine
thousand British veterans.
The British, with Pakenham now at their head, brought up more
troops and artillery. On January i, in an effort to open breaches in the
American fortifications, twenty-four English guns began a steady fire
upon the entire extent of Jackson s line. The Americans, with twelve
or thirteen guns, replied with enthusiasm. Round after round rattled
down the breastwork from the river to the swamp as the defenders of
the city manned their batteries in the manner that had won for Americans
the reputation of being the best artillerymen of their day. So steady
were their rounds of fire and so deadly their aim that within an hour
the fire of the enemy was broken. By three o clock in the afternoon the
British ceased firing and abandoned their guns, conceding victory to
Jackson s men, among whom none handled their guns better than You
and Beluche, battle-scarred members of the Barataria brigade.
Pakenham now elected to wait for reinforcements to come up from his
fleet. Jackson benefited little by the delay, for although two thousand
Kentuckians arrived, few could be put into service due to a shortage of
guns and equipment. While rumors circulated to the effect that New
Orleans was to be burned to the ground in the event of defeat, or was to
be surrendered to the British by the city officials who were unduly alarmed
24 New Orleans: The General Background
by the reputed watchword of the enemy, * Beauty and Booty, prepara
tions went ahead for a major encounter.
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
Had there been faster means of communication in those days, news of
the signing of peace at Ghent, December 24, 1814, would have been
received to lift the siege and avert the battle of January 8. As it was,
the morning broke with the roar of cannon and the orderly advance of
the British main army. Preceded by showers of Congreve rockets, the
British, carrying scaling ladders, advanced with precision and arrogant
slowness. The main attack was directed to the American left near the
cypress swamp, where Generals Carroll, Adair, and Coffee were stationed
with their dirty shirts, as the British called the riflemen from Kentucky
and Tennessee. Grape and canister were poured into the ranks of the
oncoming redcoats, while the backwoodsmen, unabashed by either the
elegance or the reputation of the veterans who had harassed Napoleon,
cut great swaths in the enemy line. Standing knee-deep in mud and
water, these bedraggled, tobacco-chewing mountaineers handled their
shootin irons with great precision and devastating efficiency. British
reserves came up to keep the line intact, but the advance was checked
short of the breastwork, the British retreating from the hail of fire that
crackled across the plain. Pakenham, in an attempt to rally his men,
was shot from his horse and carried to the rear, mortally wounded. A
second rally was effected but was completely routed, only a few valiant
British meeting death at the American breastwork. By 8:30 in the morn
ing the enemy was entirely defeated, and retreated, leaving the field cov
ered with dead and wounded. Thirteen of Jackson s men were killed,
30 wounded, and 19 missing, as compared to the British casualties of
700 killed, 1400 wounded, and 500 missing.
The Americans kept up a ceaseless artillery fire until January 17,
when the British retired to their fleet, leaving the Americans in possession.
The march of the victorious defenders into the town was a triumphant
procession. January 23 was declared a day of Thanksgiving, and an im
pressive ceremony was given in Jackson s honor in the square now bear
ing his name. A huge throng gathered to watch him pass under an arch,
as girls tossed flowers in his path. A Te Deum was sung in the Cathedral,,
and in the evening the city and suburbs were splendidly illuminated.
History 25
THE TOWN BECOMES A METROPOLIS
New Orleans entered upon an era of almost unbroken tranquillity,
prosperity, and commercial expansion, which lasted until the Civil War.
The value of exports reached nearly $10,000,000 in 1815. After the
Fulton-Livingston monopoly of Mississippi steamboat traffic had been
declared null and void by the United States Supreme Court, steamboats
multiplied rapidly, and increased from 21 in 1814 to 989 in 1830. As
the steamboat became an accepted fact, trade along the entire exten^
of the Mississippi increased, and New Orleans began to vie with New
York as an important port for European commerce. The levees at New
Orleans were piled high with merchandise, and thousands of dock-hands
unloaded steamboats to transfer the cargo to ships which carried the
produce of the valley to ports all over the world. Cotton, tobacco,
grain, and meat came down the river in enormous quantities, as sugar,
coffee, and European manufactures went back to the pioneer homes of
the new settlements.
As commerce grew, the city rapidly expanded. The American Quarter
came into its own and was recognized as a very definite factor in the city s
growth. Tchoupitoulas Road, near Canal Street, was by now an important
commercial center. Under Samuel J. Peters, James H. Caldwell, and
William H. Sparks the suburbs beyond what is now Howard Avenue
were developed, and rural homes, dairies, orchards, and farms grew
closer together as the region took on an urban aspect. Below Esplanade
Avenue the Marigny Plantation was being developed as a suburb, while
beyond Rampart Street along the Bayou Road numerous homes were
being erected.
Immigration of gamblers, criminals, and riffraff from all over the
world, lured to New Orleans because of its reputation as a lawless river
town, brought on an acute crime problem, and the city s first criminal
court was established to cope with the situation in 1817. A custom of
the time for the preservation of peace one which lasted for many years
was the sounding of the curfew nightly. A cannon was fired at 8 and
at 9 P.M. to warn those who were out without permission to return to
their homes, and sailors to return to their ships. A special pass issued by
a respected merchant or employer was required of those wishing to be
on the streets after curfew. At nine o clock most of the taverns and shops
closed their doors, although some of the better hotels or taverns, by
virtue of their position, were not restricted by the curfew.
26 New Orleans: The General Background
In March, 1818, the first steam waterworks was completed. Located
on the levee near the French Market, it supplied water for both drink
ing and general use. Prior to its being put into operation, most of the
drinking water taken from the Mississippi had been peddled through the
streets at a picayune (about 6>^ ) for four bucketfuls.
In 1821 the city was excited by a rumor that an expedition was being
fitted out under Dominique You with the intention of rescuing Napoleon
Bonaparte from St. Helena. Ever since Napoleon s incarceration on the
island, certain French citizens in the city had been interested in a plan
to bring him to New Orleans. Nicholas Girod, mayor from 1812 to 1815,
offered his house at the corner of Chartres and St. Louis Streets as a
refuge for the former emperor, and legend has it that he had a boat
built and provisioned for the rescue. Three days before sailing word was
received that Napoleon had died, and the expedition was abandoned.
Legend persists in investing at least two houses on Chartres Street with
importance as being possible homes of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Because of the French-speaking population, theaters had limited their
offerings to that language. An English actor by the name of James H.
Caldwell presented, in 1820, the first English play to be staged in New
Orleans. His success was so great that in 1822 he laid the cornerstone
of the American Theater on Camp Street between Gravier and Poydras,
the first building of any pretension to be constructed in the American
Quarter. With the opening of this theater in 1823 New Orleans was in
troduced to illuminating gas.
Within the next few years many civic improvements took place. Two
hundred and fifty street lights were placed in the diagonals of the principal
streets in 1821. Each intersection was hung with twelve lanterns, but
although street lighting was greatly improved, the old custom of carrying
a lantern when going abroad after dark was continued until 1840. A
few streets were partly paved, Chartres Street having the distinction of
being the only street paved its full length. The first paving in the Amer
ican Quarter was done when two squares of St. Charles Street were laid
with cobblestones and covered with fine gravel. Those streets which
were not paved had wooden gutters and sidewalks, swept and kept clean
by Negro chain gangs. Trees were planted in the Place d Armes, along
the levee, in Congo Square, and along many of the streets. Sycamores
were the principal trees chosen.
Masked balls and street masking became features of the Mardi Gras
celebration early in Colonial times. They were continued under the
Spanish until the governors suppressed street masking because of row-
History 27
dyism. Street masking again came into vogue about 1835 and the news
papers described a Mardi Gras parade for the first time.
In 1831 the Pontchar train Railroad was put into operation between
New Orleans and Milneburg, a distance of four and a half miles. A
financial success from the start, the railroad soon increased its facilities
for freight and passengers, and a harbor and a town (Milneburg) were
laid out at the lake end of the line.
The city was visited by a terrible epidemic of yellow fever and Asiatic
cholera in 1832 and 1833. In the two-year period that the epidemic
raged, approximately ten thousand people died.
The Medical College of Louisiana, the forerunner of Tulane University,
was founded in 1834, and was opened the following year with sixteen
students in attendance. The school grew slowly until it was made the
University of Louisiana by legislative act in 1847, and became Tulane
University in 1883, after a large bequest was left to it by Paul Tulane.
Ill feeling between the Americans and Creoles was manifested in many
ways, more so because the Creoles outnumbered the Americans in the
City Council, and as a result received the benefit of Council enactments.
This animosity came to a climax in 1836 when a young American was
killed in a duel by a Creole. In conformance with the law, the survivor
was placed on trial, but was acquitted. The decision was taken by the
Americans as an individual insult, and justice was demanded by a mob
which surrounded the judge s home. The State, taking heed of the
trouble in the city, withdrew the charter and issued another, with the
provision that the city be divided into three separate municipalities, to
be governed over by an autonomous board of elected aldermen, presided
over by a recorder. A fourth board, which was to constitute the City
Council, was drafted from the three boards and was presided over by
the Mayor. Only those problems which were of common interest to all
three municipalities were handled by the City Council. The first munici
pality embraced the Creole section, the second comprised the American
or uptown section, and the third contained the remainder of what is now
New Orleans. In 1852, after sixteen years of tripartite government, the
city was reunited into a single municipality.
The nationwide panic of 1837 caused a serious disruption of business
in New Orleans and threatened to disturb the financial structure of the
city. Fourteen banks announced suspension of the payment of specie.
In an attempt to improve financial conditions, more money was put into
circulation, each municipality issuing its own money, which ranged in
denomination from twenty-five cents to four dollars. In the mad scramble
28 New Orleans: The General Background
for money, which depreciated as rapidly as it was issued, corporations,
and even individuals, issued their own money. Depreciation was so
great that money had to be carried about in large sacks. Credit was
stagnated until 1839, when prosperity returned, and the city again forged
ahead.
By 1840 New Orleans, with 102,192 inhabitants, had grown to be the
fourth largest city in the United States. Second only to New York as a
port, it was contesting with that city for first place. Commerce of that
year reached the total of approximately $200,000,000. Imports, which in
1815 had represented 50 per cent of the total commerce when New
Orleans was the only port of entry for the upper valley, declined to
33^3 P er cent by 1840, a diminution attributable to changing trade
conditions following the construction of the Erie Canal and the building
of railroads from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Middle West. Competition
from Eastern seaports for the valley trade became noticeable after 1835,
when thousands of tons of produce were moving out of the Ohio country to
New York instead of to New Orleans. No impression was made upon the
business interests of New Orleans, however, because the continued in
crease in the population of the Mississippi Valley caused an actual in
crease in river shipments, notwithstanding the divergence of trade to the
East. From 1830 to 1850 railroads were regarded largely as local feeders
to river and canal, but after 1850 connections were completed between
Chicago and the Atlantic coast and the trade of the Valley began, slowly
at first, but with increasing rapidity, to leave the river route. Warning
came in 1846, when, for the first time, flour and wheat receipts at Buffalo
exceeded those at New Orleans. Little concern was felt in New Orleans
at this shift in trade routes, since cotton was becoming more and more the
chief economic reliance of the city. By 1850 it accounted for forty-five
per cent of the total commerce. Along with the shift to cotton as a
commercial staple went the trade in slaves, New Orleans becoming the
greatest slave market in the country.
Literature and the arts kept pace with economic and social develop
ment, as New Orleans became the cultural center of the South. Opera
flourished, theaters attracted European stars, artists abounded, and bon
vivants thrived in a city which had already become famous for its fast
and loose manner of living. Gambling, horse-racing, dueling, steamboat
racing, and cock- and dog-fighting, in addition to the magnificence of
balls, receptions, and Mardi Gras, made New Orleans, which was even
then becoming a winter haven for well-to-do Northerners, a gay metrop
olis.
History 29
A new public-school system was put in effect in 1847, the State pro
viding funds on the basis of educable children ranging in age from 6 to
1 6 years. In 1848 approximately 7000 children attended the free schools,
and by 1860 the number rose to 12,000. After 1850 the public-school
system was enlarged to a great extent through the beneficence of John
McDonogh.
Yellow fever broke out sporadically in 1852, to reach epidemic pro
portions in the following summer. At the height of this, the worst
epidemic in the history of the city, barrels of tar were burned at the
street corners and cannon were fired to purify the atmosphere, a practice
which threw the sick into convulsions. Doctors and nurses toiled heroi
cally, and many who might have fled from the city remained behind to
volunteer their services. Money was contributed from all parts of the
country. After Black Day, August 31, 1853, on which 230 deaths from
fever were reported, the plague began to abate. The number of deaths
from all causes between June and October is estimated to have exceeded
11,000, yellow fever accounting for 7,189.
The frequency with which yellow fever and cholera epidemics occurred
and the abnormally high death rate (said to have been 100 per cent
higher in 1849 than that of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Charles
ton) gave New Orleans the reputation of being the graveyard of the
Nation. Local pride, which persisted in regarding yellow fever as a
strangers disease, a conception curiously borne out by the fact that
very few natives were stricken by the malady (only 87 native-born
Orleanians perished in 1853), caused the citizens to minimize the extent
of the recurrent scourges, the attitude being taken that denial of its
presence was the best cure for fever. Lack of underground sewers, the
filthy condition of the streets, and pools of stagnant water, in which
mosquitoes bred freely, were contributing factors which, though offset
to some extent by quarantine regulations, continued to make yellow fever
the greatest peril to the city. Only after the true origin of the disease
was determined and efforts were made to control mosquito breeding, was
New Orleans made a healthy city.
THE FEDERALS CAPTURE THE CTTY
Because it, more than any other city of the South, depended upon
slavery and the cotton crop for prosperity, New Orleans had little
choice when it became necessary to make a decision on the question of
3O New Orleans : The General Background
secession as the cotton States went the city had to follow. The small
Union Party was silenced by the tide of circumstances. The much
larger Co-operationist group likewise found its efforts futile after
South Carolina forced the issue. Citizens of all opinions began preparing
themselves for war after the State legislature adopted the ordinance
of secession on January 26, 1861. A week later the Custom House and
Mint in New Orleans were seized by the State militia.
For more than a year the city saw no fighting. Instead of war there
was preparation enlisting and equipping troops for action on distant
fronts. Gold and silver disappeared, and Confederate money became the
leading currency. The price of food and clothing rose as the value of
money went down. The State had one paper issue, the city another.
First there was a lack of currency and then a flood of shin-plasters ;
merchants issued their own money, in which enterprising liquor dealers
took the lead. A joke was current that you could pass the label of an
olive-oil bottle because it was greasy, smelt bad, and bore an autograph.
As the port of the Mississippi Valley, and an important source of
supplies for the Confederacy, the city became the objective of a Federal
offensive in 1862. With the intention of cutting the Confederacy in
two by gaining control of New Orleans, a fleet of twenty-five wooden
ships and nineteen mortar schooners, under Admiral David G. Farragut,
a former citizen of New Orleans, passed through the mouth of the river
and opened fire on Forts Jackson and St. Philip below the city.
For five days and nights the unceasing bombardment continued from
the mortar schooners situated at a bend in the river two miles below the
forts. Although great damage was done to the forts, they continued
firing, and Farragut, overruling his staff, decided to attempt a passage
with his war vessels. At 2 A.M. on the morning of April 24, 1862, while
the mortar schooners poured bombs into the fortifications, seventeen
ships in three divisions began the hazardous ascent. Lack of fire-rafts,
and the ease with which the great chain stretching across the river was
broken, permitted the fleet to slip by. As the ships passed they poured
broadside after broadside into the forts, which replied ineffectually.
The Confederate boats in the river made a heroic effort to stay the ad
vance, but the Federal armada was not to be stopped.
After passing the fortifications at Chalmette without much difficulty,
Farragut arrived at New Orleans in a pouring rain on April 25. Since
General Lovell and his 3000 men had been dispatched elsewhere, the
Federal forces had only the half -armed citizenry to fear. The city author
ities refused to surrender, and Farragut threatened to open a bombard-
OUT OF THE PAST
*tg
_f ,,^LfcC.-n ..-
WHITEWASHING THE TOMBS FOR ALL SAINTS D\V
LAFITTE BLACKSMITH SHOP
NAPOLEON HOUSE, RESIDENCE OF MAYOR GIROD
THE OLD URSULINE CONVENT
TOMBS REFLECTED IN THE LAGOON, METAIRIE CEMETERY
IrfM*
SIEUR DE BIEXVILLE
THE BARONESS PON TALB A
ANTIQUE SHOPS, ROYAL STREET
THE FORSYTH HOUSE WHERE JEFFERSON DAVIS DIED
in BP8I
THE ORLEANS CLUB
I
MARGARET S STAH K
OLD ST. LOUIS CEMETERY
History 31
ment, an act he was reluctant to perform. Crowds gathered in the streets
shouting that they had been betrayed, and milled about in futile rage,
committing senseless acts of violence. Cotton was tumbled out on the
levees and set on fire, and ships lying at anchor were cut loose to drift
down the river in flames.
On May i, General Butler s troops marched into the city and assumed
command. The municipal authorities were removed from office and
Federal officers appointed in their place. The hand of a stern ruler was
felt throughout the city. In an attempt to restrain any manifestation
of the people against the Federal occupation a woman was sentenced to
two years on Ship Island under Negro guards for laughing during the
funeral of a Federal officer, and a man was given the same punishment
for displaying a skeleton as that of a Union soldier. William Mumford,
who had removed the United States flag from the Mint before the city had
been surrendered, was tried by court-martial and hanged. Under the
Woman s Order (No. 28), any woman who might by word, gesture,
or movement show contempt for any officer or soldier was to be treated
as a woman of the town plying her vocation. Special taxes were levied
against those who had aided the Confederacy, and soldiers were sent to
search the houses of citizens for arms; any slave offering information
against his master in this respect was freed. All persons over eighteen
years of age were required to take an oath of allegiance to the Federal
Government or surrender their property and leave the city.
Such acts, whatever may have been their justification, aroused the
resentment of the whole Confederacy and led President Davis to decree
that General Butler, should he be captured, was to be treated as an
outlaw and hanged. Popular opinion in France and England was also
affected, and pressure brought to bear in Washington was influential in
bringing about General Butler s removal. He was succeeded by General
Banks, who was more moderate in attitude. Under his direction a
Union Government was formed for the State.
THE CITY RECONSTRUCTED
The years between 1865 and 1877 were the blackest in the history of
New Orleans. It was a period of violence, lawlessness, political agitation,
and corruption. Politics, as the order of the day, colored and shaped
every activity. Returning Confederate soldiers found Unionists in charge
32 New Orleans : The General Background
of all civic affairs. Negroes, bewildered by their new liberties and con
stituting a threatening problem to the whites, crowded the city under the
protection of the Freedmen s Bureau. Northern fortune-hunters de
risively called Carpetbaggers were coming into the city daily and
were fast taking possession of commercial as well as political vantage
points. The Southerners, however, earnestly went to work to repair
their shattered fortunes and regain their former place in the community.
This they did successfully, in spite of poverty and dispossession. The
Unionists fearing a return of the Southerners to power, and the Carpet
baggers fearing that they might be ousted, took action which resulted in
the massacre of July 30, 1866, at the Mechanics Institute, in which four
white men and forty-four Negroes were killed and over one hundred and
sixty others wounded. The Reconstruction Acts and the Fifteenth
Amendment soon followed, and New Orleans became a city occupied by
Federal troops under the ruthless control of General Phil Sheridan.
City and State affairs were closely allied during the Reconstruction
Period. During the War the City Hall had been the State Capitol,
which was next moved to the Mechanics Institute on Dryades Street,
and then to the old St. Louis Hotel, in 1872. The Democrats managed
to retain control of the city government, although the State became Re
publican with the election of Governor Warmoth in 1868. This control
was soon taken from them by a new city charter establishing an admin
istrative form of government and providing for the appointment by the
Governor of all officials.
The city was slow in recovering its former commercial advantages.
Successive crop failures, as well as the increased advantage held by the
Northern railroads, kept down the volume of commerce. River trade
revived slowly but never again became what it was in ante-bellum days.
Only one railroad the Jackson Road, afterwards the Illinois Central
connected the city with the outside world. The extravagance of the
city and State governments caused the bonded debt of the city to pile
up rapidly. Tax collections were increasingly bad because of business
conditions. Real-estate values declined steadily, and empty stores were
to be seen in every block. Work and money were scarce, and floods of
local paper money complicated the situation. White people were com
pelled to adjust themselves to the strange experience of living under
Negro officials and Negro police, and were also required to associate
with them on an equal footing in restaurants, railroad cars, and schools.
It cannot be said that the white population adjusted itself very grace
fully to these conditions; it practically abandoned the public schools to
History 33
the Negroes, education receiving a setback that required years to remedy.
The political situation went steadily from bad to worse. The Republi
cans began fighting among themselves because Governor Warmoth proved
too moderate to please their aims. Fights, often resulting in fatalities,
occurred at every election. Administrations were installed and ousted at
the City Hall by military edict regardless of election results, while crowds
milled about in Lafayette Square. Voting was an adventure surrounded
with menacing dangers; getting the vote counted was quite as bad.
Gambling houses and low dives ran wide open on the main streets, and
to walk through the streets at night was to invite trouble. Dan Byerly,
manager of the Bulletin, met ex-Governor Warmoth on Canal Street
one day and attacked him with a cane. Warmoth clinched, and in
the resulting fight stabbed Byerly to death. Violence and robbery were
daily occurrences, and the city seemed doomed and hopeless.
The Crescent White League, an organization military in character,
was formed in June, 1874, for the defense of white rights against Negro
aggression. A call was issued for a gathering of citizens at the Clay
Statue on Canal Street on the morning of September 14, 1874, where
plans were made to take possession of the city and State governments,
thus once and for all breaking the power of the Metropolitan Police.
The crowd dispersed to reassemble in the afternoon with arms and equip
ment at their headquarters at Camp and Poydras Streets. General
Longstreet stationed his Metropolitan Police at vantage points in Jackson
Square and around the Custom House, the main body taking position
under General Badger at the head of Canal Street. Governor Kellogg
sought safety in the Custom House, where a company of United States
soldiers was quartered.
The White League forces formed in Poydras Street, and a large body
under General Behan advanced down the levee at four o clock. General
Badger saw them coming and opened artillery fire. Having no artillery
of their own, the "White Leaguers charged and in a few minutes cleared
Canal Street of Metropolitan Police. The White Leaguers swept on
around the Custom House and drove the police back to Jackson Square.
Both sides remained armed during the night, and in the morning the
police surrendered the State House, Arsenal, and Jackson Square. The
White Leaguers suffered twenty-one killed and nineteen wounded; the
Kellogg forces, eleven killed and sixty wounded. Liberty Monument,
around which the street-cars turn at the foot of Canal Street, marks
the site of the battle and commemorates the valor of those who fought
in it.
34 New Orleans: The General Background
Victory was short-lived, and although Lieu tenant- Governor Penn was
installed in the State House by jubilant citizens on the afternoon of the
fifteenth, President Grant immediately sent reinforcements and demanded
the reinstatement of Kellogg without delay. Governor McEnery promptly
complied upon his return to the city on September 17. The full fruits of
victory were not enjoyed by the White Leaguers until two years later,
when on April 24, 1877, Governor Francis T. Nicholls was given possession
of the State House (the act is said to have been the result of Louisiana s
casting of the deciding electoral votes in Hayes s favor), and the carpet
bag politicians were deprived of power and removed to other fields of
action. The White League was then disbanded.
GROWTH OF THE CITY
After the Civil War the city boundaries expanded rapidly. The city
of Lafayette had been absorbed in 1852, and Algiers and Jefferson City
were annexed in 1870 as the fifth and sixth districts; two years later Car-
rollton became the seventh district, rounding out the present boundaries
of the city and parish.
The Faubourg Ste. Marie extended at first only to Delord Street
(Howard Avenue), but soon reached Felicity Road. The city of Lafayette
began at Felicity Road and extended to Toledano Street, from which
line Jefferson City extended to Upperline Street. Several plantations,
including the present Audubon Park, lay between Jefferson City and
Carroll ton, which began at Lowerline Street. These boundaries included
many smaller communities such as Hurstville, Greenville, and Burthville.
The city developed much more slowly toward the lake because the
swamp had to be cleared and drained. Bayou Road led to the old French
settlements on Bayou St. John near the present head of Esplanade
Avenue. Faubourg Treme developed back of Congo Square in the 1830*5,
and the building of the Pontchartrain Railroad in 1831 developed
Elysian Fields Avenue and Milneburg. There was also a road along
Bayou St. John to Spanish Fort. In the i84o s Common Street was the
chief road to the cemeteries and Metairie Race Track. A bridge crossed
the New Basin Canal at this point and a shell road, a favorite speedway,
led to Lake End (now West End). Until about 1858 Canal Street still
had an old plank-covered canal from Claiborne on, and was slow in de
veloping.
History 35
The present thickly settled Dryades Market section was a swamp
with a dirty shallow lake called Gormley s Basin until about 1870. All
of the residential sections of the city beyond Claiborne Avenue, with
the above exceptions, were swamp tracts and dairy farms until the drain
age system was built and their development began about 1900.
In 1878 the city was again visited by its ancient and devastating scourge
yellow fever. Panic ensued as thousands of inhabitants left the city
for the Gulf Coast. The mortality rate among children was pitiable
in one block there were 105 cases, with an average of five deaths per day.
In all more than 3800 people died.
After five years of brilliant effort, in 1879 Captain James B. Eads
succeeded in overcoming the greatest single obstacle in the commercial
development of New Orleans shallow water at the mouth of the
Mississippi. A depth of from twenty-six to thirty feet was secured by
a system of jetties which forced the current to deepen its channels and
carry the silt out into the Gulf of Mexico. Incidentally, this was ac
complished along lines similar to those proposed by Adrien de Pauger
more than one hundred and fifty years before.
After the jetties proved successful, railroad expansion began. Legisla
tive franchises for railroads being obtained, new lines were constructed.
Rates favored the railroads, and the steamboat business, although active
and important up to the Spanish-American War, steadily declined. Five
large trunk lines entered New Orleans by 1880, and a new era in the com
mercial development of the city began. The volume of railroad business
increased from 937,634 tons in 1880 to 5,500,000 tons in 1899.
In 1882 Canal Street was illuminated by electric lights. Royal
Street came next in 1884, while the system was extended to include
practically the entire city in 1886.
In 1884 and 1885 the Cotton Centennial Exposition, popularly called
the World s Fair/ was held in New Orleans on the present site of Audu-
bon Park. Hundreds of thousands of visitors were drawn to the city.
The Exposition did much to bring about a better understanding between
the North and South, and gave an added impetus to the city s fast
recovering commerce.
In 1892 the first electric street-car was operated along St. Charles
Avenue. Within a year or so several electric lines were in sendee, sup
planting the horse cars which had been used for years.
The legislature of 1868, which was made up almost entirely of carpet
baggers, had granted a twenty-five-year charter to the Louisiana Lottery,
in exchange for a yearly payment of $40,000 to the New Orleans Charity
36 New Orleans : The General Background
Hospital. Renewal of this charter became a major political issue. It
was felt that the proposed fee of $1,000,000, to be paid to the State
annually was not sufficient for the privileges of running what was generally
conceded to be a gold mine, to which the company replied that 93 per
cent of its revenue was drawn from sources outside of Louisiana. An
article granting the company a three-year lease was put into the State
Constitution in 1892, but the lottery was definitely outlawed by both
the Federal and State Governments in 1895, after which it operated in
Honduras as; the Honduras Lottery Company.
Between 1890 and 1895 a semi-private organization called the Sewer
age and Drainage Company undertook the construction and operation
of the city s first extensive system of sewage disposal. The company went
into receivership in 1895, however, and that important phase of public
improvement lagged for several years.
DEVELOPMENT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
The birth of the twentieth century marked the start of an era of
prosperity and municipal development for New Orleans. The Federal
census of 1900 disclosed a population of 287,104; one hundred years
of growth had seen the number of the city s inhabitants increase by more
than 2800 per cent. Total commerce in 1900 was valued at $430,724,621.
Many changes were in evidence : the river passes had been brought under
control; the steamboat had yielded first place to the railroad, the bulk
of all freight now arriving in New Orleans by rail; export shipments were
carried mainly in foreign ships; and a large proportion of freight was de
livered directly to the steamship side and reshipped without the necessity
of the old style of rehandling on the levee.
Along with commercial and industrial expansion came labor disputes
and serious strikes. In 1902 there occurred a violent dispute between
the various street-car companies operating in the city and their employees.
The trouble was brought about through the introduction of a. larger
type of car and a change in schedule which enabled the companies to
dispose of a large number of men. The street-car men, interpreting the
action as a direct violation of a previous agreement, walked out on
strike on September 27, demanding that the discharged men be returned
to their jobs, the working day be reduced to eight hours, and an hourly
wage of twenty-five cents be paid. In the fifteen-day strike that ensued,
History 37
public sympathy was, for the most part, on the side of the strikers.
Using buggies, wagons, automobiles, and improvised vehicles, the citi
zens boycotted the street-cars. No violence occurred until October 8,
when the companies attempted to run four cars under police guard with
strike-breakers imported from the Middle West. Strikers attacked the
cars at Galvez and Canal Streets and quickly put them out of commis
sion, several men being injured in the disturbance. Street-car service
was finally resumed with the work day fixed at ten hours, the hourly
wage at twenty cents, and only such men as were necessary to operate
the larger cars taken back into the company.
Another serious strike occurred in 1907, when 8000 dockworkers
walked out on a strike which began when screwmen demanded that the
stowage of 160 bales of cotton should constitute a day s work for which
they should be paid six dollars instead of the old pay of five dollars for
the stowage of 250 bales. Numbers of strike-breakers were imported from
outside cities. However, a few concessions were won by the strikers.
The year 1907 saw the completion of the magnificent publicly owned
water purification and pumping plant which still serves the city. In
1908 another important step in municipal ownership was taken when
the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad was constructed. Efficient and
economical operation soon effected material reductions in former ex
cessive switching and handling charges. Two large girls schools, the
Sophie B. Wright and John McDonogh High Schools, were built in 1911,
costing $195,777 an d $188,037 respectively. Crowded conditions which
had prevailed for some time were greatly relieved. Warren Easton High
School for boys was completed in 1913, at a cost of $311,000.
Radical changes were made in the form of the city government in 1912.
The aldermanic system was done away with and the commission form
instituted.
A tropical hurricane of great intensity struck the city and vicinity
on September 29, 1915. The wind attained a speed of from 80 to no
miles per hour, while 8.36 inches of rain fell within 21 hours. The waters
of Lake Pontchartrain overflowed into the city. During the succeeding
fifteen days more than twenty-two inches of rain fell, seriously handi
capping the drainage and sewerage systems. Property damage ran into
the millions and scores were injured, but only one person was killed.
Shortly after the United States entered the World War several im
portant military camps were established in New Orleans. The largest
of these was located on the site of the old City Park racetrack, where
thousands of soldiers were quartered and trained. Various civic organiza-
38 New Orleans : The General Background
tions led the citizenry in a patriotic and full-hearted response to the
Government s appeal for money and military supplies. The influenza
epidemic of 1918 and 1919 was at its height when the Armistice was
signed. Thousands were stricken at times the death toll reached
one hundred daily.
In 1921 the New Orleans Inner-Harbor Navigation Canal, connecting
Lake Pontchartrain with the Mississippi River, was completed at a
cost approximating $20,000,000. This waterway is now an important
link in the intracoastal canal system.
HUEY P. LONG
As the center of many activities of the late Huey P. Long, former
governor (1928-1932) and United States Senator (1932-1935), New
Orleans witnessed the rise and tragic fall of perhaps its most colorful
citizen since Bernardo de Galvez. Soon after being elected governor,
he built up one of the most powerful political machines in the history
of the United States, and in the face of almost incredible obstacles was
enabled, by pure force of personality, to put over much of his somewhat
radical program. His endorsement of a candidate for local or state posi
tions was tantamount to election, and his power over the State legisla
ture made it possible for him to secure passage of his entire legislative
program.
His career as virtual dictator of Louisiana was marked by extremely
bitter political strife. On one occasion (August, 1934) the militia had to
be called out to prevent the seizure of the Orleans Parish registration
office by a rival faction headed by Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley, who
employed a hundred special policemen to hold his position. For weeks
the public was treated to the sight of militia and police, both heavily
armed with rifles and machine guns, swarming about the registration
office and the City Hall opposite. To enliven the opera bouffe, radical
groups of the city staged a demonstration of unemployed in Lafayette
Square, demanding that the thousands of dollars being expended daily
in political buffoonery be used to relieve unemployment. Long was
finally victorious, and the registration office was reopened under his super
vision.
To Long, who was assassinated in Baton Rouge September 8, 1935,
New Orleans is indebted in a large measure for its extremely modern
History
39
Shushan Airport, extensive lake-front development, magnificent Huey
P. Long Bridge, enlarged Charity Hospital, the Louisiana State Univer
sity Medical Center, and free school books in the public schools.
THE OLD AND THE NEW DEAL
In common with other cities throughout the country, New Orleans
suffered from the unprecedented economic depression following 1929.
Until 1933 the city and State governments struggled to relieve the suf
fering incident to wholesale unemployment. Social and welfare agencies
were overtaxed, and the problem facing the people was greater than
the local government could meet. Upon President Franklin D. Roose
velt s inauguration, prompt and efficient measures were taken to relieve
the situation and various New Deal agencies (C.W.A., E.R.A., F.E.R.A.,
W.P.A., and P.W.A.) were set up to carry on the work of relief. Among
the improvements undertaken in the city were the preservation and
restoration of some of the fine old buildings in the Vieux Carre, extension
of the lake-front development, remodeling of the French Market, ex
tensive street paving, and beautification of parkways and parks.
GOVERNMENT
THE city of New Orleans received its first charter under the American
regime from the legislature of the Territory of Orleans, in 1805. Since
then the charter has been revised many times. The last important re
vision was in 1912, when the system of government was changed from
the aldermanic to the commission form. Since the boundaries of the
city and Orleans Parish are identical there is some duplication of activity
with the various city and parish agencies, though not so much as might
be supposed. An analysis of the present city charter reveals a definite
decentralization of authority no official has complete freedom of
action.
The city is divided into seven municipal districts and seventeen wards.
Under the present commission plan, a mayor and four commissioners
are elected every four years, and constitute the Commission Council,
the city s legislative body.
The five principal city departments, presided over by the Mayor and
four commissioners, at the historic City Hall, 543 St. Charles Street, are
as follows:
(1) Department of Public Affairs, presided over by the Mayor, has
charge of the city s legal affairs, civil service, and publicity.
(2) Department of Public Finance, directed by the Commissioner of
Finance, controls receipts, expenditures, assessments, and accounts.
(3) Department of Public Safety, presided over by the Commissioner
of Public Safety, supervises the police, fire, and health departments
and has charge of municipal charity and relief agencies.
(4) Department of Public Utilities, directed by the Commissioner of
Public Utilities, supervises the franchising and control of utilities
corporations.
(5) Department of Public Property, directed by the Commissioner
Government 41
of Public Property, has charge of all public property streets,
parks, playgrounds, buildings, etc.
In addition several major activities are handled by independent boards
and commissions such as the Sewerage and Water Board, Public Belt
Railroad Commission, Orleans Parish School Board, Board of Liquida
tion of the City Debt, and a number of smaller commissions such as the
Parking, Playground, Public Library, City Park, etc.
The Orleans Levee Board and the Board of Commissioners of the
Port of New Orleans (Dock Board) function almost wholly within the
city, but are under complete control of the State.
The judicial department of the city is made up of:
Recorder s (Police) Courts (four judges, appointed).
City Courts (civil cases only, four judges, elective).
Juvenile Court (one judge, elective).
Civil District Courts (Orleans Parish constitutes an
entire district, five judges, elective).
Criminal District Courts (five judges, elective).
The city seal, in much its present design, dates from February 17, 1805,
at which time the Legislative Council of the Territory of Orleans author
ized the Mayor of New Orleans to procure and use a seal on all official
acts and documents. After the city divided into three separate munici
palities in 1836 each subdivision adopted a seal of its own. A common
seal, probably that in use today, was adopted with the reunion in 1852 of
the municipalities. A description of the seal and an explanation of its
symbolism are lacking. Below and partly within the semicircular in
scription City of New Orleans an Indian brave and maiden stand on
each side of a shield, upon which a recumbent nude figure is shown salut
ing the sun rising above mountains and sea. Above the shield are twenty-
five circularly grouped stars, and below, an alligator.
The official flag of New Orleans, designed by Bernard Barry and Gus
Couret and previously accepted by the Citizens Flag Committee of the
Bienville Bi-centenary Celebration, was adopted by the Commission
Council on February 8, 1918. It consists of a white field embellished with
three golden fleur-de-lys; a crimson stripe at the top and a blue at the
bottom, each one-seventh of the flag s width, form borders. The flag was
dedicated at the City Hall, February 9, 1918, with appropriate ceremonies.
The oleander (Nerium oleander) was adopted by the Commission
Council of New Orleans, June 6, 1923, as the city s flower. Cuttings of
this plant, brought to the city from Havana at the time of the Spanish
Domination, were planted in patio gardens after the fires of 1788 and
New Orleans : The General Background
1794. Since that time oleanders have been prominent among the plants
in the city, conspicuously so in the old gardens laid out at Carrollton in
1835, and at West End and Spanish Fort. At present, they are found in
the city parks, in private gardens, and along the neutral grounds of many
avenues.
RACIAL DISTRIBUTION
THE melting pot has been simmering in New Orleans for over two
centuries, and the present-day Orleanian is a composite of many differ
ent racial elements. Intermarriage has broken down distinctions and
destroyed the boundaries of racial sections. With a few minor excep
tions, there are no longer any districts occupied exclusively by one group.
The United States Census of 1930 gives the population of New Orleans
as 458,762, of which 327,729 are whites and 129,632 Negroes. The total
white foreign-born population is placed at 19,681, and the native whites
of foreign or mixed parentage at 65,766, or about one-fourth of the total
white population. Of these the predominating racial groups, in the order
of their numerical importance, are the Italian, German, Irish, English,
Scotch and Scotch-Irish, and the Jewish groups from Russia, Poland,
and Austria. Almost every nation of the earth is represented by a few
people at least. A census estimate for July 1936 places the population
at 482,466.
In the last century the city was divided into racial districts. The
Creoles occupied the Vieux Carre and the sections adjoining Esplanade
Avenue as far as Bayou St. John. The Americans developed Faubourg
Ste. Marie and Lafayette, extending from Canal to Toledano Street.
The Germans settled mostly in the Third District, below Esplanade
Avenue. The Irish occupied the river-front sections immediately above
and below Jackson Avenue, giving to that section the familiar name of
Irish Channel, and the district between the New Basin and Canal
Street extending out Tulane Avenue as far as Broad Street.
Intermarriage and changes in circumstances resulted in the removal
of many from these racial groups into other neighborhoods. Some still
live in the old neighborhoods, but their new neighbors are of every
conceivable national mixture.
Some of the Creole families cling to their old quarter, but the Vieux
Carre, especially around the French Market, is now an Italian district,
and Esplanade Avenue has many non-Creole elements in its population.
44 New Orleans : The General Background
The Irish Channel is no longer Irish, and the Germans of the Third
District are pretty well scattered. A small Chinese center exists on Tulane
Avenue, between Rampart Street and Elk s Place, but the members of
the Chinese colony live where their places of business are located. Ca-
rondelet Street, from Jackson to Louisiana Avenue, is the street of the
Orthodox Jews. A few Filipinos have a center on Dumaine Street near
the French Market, and a small colony of Greeks center their activities
in the Greek Church at 1222 North Dorgenois Street. The Spanish,
French, and Latin-Americans have national clubs, but their homes are
to be found in the various residential sections. There are also groups
of Scandinavians and Czechs in small centers, but no special settlements.
The Negroes account for more than one-fourth of the entire urban
population. While scattered all over the city, they are most numerous
in the district between Rampart Street and Claiborne Avenue and Canal
Street and Louisiana Avenue. South Rampart, just off Canal, is the
largest Negro shopping district. Magnolia Street, between Howard and
Jackson Avenues, and the Dryades Market district around Dryades and
Felicity Streets, are lively Negro centers. Large settlements are also
to be found along the levee above Lowerline Street, on Burgundy Street
in the French Quarter, and in the neighborhood of Claiborne Avenue and
Orleans Street.
CENSUS or 1930
Foreign-Born Whites ^^^
Austrian 3*4 865
Canadian 468 1,090
Czechoslovakian 85 156
English 1,428 5,498
French 1,838 9,648
German 2,159 i5953
Greek 34* 3"
Hungarian 53 IO 7
Irish 647 6,115
Italian 6,821 17,190
Lithuanian 12 n
Polish 408 548
Russian 9 8 5 ^464
Scandinavian 821 1,181
Spanish 479 I >626
Yugoslavian 13 221
All others 3,171 5,4o8
Total 20,160 67,392
Total white population 327,729 Total Negro population 129,632
The total population of the city is 458,762. The difference between this figure and
the total of whites and Negroes (1401) is apparently represented by other races.
II. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
COMMERCE, INDUSTRY, AND LABOR
COMMERCE
FOR the first 150 years of its existence New Orleans was almost wholly
a commercial city, and indeed is primarily so today. The first European
dream of commercial greatness for Louisiana must have been inspired
in 1705, by the arrival in France of daring Canadian voyageurs with
fifteen thousand bear and deer skins obtained through barter with the
Indians. But New Orleans made negligible progress commercially under
France, owing in part to the fact that the colonists were permitted to do
business only with that country; to France, New Orleans proved a
liability rather than an asset. Although the city fared somewhat better
under the Spanish, abortive restrictions confining trade to certain ports
of Spain further retarded expansion for many years. During that period
there sprang up an extensive illegal traffic with the British, and later
with the Americans.
The Colonial Period saw lumber, pitch, tar, rice, indigo, cotton,
tobacco, sassafras, fur pelts, and toward its close sugar exchanged
for slaves and European merchandise; the pelts were obtained from
Indians of the Illinois country in exchange for firearms, knives, and
brandy; tobacco and lumber from Kentucky pioneers who floated their
products down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, braving
currents, river pirates, and unfriendly Indians.
New Orleans commerce began to make tremendous strides with the
lifting of trade restrictions incident to the Louisiana Purchase (1803)
and with the advent of the steamboat (1812), which solved the problem
of upstream navigation. By 1840 New Orleans was contesting with
New York for first honors in point of import and export volume, with
cotton, grain, sugar, and slaves forming the bulk of trade. Then, with
the increase of east-west traffic via the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes,
and the competition of the country s fast-expanding railroad system,
the growth of river traffic was arrested. The economic, political, and
social chaos of the Civil War and Reconstruction Periods not only
48 Economic and Social Development
hampered progress but resulted in much lost ground; it was not until
after the turn of the twentieth century that New Orleans regained its
former commercial importance. Today it is one of the leading ports of
the nation.
Ships flying the flags of every maritime nation, and a dozen railroad
systems play a part in New Orleans vast world commerce. Cotton and
lumber are the principal foreign exports, just as they were a century ago;
coffee, sugar, vegetable oils, and bananas head the imports.
Commercial Statistics for New Orleans, 1935
Imports Value Exports Value
Coffee $29,003,347 Cotton (raw) $75,299,368
Sugar 25,648,466 Lumber and mill work 12,611,541
Vegetable oils 8,525,168 Machinery and parts 10,451,693
Bags and bagging 7,586,569 Tobacco 8,153,731
Bananas and plantains 7,247,950 Cotton manufactures 4,695,266
Sisal and other fiber 4,127,778
Receipts Shipments
Foreign $110,798,951 Foreign $156,014,128
Coastwise 124,248,643 Coastwise 126,879,688
Internal 100,218,423 Internal 104,293,420
$335,266,017 $387,187,236
INDUSTRY
New Orleans first ventures into industrial fields were in connection
with the manufacture of articles such as bricks, tile, boats, and mill
work, which because of their bulk, weight, or other reasons com
manded prohibitive prices when imported from Europe, and for which
raw materials were available in Louisiana.
The contempt with which the Creoles viewed manual occupations and
the consequent shortage of skilled labor were no small retarding factors
in development along industrial lines. Eventually, despite these and other
deterrents, an advantageous climate, abundance of raw materials, and
the infusion of American enterprise as well as capital resulted in more
efficient utilization of the vast natural resources upon which New Orleans
could draw. The city may be said not to have entered fully upon its
industrial phase until the beginning of the twentieth century.
New Orleans industrial growth during the past three decades has been
due in large part to almost perfect co-ordination of transportation
Commerce, Industry, and Labor 49
agencies railroads, coastwise and foreign steamship services, and inland
waterways. The expansion has been reflected in diversification rather
than specialization.
The city boasts, with perhaps pardonable pride, several industrial
* firsts and seconds : what is said to be the world s largest twine mill
and the second largest sugar refinery, as well as the South s largest
furniture factory and syrup-canning plant. Eighty per cent of the coun
try s men s washable suits and half its industrial alcohol are manufactured
in New Orleans.
In the city are twelve hundred factories, large and small, turning out
nine hundred different products with a total annual valuation of $325,-
000,000; sugar heads the list, pouring $60,000,000 into New Orleans
pocketbooks annually, with celotex, a sugarcane by-product used as a
lumber substitute, bringing in an extra $12,000,000; the manufacture
of bags, burlap, and cotton textiles, with a yearly value of $17,300,000,
is second; next come cottonseed products, $17,000,000; the production
of commercial alcohol in a multitude of manufacturing processes, $16,000,-
ooo; petroleum products, $12,000,000; baking, $11,000,000; clothing,
$10,000,000; coffee-roasting and packing, $9,000,000; mahogany, $6,000,-
ooo; rice milling, and the manufacture of roofing materials and fertilizer
are all in the million-dollar class.
These various industries account for little more than half the total:
countless lesser industries, individually small but important in the
aggregate, bring to New Orleans the remaining $160,700,000.
LABOR
New Orleans was founded on a system of slave labor, and continued so
for almost a century and a half. In addition to Negro slaves there were
at the first redemptioners Germans who had voluntarily bound
themselves to work for a period of years in payment for their passage to
Louisiana and Indian prisoners of war. The lot of the individual slave
varied with the character of his master, who though under some legal
restraint, tended in practice to be sole ruler. The slaves were prohibited,
of course, from open organization for the betterment of their condition.
The whites predominantly of French and Spanish extraction
looked with disdain upon any mode of gaining a livelihood involving
manual effort. And, indeed, in the semi-tropical climate manual labor
was particularly arduous.
50 Economic and Social Development
Following upon the heels of the Louisiana Purchase (1803) skilled
workers were attracted to New Orleans from other parts of the United
States, and soon set about organizing themselves into trade unions. The
first to be formed was a typographical union, in 1 8 10; in 1837 members
of this group went on strike for a reduction of the working day from six
teen to twelve hours. Their success gave impetus to the union movement,
for in 1838 a carpenters union was formed and by 1852 nearly all the
skilled trades had some form of organization.
Abolition of slavery and the aftermath of social and economic con
fusion served as temporary setbacks to the union movement. But from
the chaos arose the Knights of Labor, the first mass labor movement in
New Orleans. Upon its organization, the American Federation of Labor
drew much support from the Knights of Labor ranks, eventually dis
placing it.
The racial problem has proven a difficult one to organized labor, the
color line being carefully drawn in some instances, and in others not at
all. As early as 1880, particularly among the dock-workers units, mixed
unions were admitted to the Trades and Labor Assembly, and today
the building trades unions have dual membership, but in the present-day
Trades and Labor Council only white delegates are seated. In unions
such as the bricklayers , cement finishers , and plasterers , Negro mem
bership is in the majority. The dock-workers have separate divisions
for Negro and white members under the same charter.
A number of strikes, both minor and serious, have marked the progress
of the labor movement in New Orleans. Among the more serious have
been those of the street-car men in 1902, 1920, and 1929; the longshore
men in 1907, 1918, 1923, and 1935; and the taxicab drivers in 1927.
Organized labor in New Orleans has instituted and supported much
legislation pertaining to factory inspection, safety devices, workingmen s
compensation, and other occupational regulatory laws.
There are today 113 unions in New Orleans, embracing virtually every
trade, from Trappers and Fishermen s Local 18408 to Iron Workers
Local 58.
TRANSPORTATION
PROBABLY no settlement in America faced fewer difficulties in trans
portation in Colonial days than New Orleans. Located near the Gulf of
Mexico, in a section traversed by dozens of navigable lakes, rivers, and
bayous, the pioneer settlers soon developed a network of waterways ex
tending in every direction. On their penetration of the lower Mississippi
Valley in 1699 the French found the Indians utilizing Louisiana s count
less waterways as the principal means of transportation, and, instead of
constructing roads throughout the region, the colonists followed the ex
ample set by the natives, thereby gaining a distinct commercial advantage
over other settlements along the coast.
From the Indian tribes the French settlers borrowed the idea of the
pirogue, or dug-out canoe, building them on an increasingly larger scale
until some are said to have had a displacement of 50 tons. To build the
pirogues great cottonwood and cypress trees were felled, the logs hollowed
by burning, and their exteriors shaped to conform with the basic lines
of half a watermelon. While the giant pirogue admirably suited the needs
of the French, the scarcity of sufficiently large trees led to the creation
of other types of boats. As early as 1 700 Iberville ordered the construction
of light bateaux plats, or flat boats, on which large quantities of buffalo
hides, wool, and furs were freighted from various points in the Missis
sippi Valley down the river to the Gulf of Mexico.
By 1742 the keel boat had come into use. This craft, from sixty to
seventy feet long, and with a beam of fifteen to eighteen feet, drew only
twenty to thirty inches of water. Near the close of the French Domina
tion the radeaUj a boat resembling the flatboat, made its appearance,
and came to be used extensively for carrying freight on the Mississippi
and its tributaries.
52 Economic and Social Development
Until about the middle of the nineteenth century radeaux were used
by the settlers of the upper Mississippi Valley as the principal means of
transporting hides, corn, wheat, livestock, lumber, and whisky. The
levees at New Orleans were lined with these picturesque craft, whose
standard signal, indicating that the proprietor was ready to do business,
was a bottle of whisky strung up on a pole. Brokers would then make
bids for the entire outfit, including the flatboat itself, which was dis
mantled for its lumber. Everything disposed of, the up-country pioneer
usually embarked upon two or three weeks of hard drinking and celebra
tion before beginning the long trek afoot to his Missouri, Illinois, Ken
tucky, or Tennessee home.
Although there were several kinds of boats in use by the close of the
eighteenth century, all were propelled in much the same manner, usually
by poles, oars, or sails, both upstream and downstream. Sails exclusively
were used whenever possible, but could not be depended upon for a river
voyage. Numerous difficulties were encountered in coaxing a clumsy
keel or flatboat up a winding river against both wind and current. The
time required for a trip from New Orleans to the Illinois country varied
from three to four months, but the return trip could be made downstream
in twelve or fifteen days. Such voyages were for many years extremely
dangerous, savage Indians and white river pirates lurking around every
other bend.
As commerce increased the problem of upstream navigation became
more and more acute. One attempt was made to propel a boat upstream
by means of horses walking a treadmill, but between New Orleans and
Natchez several horses were completely broken down, and the idea was
abandoned.
The problem was finally solved in January 1812, when the first steam
boat ever to be seen on the Mississippi River arrived, amid great excite
ment, in New Orleans. The boat, with a three-hundred-ton capacity
and a low-pressure engine, was built in Pittsburgh for Fulton and Living
ston of New York, at a cost of approximately $38,000, and was named
the Orleans, in honor of her destination. On her maiden voyage down the
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers the banks were lined at times with startled
spectators who stared in wonder at the rhythmical puffing of steam and
the steady swish of paddles. The Orleans never returned north but
was put into regular service between New Orleans and Natchez. Averag
ing eight miles per hour downstream and three against the current, she
continued in service until July 14, 1814. That night as she was lying at
anchor in Baton Rouge the river began to fall suddenly and the boat
Transportation 53
settled upon a snag and sank. The engine was afterwards raised and
transferred to another boat.
In 1819 the first mailboat on the Mississippi, the Post Boy/ began
operating between New Orleans and Louisville. During the next few
years improvements and refinements in river steamers steadily increased ;
the whistle, the gangway, multiple engines, and finally electricity to
illuminate landings, dark channels, and the boats themselves were
added. Large steamboats were in use before the Civil War. Paddle-
wheels grew to a diameter of forty-five feet, and speed climbed to twenty
miles per hour. Packets became floating palaces, featuring a cuisine
prepared by skilled chefs, and carrying a full orchestra for the pleasure
of their passengers. Travel by steamboat became popular with all
classes planters, business men and their wives, adventurers, prostitutes,
and professional gamblers. The golden day of the steamboat was the
period from 1830 to 1860. Every year saw a tremendous increase in
freight and passenger volume. The average life of a river boat was
only four years, but profits were so large that the sinking or burning of
a vessel was to the operators a mere incident, and such losses were casually
set down to operating cost.
One by one the luxurious packets disappeared. In their wake came
towboats with a cargo tonnage equivalent to several hundred carloads
of freight. During the World War the Government began operation of
an extensive barge service on the Mississippi and Warrior Rivers. Rate
protection against the railroads and completion of the final links in the
Lakes-to-the-Gulf inland waterway system have greatly stimulated
barge traffic during recent years. It is now possible for a tow of barges
to go from New Orleans up the Mississippi River to any point on the
Great Lakes, to New York City via the Erie Canal, and to Montreal,
Canada, by way of the St. Lawrence River.
Railroads have played almost as important a part in the development
of New Orleans as have its facilities for water transportation. One of
the first railroads to be completed in America and the first built west of
the Alleghenies was established in New Orleans. In 1825 plans for the
construction of a four-and-one-half-mile railway extending from New
Orleans to Milneburg were discussed in the city, and in 1829 the Pont-
chartrain Railroad Society was formed.
A number of obstacles lay in the path of the company s directors, few
of whom had ever seen a railroad, and none of whom had more than a
vague idea of railway construction or operation. To complicate matters
there seemed to be no experienced railroad engineer available. Innumer-
54 Economic and Social Development
able questions, such as whether the rails used should be of iron or cedar,
and whether the newfangled steam engine was as reliable as the less
picturesque horse, kept the directors in a quandary. In 1831, after a
year of construction, the first train, drawn by horses, was run over the
imperfect tracks.
Many other difficulties beset the State s first railway venture. The
most serious, perhaps, lay in the tracks, which consisted of strips or bars
of iron spiked to stringers/ or cross ties of wood. These rails became
known as snake-heads, and constituted a great peril to passengers and
crew. The iron strips were wont to free themselves as the train passed
over, and turn suddenly upward with sufficient force to pierce the floors
of the cars, frightening seated passengers and sometimes throwing the
train from the tracks. It is said that whenever the feeble locomotive
broke down, the crew would hoist sails and bring the little train gliding
into port, its sails flapping in the breeze.
By 1852 additional lines were operating in and out of New Orleans,
including the Carrollton Railroad, extending the six-mile stretch between
New Orleans and Carrollton, a small community which later became a
part of New Orleans. In this year, at a railroad convention held in
New Orleans, the organization of large, country-wide lines was approved.
By 1880 at least four such major lines were operating in and out of the
city, connecting it with various points north and west.
Airplanes made their appearance in New Orleans in the spring of 1910,
when an exhibition flight was made at the City Park Race Track by
Louis Taulhan. From December 24, 1910, to January 2, 1911, the first
international aviation tournament to be held south of New York was
conducted in New Orleans at City Park. Eight world-famous airmen/
two of whom were killed in crashes, participated in the meet. A record
for the mile was set at fifty-seven seconds, and a height of 7125 feet was
attained. In each of a series of match races an automobilist driving a
Packard defeated aviator John Moisant by a margin of several seconds.
The second official air-mail trip to be successfully completed in the
United States was made between New Orleans and Baton Rouge by
George Mestach on April 10, 1912; time, one hour and thirty-two seconds.
The third airline in the country to carry foreign mail was established
between New Orleans and Pilottown, at the mouth of the river, in 1923.
This route, which provided a late dispatch of mails to connect with
outgoing steamships and expedited delivery at New Orleans of mails
from incoming ships, was discontinued in 1934.
New Orleans is at present served by two well-lighted airways, by
Transportation 55
which overnight mail and passenger service is provided to Northern and
Eastern cities, and regular daytime service to points west; the lines have
terminals at the new Shushan Airport on Lake Pontchartrain. Scheduled
flights are also maintained between New Orleans and cities in Mexico,
and Central and South America.
New Orleans, the junction of a new modern highway system, serves
as the southern terminus of two national highways, US 51 and 61, and is
served by east-west US 90. A number of paved State highways, with
toll-free bridges, converge at New Orleans. The Pontchartrain Bridge
(toll), a 4.78-mile highway bridge, furnishes a short cut across the lake.
The Huey P. Long Bridge (toll-free for automobiles and pedestrians),
nine miles above the city, is Louisiana s only span across the Mississippi
and gives New Orleans an unbroken highway to the West. The city is
served by ten trunk-line railroads, and a number of branch lines, which
connect it with every important market in North America. Steamships
from every quarter enter New Orleans, ninety lines with regular sailings
connecting the port with all parts of the world. Five steamship com
panies maintain regular passenger schedules, and many of the freighters
plying in and out the city have passenger accommodations of a sort
coastwise, tropical, and round-the-world. Harbor sightseeing excursions,
with trained lecturers, are provided throughout the year out of New
Orleans. Two companies operate air-cooled busses between New Orleans
and all parts of the country. Street-cars and busses operate between all
parts of the city, and ferries connect New Orleans with the west side of
the river. Taxicabs are available at all large hotels and railroad and bus
terminals, with numerous sub-stations scattered throughout the city.
(See General Information.)
FOLKWAYS
R-R-R-R-R-RAMONAYI R-r-r-ramonez la chiminee du haul en bas!
Sleepily you get up, and, pulling something around you, step out on the bal
cony of your Vieux Carre studio of course if you live in the Vieux Carre
you have a studio, even if your only art is drink-mixing. You rub your eyes
and stare at the extraordinary creature who is emitting these blood-curd
ling noises. He is a tall, unbelievably black Negro with crooked toes
peeping out of shuffling shoes, nondescript trousers, a venerable frock-
coat carrying the dirt of ages on its frayed threads, and cocked over one
eye a stupendous top hat with most of the crown bashed in. He carries an
unwieldy bundle containing a rope, a sheaf of broom straw, and several
bunches of palmetto. Look at him closely. He is the last of his guild, a
chimney sweeper; and it may be a long time before you see him again, for
he and his compere, the coal peddler, who calls Mah mule is white, mah
face is black; Ah sells mah coal two bits a sack! are rapidly being forced
to retreat before the increasing popularity of gas heat. Adieu, ramoneur!
Across the little iron guard-rail that separates your gallery from the
one next door, a pleasant-looking chap wearing a white linen suit puffs
a pipe with a philosophic air and surveys the scene below as if it all be
longed to him. You crane your neck over the balcony to get a good look
at the overflowing bundle of wash which a Negro woman balances on her
head as she strides down the street, unconcernedly swinging her arms at
her sides. Your neighbor views the sight unmoved. Curiosity gets the
best of you. Have you been living here long? you ask.
The coated one turns slowly. I ve lived here all my life. I m a Creole/
Possibly you had an idea that a Creole was a man of color. You realize
now that this is not true. A Creole ! Well, well, well. You always wondered
what Creoles looked like. This one, who is typical, is courteous, but rather
distant. He seems to have forgotten all about you.
How do they do it?
Folkways 57
1 What?
Those bundles. How do they balance them on their heads?
Oh, they ve always done that. They learn it when they are just able
to walk.
In a little while, down the street come the berry men and women. In
season, the streets are overrun by them. Men always sell strawberries,
women, blackberries, your all-knowing Creole friend says. Why? you
ask. Ah, it has always been that way. When you get to know Creoles
better, you realize that the phrase It has always been that way justifies
everything.
Down the winding staircase you climb with your new friend, who has
volunteered to show you around. You are in luck. It appears that be
sides French, your Creole is fluent in the Negro-French patois, called
Gombo, which is so different from standard French as to be unintelligible
to any but a native of the city.
A strange character, typical of a class of peddlers which has all but
disappeared, rambles into view. You notice that he carries not only a
bundle of clothespoles Long, straight clothespole ! but a bundle of
palmetto root fibers Latanier! Latanier! Palmetto root! Your
new friend, addressing him familiarly in Gombo, inquires where he has
been, why he should be selling two articles. The old Negro answers,
Me beezness, it so bad, I gotta eencriss ma stock. Poor Alphonse! No
recovery in sight for you, my friend! People don t scrub their floors with
palmetto root any more ; and as for clothespoles, the Laundry Syndicate
has taken all the business from the black blanchisseuses who used to boil
the family clothes in an old iron pot, and stir them with a well-worn piece
of broomstick.
You get to the corner of Royal and St. Peter Streets just in time to see
a spasm band go into action. A spasm band is a miscellaneous collec
tion of a soap box, tin cans, pan tops, nails, drumsticks, and little Negro
boys. When mixed in the proper proportions this results in the wildest
shuffle dancing, accompanied by a bumping rhythm. You flip them a coin,
and they run after you offering to do tricks for lagniappe ; and without
waiting your approval, one little boy begins to walk the length of the
block on his hands, while another places the crown of his skull on a tin
can and spins like a top. Lagniappe , your Creole explains, is a little gift
the tradesmen present to their customers with each purchase. By exten
sion, it means something extra, something for nothing.
Look out! suddenly cries your friend, pulling you out of the way
just as a tin bucket on the end of a rope dives from a third-story balcony.
58 Economic and Social Development
Oop! Excuse me, mister, cries the housewife on the balcony. I just
wanted the grocery man to hear the bucket drop so s he d come out.
The Creole explains that this clever little step-saving device is in common
use among people living in third-floor apartments. Poun a coffee, she
calls to the groceryman. You continue on your way resolved to keep
your head out of the reach of Vieux Carre housewives tossing their home
made dumb-waiters over iron railings.
Soon there comes down the street a snowball wagon. It is a two-
wheeled cart, with a canopy top, a bell, and a man who is both proprietor
and motive power. In the bottom of the cart is a block of ice, and on each
side gaudy syrup bottles. Flavors include strawberry, orange, lime, grape,
pineapple, spearmint, and whatever ingenious special the vendor may
concoct. A snowball is a lump of shaved ice drenched in one of the
colored syrups, and served on a paper plate. Often the grimy-faced little
customer requests variegation in his colors, and the effects achieved are
startling to any but the trained Sicilian eye. The finished product has
come to be regarded as a delicacy in New Orleans. The visitor must re
member that real snowballs are seen in the city only once every forty or
fifty years.
Listen, you tell your Creole friend, all that is well and good, and no
doubt very interesting in its place; but how about Voodoo? I came all the
way to New Orleans to hear about Voodoo, and you talk about the
weather. Back to the point, man.
Eh bien says the Creole, heaving a sigh, and turning unwilling feet
toward the Negro quarter near Claiborne Street. My friend, the Voodoo
is a thing which has caused much trouble to us from earliest times. The
Voodoo was brought here from Africa by the niggers our ancestors bought
as slaves. And let me tell you, my friend, those early colonists, they had
to keep a sharp eye out for trickery. Those Voodoo queens, they knew
things no white man ever knew. They could make people die, have them
buried, and raise them again two weeks or a month later. I know, be
cause my grandfather told me a story that has always been told in our
family.
It seems that on the plantation of one of my ancestors I forget if it
was grandfather s grandfather or his great-grandfather there was a
mulatto woman, une negresse de toute beaute, a very beautiful woman, you
understand. Here your Creole s voice drops to a confidential whisper
he is going to take you into his confidence, let you hear one of the most
jealously guarded of secrets. Obviously he likes you. Enemies of the
family even said she was a half-sister of this ancestor who had inherited
Folkways 59
her from his father. In a duel, he had killed a man who had dared to hint
the fact in a cabaret. But to get back to the mulattresse, she was a
Mamaloi, a Voodoo queen, and her power was known up and down the
river. One day she came to her master with the sad news that Ti Demon,
the six-year-old son of one of the best laborers, had suddenly passed away.
Slaves were always dying, it is true, but somehow this death was too sud
den to please my ancestor. He asked to have the body brought to the big
house, in order that he might see for himself. In the meantime, he sent for
the family doctor in the city the plantation was near where Audubon
Park is now, and was quickly reached in a pirogue who assured him
that death, so far as he could see, was from natural causes. With appro
priate ceremony, the slaves buried the child, while my ancestor went
inside and erased his name from " Assets " and inscribed him under " Profit
and Loss. "
And where, you interrupt, is all this leading?
4 Ah, the Creole points out, * that s just it. Two days later my ancestor,
having nearly forgotten the incident, happened to think that St. John s
Day was not far off. St. John s Eve, you know, is the great festival of the
Voodoos. So the old fellow, being of an inquisitive turn of mind, went for
a stroll in the most off-hand sort of way at about ten o clock on the festive
night, with a sword-cane in his hand and two small double-barreled pistols
in his pockets. After floundering about the cypress swamp for a while he
noticed the glare of a small fire, and made for it. He heard muffled drums.
Climbing a tree, he saw his mulattress in all her regal splendor, poising a
cane-knife above a victim, who appeared drugged, but quite obviously
alive. On closer inspection the victim proved to be the negrillon who had
been buried a few days before.
That s not very much of a story, you say. I knew how it would come
out all the time. But tell me, how did the mulattress do it? And do they
still sacrifice children?
Ah, the Creole sighs, answering the last question first, if they do, the
authorities had better never hear of it. And as for the resurrection, the
old Voodoos distilled strange potions from herbs, the lore of which was
handed down from their African forbears. They have forgotten most of
that now, but they are still clever with hypnotism and allied arts. They
really do conjure a person and make him waste away, but it isn t the
charm that does it, and most of them know it. The resurrection trick was
done with a poison that induced a coma so deep that it exhibited all signs
of death, even to cooling of the body and rigor mortis. The resurrected
victims reason is definitely impaired, and if they are allowed to live, have
60 Economic and Social Development
neither will nor intelligence. They are docile, and apparently healthy
enough, however. In Haiti, they are the zombies you have heard about.
Well, now you become a little more interesting, my friend. I d like to
hear more about this.
But he retires into his shell, a trick all Creoles have, even when speaking
to people they like, and you fear you have heard all you will about Voo
doo. By this time, you have reached the Negro quarter and have well
penetrated it. Occasionally you pass an old crone, sitting on her well-
scrubbed stoop, who thoughtfully puffs a corncob pipe and talks to her
younger neighbors in Gombo-French. They, of course, answer her in
English.
Look out! warns your Creole friend, pointing to a doorstep ahead of
you. A group of Negroes, apparently helpless, stand around and stare at
it. You elbow your way through the crowd. There on the lowest step a
white candle burns in the center of a cross made of wet salt. At the end
of each arm of the cross a five-cent piece has been placed.
* What is that? you inquire.
That s a gris-gris, he answers in a hushed voice. Somebody put that
there to bring harm on the people who live in the house. That same harm
will befall anyone who touches the charm.
You believe in that? You are amazed that a man, obviously cul
tured . . .
No, no, not exactly, he says reluctantly. Then, suddenly stooping, he
picks up the candle, blows it out and throws it into the gutter, flicks the
salt off the step, and puts the nickels in his pocket. Whistling off-key, he
shoulders his way through the crowd. That will buy us a couple of good
poor boys.
A couple of what?
Sandwiches. They re edible. Come along. You turn a corner and go
into a little shop having as a sign a crude picture of a small boy eating a
sandwich nearly as large as himself. You like roast beef?
Yes.
Two roast beefs. In a moment appear before you two large sand
wiches made by cutting a twenty-eight-inch loaf of bread in two, then
splitting it lengthwise, piling it with sliced roast beef, lettuce, and toma
toes, and drowning the whole in gravy. You are surprised to find them
remarkably good, though a trifle unwieldy. Then you realize why they
call them poor boys. They cost a dime, and a half of one makes a meal.
On leaving the sandwich shop, you look at your Creole s face. He seems
to be thinking of things miles distant. You wish he would get started on
RIVER, TOWN, AND
SEAPORT
SHIPS OF ALL NATIONS AND ALL TYPES DOCK AT NEW ORLEANS
NEW ORLEANS SKY LINE
r
SRUSHAN AIRPORT
HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI
NEW ORLEANS SKY LINE
r
SHUSHAN AIRPORT
HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI
il / M / 7 f 7
THE CRESCENT CITY
PUBLIC GRAIN ELEVATOR ON THE WATER-FRONT
C \\ \L STREET, SEPARATING, THE OLD FROM THE NEW CITY
FERRIES CROSS AND RECROSS THE MISSISSIPPI TO ALGIERS
THE NEW FRENCH MARKET
UNLOADING BANANAS
EVERYONE DRINKS CAFE AU L AIT AT THE FRENCH MARKET
COFFEE WHARF, SHOWING FLAGS USED TO ASSORT COFFEE
^
THE SEA WALL ALONG LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN TOWARD THE BEACH
AND AMUSEMENT PARK
NETS HUNG UP TO DRY NEAR LAFITTE
Folkways 6 1
Voodoo again, but you are afraid to ask. He seems to guess your thought.
Suppose we go see an old Voodoo woman my colored nurse used to con
sult when I was a child. The offer is obviously made from a sense of duty.
You protest, but your Creole must not disappoint you.
You pass many long, narrow little houses on the way. They are one
room wide, and seem to stretch back into infinity. Shotgun cottages/
your Creole calls them. He says they are so called because all the doors
open one behind the other in a straight line. With all doors open, you
could fire a gun from front step to backyard wall without leaving a
scratch.
The Voodoo woman lives away down on Pauger Street, near where
Bagtelle, Great Men, Love, and Good Children Streets used to be.
They were named by the gallant wastrel, Bernard de Marigny, when he
divided his plantation into building lots in hopes of recouping the fortune
lost at * craps. You start out on foot, as you always do if you want to
see anything in New Orleans. Along the way, you are surprised by the
number of freshly scrubbed doorsteps, sprinkled with powdered brick,
which you see. Your Creole tells you that powdered brick not only keeps
off evil spells, but witches and ghosts as well. Out of a cottage window
you are just passing come the strains of an old Creole lullaby, sung in a
husky Afro-American contralto. The Creole knows the song, remembers
it from his childhood, hums a few bars, and breaks into the words, in
the soft Gombo you have been hearing along the way. The song goes
something like this:
Pov piti Lolotte a mouin
Pov piti Lolotte a mouin
Li gagnin bobo, bobo,
Li gagnin doule.
Pov piti Lolotte a mouin
Pov piti Lolotte a mouin
Li gagnin bobo, Li gagnin doule.
Calalou pote madrasse, li pote jipon garni;
Calalou pote madrasse, li pote jipon garni.
D amour quand pote la chaine, adieu courri tout bonheur;
D amour quand pote la chaine, adieu courri tout bonheur.
Chorus:
^ nor us:
Pov piti Lolotte a mouin,
Pov piti Lolotte a mouin,
Li gagnin bobo, bobo,
Li gagnin doule, doule,
Li gagnin doule dans ker a li.
62
Economic and Social Development
The Voodoo woman, of course, is a disappointment. The Creole
never honestly expected she would divulge any of her secrets, but she
is very pleasant, and tells you with a flashing smile that Zaffaire Cabritt
qa pas zaffaire Mouton (The goat s business is none of the sheep s con
cern). The Creole expected that too. But she is quite willing to talk
of other things, tells you one of the thousand and one animal tales in
Gombo, which your Creole later repeats and translates. He remembers
that one, too, from his childhood. And she does tell you where there
is a drugstore which does an extensive business in Voodoo paraphernalia,
bearing witness to the fact that Voodoo is far from extinct even today.
So you head for the Voodoo drugstore, which is in the uptown section,
and the Creole gets a chance to repeat the animal tale:
COMPAIR BOUKI ET
MACAQUES
Bouki mette di fe en bas so lequi-
page et fait bouilli dolo ladans pendant
eine haire. Quand dolo la te bien
chaud Bouki sorti deyors et li com
mence batte tambour et hele macaques
ye. Li chante, li chante:
Sam-bombel! Sam-bombel tarn!
Sam-bombel! Sam-bombel dam!
Macaques ye tende et ye dit :
Qui ca? Bouki gaignin quichoge qui
bon pou manze, anon couri, et ye tous
parti pou couri chez Bouki. Tan ye
te ape galpe, ye te chante:
Molesi, cherguinet, chourvan!
Cheguille, chourvan!
Quand Bouki oua ye li te si content
li frotte so vente. Bouki dit ma
caques: Ma le rentre dans chau
diere la, et quan ma dit mo chuite,
ote moin. Bouki saute dans chaudiere
dans ein piti moment li hele: Mo
chuite, mo chuite, ote moin, et ma
caques hale li deyors. Quand Bouki
te deyors li dit macaques: Astere
ce ouzotte tour rentre dans chaudiere.
Quand ouzotte va hele mo chuite ma
ote ouzottes. Macaques ye rentre.
Dolo la te si chaud, si chaud, sitot
ye touche li, ye hele: Mo chuite,
mo chuite. Mais Bouki prend so
COMPAIR BOUKI AND THE
MONKEYS
Compair Bouki put fire under his
kettle, and when the water was very
hot he began to beat his drum and to
cry out:
* Sam-bombel! Sam-bombel tarn!
Sam-bombel! Sam-bombel dam!
The monkeys heard and said:
What! Bouki has something good to
eat; let us go ; and they ran up to
Bouki and sang:
Molesi, cherguinet, chourvan!
Cheguille, chourvan!
Compair Bouki then said to the
monkeys: I shall enter into the kettle,
and when I say, "I am cooked," you
must take me out. He jumped into
the kettle, and the monkeys pulled
him out as soon as he said, I am
cooked/
The monkeys, in their turn, jumped
into the kettle, and cried out, immedi
ately on touching the water, We are
cooked. Bouki, however, took his big
iron pot cover and covering the kettle
said: If you were cooked you could
not say so. One little monkey alone
escaped, and Bouki ate all the others.
Folkways
grand couverti et couvri so chaudiere
serre, et tan li tape ri li dit pove ma
caques ye: Si ouzottes te chuite
ouzottes te pas capabe dit ouzottes
chuites. Quand macaques ye te
chuites pou meme, Bouki decouvri so
chaudiere. Asteur ein tout piti ma
caque, qui te dans ein piti coin chape
sans Bouki oua li. Asteur, Bouki
assite, et li mange, mange jouqua li te
lasse. Mais ein jou li fini mange
dernier macaque et li di : Fo mo trappe
lotte macaques. Li prend so gros tam
bour, li couri en haut la garli et li batte,
li batte et li chante:
Sam-bombel! Sam-bombel tam!
Sam-bombel! Sam-bombel dam!
Et macaques commence vini et ape
chante :
Molesi, cheriguille!
Molesi, cheriguille, chourvan!
Quand tous macaques ye te la Bouki
rentre dans dolo chaud qui te dans
chaudiere, et dit: Quand ma dit: Mo
chuite, ote moin. Dans ein ti moment
Bouki hele: Mo chuite, mo chuite.
Ah oua, macaques ye prend gros
couverti, et couvri pove Bouki et ye
dit li: Si so te chuite to sre pas heel.
Some time after this Compair Bouki
was hungry again, and he called the
monkeys:
Sam-bombel! Sam-bombel tam!
Sam-bombel! Sam-bombel dam!
When the monkeys came they sang:
Molesi, cheriguille!
Molesi, cheriguille, chourvan!
When the monkeys arrived, he
jumped into the kettle again and said,
I am cooked, I am cooked. The mon
keys, however, having been warned by
the little monkey who had escaped the
first time, did not pull Bouki out, but
said, If you were cooked you could
not say so.
At Canal Street you board a street-car with your friend. Two black-
robed nuns enter, giving the conductor a polite nod instead of a fare.
The instant the nuns appear in the car, all the gentlemen seated scramble
to their feet, vying with one another for the privilege of relinquishing
their seats.
The gentleman next to whom you are standing is reading the classified
section of a local newspaper. You glance at the Personal column and
see:
$50 REWARD
Parrot, green, lost from 214 Calliope, answering to I love
you, Oh! Doctor, and imitates children crying.
C. Smith
I am applying for a pardon.
Robert Barrot
Thanks to Saint Peter, Saint Margaret, and the Little
Flower of Jesus for favors granted.
J.G.
6 4
Economic and Social Development
Thanks to Saint Jude for hayfever.
Mary T.
I am not responsible for any debts contracted by my wife.
George J. Jones
Thanks to Saint Rita for bicycles found and preservation
from drowning.
C. R. M. and his cousin
Thanks to Saint Expedite, my boy turned good.
Mrs. L. B. Day
You get off the street-car, and right there in front of you, on a wide
straight avenue, with tall palm trees down the center, and houses occu
pied by the better class of Negroes, is the Voodoo drugstore. You go in,
meet the proprietor, and attempt to get a catalogue of his charms.
He is very reticent, since he is in an illicit business, but by dint of haggling
you and your Creole friend leave, triumphantly carrying a vial of Love
Oil and a list of all other charms to be purchased in the store. Here is
your list:
Love Powder, White & Pink .25
Drawing Powder . 50
Cinnamon Powder .25
War Powder . 50
Controlling Powder . 50
Anger Powder . 50
Peace Powder . 50
Courting Powder . 50
Delight Powder . 50
Yellow Wash . 25
Red Wash .25
Black Wash .25
Pink Wash .25
Lode Stone .25
Steel Dust .25
Saltpeter .25
Van Van .25
Gamblers Luck .75
Dice Special i.oo
Oil Geranium . 25
Oil Verbena . 25
Oil Rosemary . 25
Oil Lavender .25
Love Oil . 50
Mind Oil . 50
Devil Oil . 50
Incense (Vantines) .25
Love Drops
Drawing Drops
Luck around Business
Robert Vinegar
French Love Powder
Get Away Powder
Easy Life Powder
Goddess of Luck
Midnight Oil
Goddess of Love
Lucky Jazz
Come to Me Powder
Goddess of Evils
Love and Success Powder
Straight XX
XXX 3 Cross Powder
Lucky Floor Drops
3 King Oil
Controlling Oil
Sacred Sand, All Colors
Love Drawing Powder
St. Joseph Powder
Black Cat Oil
Mexican Luck
Angel s Delight
Black Devils
Snake Root
50
50
50
25
75
i.oo
2.50
1.50
75
2.00
I.OO
I.OO
1-50
I.OO
I.OO
I.OO
75
75
I.OO
I.OO
1-50
I.OO
I.OO
.50
.75
50
.25
Folkways 65
Dragon s Blood
5
John Conquer Root
25
Devil Shoe Strings
25
Cinnamon Drops
25
War Water
So
Get Together Powder
50
Peace Water
50
Good Luck Powder
50
Mad Water
50
Hell s Devil Powder
50
Moving Powder
So
Bend Over Oil
50
Draw Across Powder
50
St. Joseph Oil
-75
Flying Devil Powder
50
As You Please Powder
75
Separation Powder
50
5 Century Grass
50
Lucky Lucky Powder
50
Goofer Dust
.50
Good Luck Drops for Hand
50
6th and yth Book of Moses
I. 00
Mad Luck Water
5o
Oil Bend Over
50
Extra Good Luck Drops
50
Get Together Drops
1. 00
Fast Luck Drops
50
* What is goofer dust? you inquire.
Your Creole smiles. * Would you like to have some?
* Certainly if I knew what to do with it. So the two of you go
to the old St. Louis Cemetery. It is late afternoon and the sexton is
unwilling to let strangers in. The Creole tells him something in French,
bows, and enters the gate. You wander about among the old, crumbling
whitewashed tombs, which look like little houses. The Creole stops before
a tall tomb, and cautioning you to be quiet, climbs to the top and comes
down with a handful of damp earth.
This is Marie Laveau s grave. Marie was the most famous, most
powerful of all the Voodoo Queens. On Saint John s Eve, petitioners
come and deposit coins in the chinks of the grave to have her spirit
answer their prayers. Goofer dust is the earth from a grave, any grave.
But I thought I d get you earth from Marie Laveau s own grave, because
that, of course, would make the charms doubly potent, he says, smiling.
Then you leave the cemetery, talking of Marie Laveau, and how she
used to charm policemen sent to imprison her so that they were unable
to move; of how her tignon, or headdress, was tied in a way no other
woman was permitted to tie hers; and how she was said to converse with
and advise those who inherited her authority after her death; and of
many other sinister things.
That, says your Creole, pointing to a house on the corner of Royal
and St. Ann Streets, is one of the many haunted houses in the Vieux
Carre.
Really?
Certainly. A man whose integrity I respect told me that he himself,
on a wintry night, saw the naked figure of a woman walking up and
down the edge of the roof, shivering and wringing her hands. Tradition
66 Economic and Social Development
says that a beautiful octoroon slave girl, over a century ago, fell in love
with her white master. Jealously she guarded her secret as long as she
could, and finally, no longer being able to stand the sight of him passing
her by as unconcernedly as if she had been a piece of furniture, she
blurted out her love for him. Taking the whole affair as a broad joke,
the master agreed that if she would walk naked on the roof top all that
night (one of the coldest of the year) he would become her lover. To
prove her love and obedience, the girl climbed the roof shortly after night
fall, and taking off her clothes began to walk up and down the edge of
the roof. By midnight, she was so frozen that she could no longer move
andjying down in exhaustion, fell into a coma from which she never awoke.
New Orleans is kind to ghosts/ your Creole adds, and almost all of
our old houses are haunted. In your own studio . . .
SOCIAL LIFE AND SOCIAL WELFARE
NEW ORLEANS was a provincial French and Spanish city already a
century old before it became a part of the United States. Set in a lush
tropical wilderness near the mouth of the Mississippi, a city of contrasts,
it was both elegant and brutal. Operas and lavish balls were given, and
there was a fine choice of wines; but men were being tortured under
Spanish law, and pirates and smugglers made neighboring waters unsafe
for the traveler. Riots were frequent. Each residence was built like a fort.
In the century and a quarter since the Americans came flocking to
New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, social life has de
veloped and modified itself into the usual American pattern; but there
remains a Latin culture a culture not founded on books but on the
art of life itself which makes New Orleans different from other cities
of the country. The celebration of Mardi Gras with masquerade balls
and pageantry is perhaps the city s most typical gesture.
A new city has grown up around and beyond the limits of the old walled
city of La Nouvelle Orleans. Some of the old remains; but New Orleans
today is a melting pot of many nationalities. From the little French
settlement of 1718 the present-day city has emerged.
The transition was the result of various contributing factors, but the
Church, particularly during the first century of the city s existence, was
a dominant influence. Jesuit missionaries brought over to administer to
the spiritual needs of the settlers found time also to aid in the develop
ment of agriculture and industry, thereby helping to attract additional
and higher type immigration. The Ursuline nuns, who came to the
Colony in 1727, added a touch of civilization by establishing a school,
68 Economic and Social Development
tending to the sick, and carrying on other activities devoted to public
welfare. Slavery was introduced almost from the beginning, and the
Negro has always been a definite part (at times, a problem) of the city s
social life.
During the French and Spanish regimes (1718-1803) New Orleans
remained little more than a town, the population within the city wall
never greatly exceeding five thousand. Except for officialdom and a small
circle of aristocracy, which was augmented after the French Revolution
by the coming of emigres, the inhabitants consisted mainly of the bour
geoisie, soldiers, and the American frontiersmen, who came in increasing
numbers after 1800. From the lowest to the highest social stratum in this
community there was a very definite distinction assumed by the Creole
element (descendants of the original French and Spanish settlers) of the
population. Averse to all foreign intercourse but that with the mother
countries, they maintained their social and cultural identity, regarding
as unfortunate any increase in the foreign population of the city. So
marked was this attitude that after American annexation resulted in an
influx of Anglo-Saxons, the newcomers found it advisable to settle outside
the confines of the Creole section. Ultimately surrounded by suburban
foreigners, the Vieux Carre became a city within a city, in which Creole
society maintained its own high social standards.
During the great plantation era, from the eighteenth century to the
beginning of the Civil War, New Orleans became an unrivaled social
center and the scene of many brilliant functions. The planters became
immensely wealthy, erecting great plantation houses, many of which
were classic in architecture and luxuriously furnished. The more affluent
of these country gentlemen established separate town houses in New
Orleans, residing in them while on visits to the city.
Many plantation mansions were erected on the outskirts of the city
along the Mississippi and Bayou St. John. The big house of the planter
usually faced the river or bayou, set back about a hundred yards and
surrounded by spacious grounds. In architecture it ranged from a tem
porary log cabin to an elaborate mansion. In general the plantation home
followed a pattern simple two-story structures, the lower of brick and
the upper of wood, with wide verandas (called galleries ) supported on
the lower floor by squat columns of brick and above by thin colonnettes
of cypress. Set back from the house, usually at some distance, were the
kitchens, smokehouses and storehouses, and the chapel. The slave
quarters were situated further to the rear, their one- or two-room cottages,
each with its large chimney, forming a long street in the manner of a
Social Life and Social Welfare 69
miniature village. Between the slave quarters and the mansion the over
seer, should the number of slaves or the size of the plantation demand
the services of one, had his house.
Plantation life was feudal and patriarchal. Based upon serfdom, in
which the slaves were attached to the owner s land and regarded as per
sonal property, the system was in many respects similar to that in
practice under the ancien regime, with the exception that the ownership
implied in the term slavery distinguished the lot of the Negro from that
of the European peasant. The system was patriarchal in that the life of
the community centered around the planter and his family. The members
of such a feudal community were necessarily separated into three distinct
classes, the planter and his family, the household servants, and the
slaves employed in the fields. The bond uniting them was essentially
economic in nature, all relying upon the land for subsistence.
The position of the planter s wife was an important one. While he
attended to the business of the plantation she supervised its daily exist
ence, exercising in her field as much power and undertaking as great a
responsibility as did her husband in his, ruling as she did an enormous
black family as well as her own. Invariably there were young cousins or
orphan kin to be educated or cared for, or old aunts and uncles for whom
a home had to be provided. Education of the young was taken care of by
a tutor or governess, more often than not from the North, who was ac
cepted and treated as one of the family. In short, the mistress was en
tirely responsible for the daily routine, welfare, and happiness of all.
A typical plantation usually had about a hundred slaves, over which
the planter occupied a position similar to that of a petty feudal lord, with
emphasis always upon the responsibility rather than the power of his
station. Theoretically accountable to the law, in practice he tended to be
sole ruler. The welfare of his family was directly dependent upon that of
his slaves, for in order to prosper the planter had to see that they were
properly clothed, fed, housed, and kept in good health. Discipline had to
be maintained and work accomplished under the most trying conditions.
Education had to be attended to classical for his sons, cultural for his
daughters, and practical for his slaves. Health was exceedingly impor
tant, and could be maintained only upon the closest supervision, a physi
cian being kept in constant attendance for that purpose. The attitude of
the planter toward his slaves in matters of religion differed with the
individual. Some masters interfered as little as possible, while others
considered it their duty to assume full responsibility.
As the city expanded, the nearby plantation holdings were subdivided
70 Economic and Social Development
and became part of the enlarging city. Where brilliant fetes once marked
a round of genteel social intercourse, where culture flourished under the
guiding hand of a landed gentry, now only plantation homes, many still
kept in excellent condition, others fallen into decay, stand surrounded
by modern and less glamorous dwelling-places as symbols of a once im
pressive social order.
Private clubs have played an important part in the development of
New Orleans social life. In the early days men gathered in saloons and
coffee houses, known as bourses or exchanges, after business hours
for the enjoyment of friendly discussion, wine-drinking, games, and
reading. The most popular of these places were La Sere s and Maspero s,
located in the Vieux Carre. The good fellowship and congeniality which
predominated at these gatherings laid the foundation for the promotion
of later organizations. Several groups originated simultaneously with
the carnival associations, and are today closely identified with them,
although the extent of the relationship is a secret closely guarded by
members. More prominent among the older organizations were the
Elkin, the Pelican, Orleans, Chalmette, Boston, and Pickwick, of which
only the last two now survive. The Elkin Club, named after the owner
of a hotel building situated on Bayou St. John, was formed in 1832 by a
small group of influential men who desired great privacy and exclusive-
ness in their pleasures. The members, who drove to their clubhouse every
afternoon in their carriages, enjoyed a fine dinner and spent the remainder
of the day in drinking and gambling. Chivalry being the order of the
day, they offered sumptuous balls and entertainments, to which socially
prominent ladies were invited. The Harmony Club, founded in 1862, was
for years an important medium of the Jewish social life, and the Chess,
Checkers, and Whist Club was the rendezvous of many players of those
days, including Paul Morphy, world-famous chess expert.
In former days the lines of social caste were more sharply drawn, and
in no phase of social life was this more apparent than in the membership
roster of the exclusive clubs. The business of merchandising and ordinary
trading was considered plebeian, and the members of this group were ex
cluded from the aristocratic club life of New Orleans. Plantation owners,
bankers, politicians, and cotton and sugar brokers were considered
eligible, however. Today, with the expansion of democratic ideas, and
because of the fact that members of many aristocratic families have gone
into various types of business which were outlawed socially under the
old regime, the modern clubs of New Orleans, although exclusive in the
choice of their members, have broadened their membership standards.
Social Life and Social Welfare 71
Women s clubs, though of later origin, today play a major part in
women s activities in the city. Among the more prominent of the wom
en s organizations are the Colonial Dames, the Junior League, the Petit
Salon, and the Orleans Club. Several country clubs for both men and
women are also prominent.
The work of the Ursuline nuns in administering to the sick and indigent
among the first settlers is today greatly magnified in the efficient and
well-organized welfare agencies in the city. The Department of Public
Welfare, organized in 1934, has charge of the city s many institutions for
the sick, the poor, the aged, and orphaned or delinquent children. In ad
dition to the Department of Public Welfare, there are a large number of
social and philanthropic institutions devoted to the welfare of orphans,
delinquents, and the aged and indigent. Among these are several case
work agencies, such as the Family Service Society, dealing primarily with
domestic or marital difficulties; the Associated Catholic Charities, also
dealing with family problems; and the Children s Bureau, whose function
is to care for and place neglected children in foster homes whenever pos
sible. The Travelers Aid Society and the American Red Cross are also
active.
The Tulane School of Social Work, organized at Tulane University in
1927, has been an important factor in stimulating social consciousness in
the community through education and specialized study of social con
ditions. Students preparing for this type of work are given practice cases
(with supervision) at some of the above institutions in connection with
their regular class work.
There are also twenty-three asylums for children located throughout
the city, some of which are privately endowed while others are supported
from Community Chest funds. Practically all of the large hospitals of
the city conduct social service departments which co-operate with other
case-work agencies in the treatment of charitable cases. For the aged
and indigent there are a number of institutions which are maintained by
the city and are non-sectarian.
The present system of curbing juvenile delinquency in New Orleans
has been much improved since the establishment in 1933 of the new Milne
Municipal Boys Home, a corrective institution. The need for recreational
facilities bv the youth of the city has been recognized in a number of
neighborhoods in the establishment of community centers, which offer
health supervision, swimming and other sports, supervised play, and
instruction in crafts.
The Community Chest, organized in 1924, functions as a centralized dis
bursing agency for the various institutions and welfare groups of the city.
EDUCATION
EDUCATION was advocated in New Orleans almost from the beginning.
Soon after the town was founded, Bienville importuned the French
Government to establish a college under the patronage of the Crown.
The request refused, he asked that the Sceurs Crises of his native Canada
be sent to New Orleans to teach and to care for the sick colonists. Again
disappointed, he was advised by Father Beaubois to secure the services
of the Ursulines of Rouen. After several months of preparations, six
Ursuline nuns and two Jesuit missionaries arrived in New Orleans in 1727,
and began the instruction of a limited number of girls and the nursing of
the sick. A few Indians and Negro slaves also were taught during evenings
and Sundays. To this small group New Orleans owes its first educational
institution, Ursuline Convent a school which has operated continu
ously for more than two hundred years and is one of the oldest girls
schools in the country.
There is a brief account of a school for boys having been opened in 1724
on the site of the present Presbytery, directed by Father Cecil, a Cap
uchin monk, but little information relating to it is available. Governor
Unzaga also attempted to establish a public school in 1772, while Louisi
ana was under the rule of Spain, and for a short time students, varying
in number from six to thirty, were taught reading and writing.
Despite these efforts education made little progress in the first century
of New Orleans existence. Lack of funds, social and religious difficulties,
and apparent apathy on the part of the governing powers retarded the
development of schools. Free education was frowned upon by those who
could provide private instruction for their children, and early Creole
families who could afford to do so sent their sons to European universities.
Education 73
As elsewhere in the Nation, the need for free public schools was not rec
ognized until early in the nineteenth century; even then, many con
sidered it undesirable. Because they felt, undemocratically, that it would
necessitate an indiscriminate mingling of all classes, and perhaps give
their children undesirable associates.
It was not until after 1803, when Louisiana was transferred to the
United States, that appreciable gains were made in education. William
C. C. Claiborne, first American Governor, in his address to the Legislature
in 1804, advocated the establishment of free schools, open to all classes,
and as a result an act was passed in 1805 authorizing the founding of a
college in New Orleans. Appropriations for the college, however, were
not made until 1811, owing to lack of funds. In 1826, after the college
had flourished and expired, two elementary schools and a central high
school were established in the city, the former giving training in French,
English grammar, reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the latter,
courses in literature, mathematics, and the languages. To assist in the
support of these institutions, taxes were levied on the city s two theaters,
and these funds supplemented by revenue from the Louisiana lottery.
While only a small percentage of the city s educable youth was enrolled
in them, the schools were a factor in molding a more favorable opinion of
public education.
Although the schools were supported with tax funds, small tuition fees
were charged each student, a condition which prevented many children
from attending. In 1833 Governor Roman sponsored additional legisla
tion extending free school facilities to the indigent, and providing for
State assistance in the support of city schools. As the number of students
increased following this measure, additional taxes were assessed to meet
the growing demands.
With the reorganization of the State educational system and the ap
pointment of a State superintendent in 1847, a number of free schools were
set up throughout New Orleans, and a more uniform system of taxation
was planned to maintain them. The year following more than 6500
students were enrolled. In 1850 New Orleans received a large portion of
the estate of John McDonogh, who at his death left a will requesting that
his fortune be divided equally between the public schools of Baltimore,
his birthplace, and New Orleans, his adopted home. From this source
New Orleans realized approximately $750,000, which was used to erect
more public school buildings. Twelve of the thirty-five schools built are
still in use. By 1860, 12,000 students were enrolled in the public schools
of the city.
74 Economic and Social Development
During the middle of the nineteenth century a number of convents
and parochial schools were established in New Orleans, including the
schools of the Redemptorist Fathers and Immaculate Conception, St.
Mary s German School, the New Orleans Female Dominican Academy,
the First Convent of Mercy, and Notre Dame Seminary. These schools,
semi-private in character, were affected in a lesser degree by the Civil
War, and fared better during that period than the public schools of the
city.
The Civil War and the Reconstruction policies in the era following
were a serious blow to the education of whites in New Orleans. Schools
were disorganized. Enrollment fell to twenty per cent of its normal
figure. Negro education, which heretofore had been left almost entirely
to slave owners, made rapid strides with carpetbag legislation, which
made provision for joint Negro and white instruction. Negro school
superintendents were appointed to direct the State educational system.
As a result practically all of the white students withdrew from the schools.
It was not until the late iSyo s, under the administration of Robert
M. Lusher, that the city school system was restored to normal conditions.
By the turn of the century there were more than seventy school buildings
in New Orleans, and an enrollment of almost thirty-two thousand stu
dents. In 1906 the State Board of Education introduced a uniform cur
riculum into public schools and New Orleans, four years later, enforced
the law making the attendance of children between the ages of seven and
fifteen compulsory.
Advanced education in the city was a nineteenth-century development,
the founding of the College of Orleans in 1811 having been the first at
tempt to establish an institution for higher learning. This school, pri
vately endowed, was maintained for only fifteen years, owing to enmity
between Americans and Creoles, and was abandoned in 1826. In 1834 a
group of local physicians founded the Medical College of Louisiana,
which, despite a lack of adequate funds, flourished for several years, and
in 1847 was absorbed by the University of Louisiana, established by the
State Legislature a few years earlier. Occasional appropriations kept
the university barely alive until 1883, when the munificent bequests of
Paul Tulane gave it a new name and made possible its expansion to its
present proportions. Four years later Newcomb College, one of the most
popular women s schools in the South, was opened, and in 1911 Loyola
University, conducted by the Jesuit Order, was established.
As elsewhere in the South, the Negro institutions of New Orleans are
of fairly recent origin. During the latter part of the nineteenth century
Education 75
a number of colored schools were founded; the first in 1869, under the
auspices of the Freedmen s Bureau, was known as the New Orleans
University. Later schools included Flint Medical College, which de
veloped into the Flint-Goodridge Hospital, and Straight University,
founded and maintained by the American Missionary Society of New
York. The latter merged with New Orleans University to form Dillard
University, which had its first formal session in 1935 and which promises
to become one of the outstanding Negro institutions of the country. In
1915 Xavier College was opened the only Catholic school of higher
learning in the United States conducted solely for Negroes.
The Notre Dame Seminary, under the supervision of the Archbishop
of New Orleans, provides training for secular priests. The Baptist Bible
Institute, open to both men and women, is strictly a theological seminary,
and was established in New Orleans in 1917.
New Orleans has had a number of private schools, only a few of which,
however, survived the depression. The Louise S. McGehee School for
Girls, an accredited elementary and high school founded in 1912, is one
of the most popular in the city. Others continuing in operation include
the Metairie Park Day School, the New Orleans Academy, the Isidore
Newman School, Rugby Academy, the New Orleans Nursery School,
and Miss Aiken s Primary School. The Home Institute, founded by
Sophie Wright, was formerly one of the outstanding girls schools of the
city, and a public high school today is named for the Institute s late
founder. A French school for children of the grammar grades is main
tained on a part-time basis by the French Union. A description of an
early private school one opened in 1847 by Madame Marie Louise
Girard for the instruction of young children is given in Grace King s
Madame Girard.
New Orleans also has a number of commercial, technical, trade, and
business schools located throughout the city, as well as schools of art,
music, dancing, and dramatics.
The Isaac Delgado Central Trades School, offering training in printing,
carpentry, metal work, architectural and mechanical drafting, mathe
matics, the trades, English, plumbing, cabinet-making, interior decorat
ing, electricity, applied science, and stewardship, is recognized as one of
the leading trade schools in this section of the country. The L. E. Rabouin
Trade School for Girls offers a wide range of courses in manual arts,
home-making, and crafts. The Joseph A. Maybin Commercial School for
Graduates, said to be the only institution of its kind in the South, offers
advanced work for graduates in commerce. The building was originally a
76 Economic and Social Development
Jewish private school founded in 1868 by the Hebrew Education
Society.
During the last few years numerous methods and courses have been
incorporated into the public-school system in an effort to facilitate the
training of the mentally and physically handicapped. Sight-saving classes
for the near blind, corrective classes for children with physical defects,
and opportunity classes for students mentally inferior are being con
ducted. At the Robert C. Davey School night classes are offered three
times a week to foreigners wishing to learn the English language. Illit
eracy, still very high in the city, is declining as a result of the introduction
of free textbooks, whereby indigent families are aided in their efforts to
educate their children, and as a result of the educational work being
done in that field by the Works Progress Administration.
At present there are sixty-one elementary public day schools and
eleven high schools for white students, and twenty-three elementary and
four high schools for Negroes. The figures for 1934-35 showed a total
enrollment of 77,000 students in the city s public schools, approximately
25,000 of whom were colored. Catholic schools in the city include thirty-
nine elementary, eleven high schools, two colleges, and one normal school,
for white students, and eleven schools, including both elementary and
high schools, for Negroes. There are also two Hebrew and four Lutheran
schools.
The present Orleans Parish school board, with offices at 701 Carondelet
Street, consists of five members, elected by ballot every four years. The
board selects its own officers and the operating officials of the school
system. The City Commissioner of Public Finance automatically becomes
treasurer of the board.
RELIGION
THE first religious services in New Orleans were conducted by the
Jesuit missionaries who came to Louisiana with Iberville and Bienville
for the purpose of establishing the Catholic Church and converting the
Indians. The earliest direct reference to a house of worship in the city
is in the account of Father Charlevoix, who, when visiting New Orleans
in 1721, found only a hundred houses, and half a miserable warehouse,
where Our Lord is worshipped. A temporary church built during the
priest s stay was later destroyed by the hurricane of 1722.
In 1722 the Company of the Indies issued an ordinance dividing the
territory into three ecclesiastical sections. Under this division New Or
leans came under the jurisdiction of the Capuchins, whose first task was
the erection of a church to replace that one destroyed by the hurricane.
The new building, a brick edifice, was dedicated to Saint Louis in honor
of the patron saint of France. A later alteration in the ecclesiastical ad
ministration of the Province permitted the Jesuits to work in the original
Capuchin territory, and in 1723 the New Orleans mission of the Jesuits
was established. The following year Bienville promulgated the Black
Code, a system of laws providing for the control of slaves, the expulsion
of Jews from the territory, and the establishment of Catholicism as a
State religion. In spite of the provisions of the Code, both Jews and
Protestants came into the Colony at an early date, as is indicated by the
reports of the Spanish governors and by O Reilly s expulsion of a few
Jews in 1769.
The Jesuits, who besides their spiritual activities did much toward the
78 Economic and Social Development
furtherance of industry in the Colony by introducing the cultivation of
figs, oranges, indigo, and sugar cane, were expelled in 1763 as a result of
European opposition.
An incident which might have profoundly affected both New Orleans
and the entire territory was the attempt in 1789 of Padre Antonio de
Sedella, later known and revered as Pere Antoine, to establish the dreaded
Spanish Inquisition in Louisiana. Governor Miro, quick to sense the
danger of such an institution in the French Colony, cleverly arranged the
seizure and deportation of the priest.
A new diocese was formed of Louisiana and the Floridas in 1793, and
Bishop Penalver became the first permanent Bishop of New Orleans.
The third church to occupy the original site of Saint Louis Cathedral
was dedicated and consecrated as a cathedral by Bishop Penalver in 1 794.
The transfer of Louisiana from one to another of three different nations
within a month in 1803 disrupted the work of the Catholic Church for a
dozen years. Many of the priests and nuns, unwilling to remain in the
Colony under French rule, withdrew; the subsequent announcement of
the sale of the territory to America completed the disorganization. Pere
Antoine, back in New Orleans after his exile, was the storm center of a
controversy arising over the differences between Spanish and American
laws regarding church property. He refused to recognize the authority
of the Archbishop of Baltimore, and was supported in this by his con
gregation, who organized a Board of Trustees to whose care the Cathedral
was entrusted. The contest between the Bishop and the Trustees was
finally carried to the United States Supreme Court, where a decision
was obtained in 1843 transferring the property to the Archbishop s
jurisdiction.
In 1837 the Jesuits were recalled to Louisiana, where they again took
up their work, establishing in New Orleans a number of institutions,
largely educational, from which several fine high schools for boys, and
Loyola University, a large and important institution of higher learning,
have grown. These and other activities spurring recovery from the set
back, the Catholic Church again grew steadily in the city; religious orders
were called in, additional churches and parochial schools were estab
lished, and in 1850 New Orleans became an archdiocese, with Bishop
Blanc its first Archbishop.
Protestantism, in the first one hundred years of New Orleans existence,
was very meagerly represented; but early in the nineteenth century the
number of its adherents, gradually swelled by the influx of American
colonists, was of sufficient size to justify organization. In 1805 a meeting
Religion 79
was called by the several denominations of the Protestant faith for the
purpose of establishing a common meeting-house. In the vote to decide
which denomination should erect the building, the Episcopalians won;
Christ s Church, the first Protestant house of worship in the city, was
built in 1816 at the corner of Bourbon and Canal Streets. As the city
grew additional Episcopalian congregations were organized, of which the
best known is Trinity Church, on Jackson Avenue. Several of the
pastors of this church became bishops, and one of them, the Reverend
Leonidas Polk, rector from 1855 to 1861, resigned at the outbreak of the
Civil War to become a general and the fighting bishop of the Con
federate Army.
The first attempt to introduce Methodism also began in 1805 when the
Western Conference sent Elisha W. Bowman, a minister, to New Orleans
for the purpose of founding a Methodist church, voting an appropriation
of one hundred dollars for his expenses. Reaching the city, Bowman ob
tained permission from the authorities to preach at the Capitol (pre
sumably the Cabildo), but when he arrived at the building on the ap
pointed day he found its doors locked. A protest to the Mayor brought
a renewal of the permission, but probably owing to the interference of
members of another denomination, Bowman was for the second time
disappointed, whereupon he left the city, his mission a failure. Other
assignments made to New Orleans by the Conference between 1811 and
1818 were similarly unsuccessful, although the Reverend Mark Moore
had in the latter year actually procured a meeting-house and gathered a
considerable congregation only to have the deadly yellow fever claim
a number of his flock and force the closing of his church. But in 1830 the
perseverance of the Methodists was rewarded, when yet another attempt
resulted in the erection of a substantial church building at Gravier and
Baronne Streets, the site now occupied by the Union Indemnity Building.
The foothold once gained, steady progress was made, the First Church
congregation quickly outgrowing its building, and moving to larger
quarters. Methodists meanwhile increased in number in the fast-growing
city, and soon a number of additional churches were built, definitely
establishing the Methodist faith.
From the year 1816, when the first Baptist missionary came to New
Orleans, the Baptist Church had a hard struggle for existence in the city,
outside aid having been necessary to maintain the separate church build
ings until the early twentieth century. But from a total membership
of only twelve hundred in six churches in 1918, it has grown in the inter
vening years to more than seven thousand members in twenty-six
80 Economic and Social Development
churches. These figures, however, include the entire New Orleans As
sociation, which extends as far as Westwego in Jefferson Parish.
The foundation of the Baptist faith was laid here by James A. Reynold-
son, who came to New Orleans in 1816 as a missionary from the Triennial
Convention. His church, organized about 1820, with a congregation of
sixteen white and thirty-two colored members, was later dissolved. For
the ensuing several years Baptist affairs in the city were in a perturbed
condition, the members worshiping at various places, and without a de
finite organization. But in 1860 the First Church, which had been founded
seventeen years before and later disbanded, was reorganized, resumed its
services, and began to grow steadily; the Coliseum Place Baptist Church,
erected in 1854, also began to increase in membership, and other churches
became necessary at intervals in the following years.
In 1918 the Baptist Bible Institute, a school devoted to religious edu
cation, was founded, and, maintained by the Southern Baptist Conven
tion, is now well established with an enrollment of more than two hundred.
The first successful effort to implant Presbyterianism in New Orleans
originated with the Congregationalists of New England. In 1817 the
Connecticut Missionary Society sent the Reverend Elias Cornelius to
New Orleans to examine its moral condition, and to invite friends of
the Congregational or Presbyterian Communion to establish a church/
On his way South Doctor Cornelius became acquainted with Mr. Sylves
ter Larned, a theological student, and invited him to come to New Orleans
upon the completion of his studies. Following his ordination Larned did
so, joining Doctor Cornelius and assisting him in the negotiation of a
loan of $40,000, with which to build the church. Two years later, in 1820,
the city s first Presbyterian church was dedicated, with the Reverend
Mr. Larned as pastor. At his death in 1820 the church was for eighteen
months without a regular minister, but eventually the Reverend Theo
dore Clapp, a native of Massachusetts, was chosen to fill the office. In
1830 a famous theological controversy developed in the church; Doctor
Clapp was charged with heretical teachings and divested of his office and
pulpit by the Presbytery. Exception was taken, and the case was carried
to the General Assembly, which body sustained the exception. Mean
while part of Doctor Clapp s congregation, siding with the opposition,
seceded, and formed a separate group, which later was reabsorbed by the
First Church. In 1833, after the congregation split, Judah Touro, noted
Jewish philanthropist, bought the First Church and turned it over to
Doctor Clapp and his remaining congregation rent-free, because of his
admiration for the clergyman. In 1840 Presbyterianism began to grow
Religion 81
rapidly, and in 1843 the Lafayette Church, an offshoot of the First
Church, was founded; this was followed by the Second Church (1843),
the Third Church (1844), and the Prytania Street Presbyterian Church
(1846). Today the number of Presbyterian communicants in the city
has grown to more than 5500.
The religious history of the Jewish people in New Orleans had its be
ginning early in the nineteenth century. Although there had been some
Jews in the city previous to the Louisiana Purchase, there had been no
organization among them; but by 1828 the number of Jews had increased
considerably, and in that year Shaaray Chesed (Gates of Mercy), the
first synagogue, was built. In 1846 the Portuguese Jews, of whom there
was a small number in the city, founded a second congregation known as
Nefutzoth (Dispersed of Judah), and this was followed by several other
organizations. After an interrupted period of development during and
following the Civil War, Jewish congregations in the city entered upon an
era of rapid and prosperous growth. The arrival of Rabbi Max Heller as
leader of Temple Sinai inaugurated a period of great religious activity,
and drew other brilliant men of the Jewish faith here. There are to
day three orthodox and three reformed Jewish congregations in the
city.
The establishment of Lutheranism in New Orleans is, of course, closely
connected with the settlement of Germans in and about the city. Al
though a large number of these early German settlers were of Roman
Catholic faith, some were Protestants, and the majority of the latter
were Lutherans. The first German Protestant church was organized in
1829, and occupied a site on Clio Street, between St. Charles Avenue and
Carondelet Street; but although attended by Lutherans, it was not de
signated a Lutheran church. In 1840 the Reverend Christian Sans, who
had held services for Germans in a Methodist church, was denied further
use of that church when he refused to preach the Methodist doctrine. As
a result, Sans transferred his services and congregation to the old engine
house at Clouet and Louisa Streets, on August 2, 1840, and that date has
since been regarded as the birthday of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in New Orleans. In the same year a parochial school, still in existence,
was opened by John and Jacob Ueber.
In 1883 the Reverend G. C. Francke organized the English-speaking
Lutherans of the city and introduced the delivery of sermons in English.
Until 1901 the church had been chartered at various times under several
different names, but in that year it was named The Evangelical Lutheran
St. Paul s Congregation/ and has remained that since. As the number of
82 Economic and Social Development
German immigrants to the city increased, other churches were built.
The total membership is now about six thousand.
Mary Baker Eddy s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
introduced Christian Science to New Orleans shortly after 1875. Persons
interested in Mrs. Eddy s teachings formed a group known as the First
Christian Science Association of New Orleans. On October 15, 1895, under
the name Church of Christ, Scientist, of New Orleans, they secured a
charter from the State to practice Apostolic Healing. Services were
held at various places before a church on Melpomene Street, seating about
three hundred, was taken over. Increase in membership necessitated
larger meeting quarters, and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, was
erected in 1913-14 at Nashville Avenue and Garfield Street. Since then,
two other churches have been built and several free reading-rooms have
been established in the city.
Other denominations in the city include Adventist, American Old
Catholic, Assembly of God, Church of Christ, Church of God, Church of
the Nazarene, Disciples of Christ, Greek, Latter Day Saints, Rosicrucian,
Theosophical Society, Unitarian, and Unity.
Negroes in New Orleans belong chiefly to the Baptist and Methodist
Churches, although there are many Catholic Negroes, and several sub
stantial Negro Catholic church buildings. White Catholic churches in the
city permit the attendance of Negroes, usually seating them in the rear
pews, a custom not usually followed in the Protestant churches.
During the French and Spanish regimes the slaves, under the re
quirements of the Black Code, were baptized and instructed in the Cath
olic faith, but after 1803, when new settlers, mostly Protestant, began to
build up great plantations, the slaves were taught the religion of their
masters. A great many of them, however, clung to African religions and
observed their rituals openly or clandestinely, as circumstances dictated.
Congo Square (now Beauregard Square) was given over to slaves on Sun
day afternoons for dancing, singing, and the performance of Voodoo
rites. As long as Negroes were imported as slaves, the old religions were
kept alive. With the end of slave traffic and as a result of constant
proselytism, the Negro transferred his emotionalism to Christian creeds;
but Voodooism and other primitive rituals have persisted in various forms
down to the present.
The emotional character of the Baptist and Methodist revival meetings
seem to have a special appeal for the Negroes. During Reconstruction
when refugee slaves were cared for by the Freedmen s Bureau, many of
them joined Northern church organizations, with the result that today
Religion
the great majority of Negroes are members of the various Baptist and
Methodist church bodies.
Several Negro churches have been organized in New Orleans by self-
appointed leaders, usually women, who adhere to no set doctrine but
claim communion with the spirits, and profess to practice faith heal
ing. One or two of these churches have built up congregations of extra
ordinary size and have even won a considerable following among white
people. Beside the major Negro churches, there are scores of smaller
organizations.
Although a recent directory lists 492 churches in the city, it is estimated
that there are 600 churches for Negroes alone.
SPORTS AND RECREATION
NEW ORLEANS has a history replete with strange and barbaric sports
brought to Louisiana by the French and Spanish, diversified by the
Creoles, and added to by the Americans. Early nineteenth-century
newspapers carried notices of bull fights and cock fights. The latter were
well attended, and interest ran high as heavy wagers were posted on the
contestants, who were revived during the fray by having garlic and
whisky blown into their beaks. One dollar admitted one to a dog and
alligator fight, and gorier fare was afforded at the bear- and bull-baiting
arena, where the spectator was privileged to hurl stones and brickbats at
the animals to incite them to the proper fury. Today, cock fights and
occasionally even dog fights are still to be witnessed. Street boxing and
wrestling of the catch-as-catch-can, bar-nothing variety, was a popular
form of entertainment in old New Orleans, as were the Voodoo dances
held on Sunday afternoons in Congo Square.
A sport popular in the Colonial Period was the traditional game of
rackets, once the tribal sport of the Choctaw Indians. It combined the
more violent features of lacrosse, football, cross-country racing, and
rioting. The young Creoles took it up and formed two clubs, the La
Villes and the Bayous, and the game soon worked up as much enthusi
asm as football does now.
Players, of whom there were any number from five to a hundred, were
furnished with a pair of kabucha, or rackets, three feet long, made by
bending the top of a sapling over and tying it to the base about eight inches
from the end; the frame thus formed was then interlaced with rawhide
thongs, in the manner of lacrosse rackets. The bambila, about the size
Sports and Recreation 85
of a golf ball, was made of rags stuffed into a white buckskin cover.
The goals, or plats, were placed two hundred yards apart and consisted
of tall poles having a crossarm ten feet long and one foot wide, tied to
the pole some distance above the ground. The center of the field was
marked with a small peg, at which spot one of the captains tossed up the
ball to put it in play. Two men scrambled for it as it came down, and
began a mad dash for the opposing goal with the ball held between the
rackets, the object being to toss the ball against the crossarm of the goal,
thus scoring a plat. One hundred plats constituted a game. Anything was
fair, and the man carrying the ball was stopped by being tripped, thrown,
tackled, or simply clubbed from behind with a racket. The game often
took several days to finish, and the resulting casualties, all in good clean
fun, would pale our most stalwart football heroes.
The Negroes of the section known as La Plaine Raquette (Racket
Plains), which is bounded roughly by present Galvez Street and St.
Bernard, North Claiborne, and Elysian Fields Avenues, perpetuated the
ancient game for some time after the Creoles gave it up, but even they
have long since become too * soft for it.
Fencing was once the sport de rigueur in New Orleans in the days when
Creole blood ran hot and men of honor had to be well versed in the art,
not only to hold their rank in the popular sport, but to preserve their
lives and honor. Duels were fought either at St. Anthony s Garden be
hind St. Louis Cathedral, or under the Dueling Oaks in what is now
City Park. Perhaps the most famous duelist and fencing master of the
city was Jose Pepe Llulla, whose numerous successful encounters won
him a formidable reputation. When New Orleans became the head
quarters of Cuban filibustering expeditions in the i85o s and i86o s,
Pepe, a loyal Spanish subject, offered to meet any or all insurrectionists
brave enough to engage him. Legend claims that Pepe maintained a
cemetery for the benefit of the countless persons he is reputed to have
slain.
Fencing is still a popular sport in the city. The Fencers 1 Federation of
Louisiana, located at the Salle d Armes de la Nouvelle Orleans, 528
Royal Street, fosters numerous small organizations, among which are
Les Chevaliers de la Nouvelle Orleans, Le Bataillon d Orleans, and the
fencing clubs of Louisiana State University, the New Orleans Athletic
Club, and the Young Men s Christian Association. Several traditional
exhibition tournaments are staged annually, among them being the
Mardi Gras Duello, held at 2 130 P.M. Mardi Gras Day in the garden be
hind St. Louis Cathedral, and the Dueling Oaks Encounter, held under the
86 Economic and Social Development
Dueling Oaks on the formal opening day of City Park, usually the first or
second Sunday in May. Much of the recent activity of the fencers has
been directed toward the development and establishment of a dueling
technique with that most American of all weapons, the bowie knife. Much
progress has been made, and an encounter proves to be a most thrilling
spectacle, with comparatively small danger to the combatants.
New Orleans at one time was the recognized boxing center of the
world. In 1891 Louisiana became the first state in the Union to legalize
prize fighting, and bouts were permitted to be staged openly, with little
restrictions other than the use of gloves and the observance of the Mar
quis of Queensberry rules. The Olympic Athletic Club, organized shortly
after legalization of boxing, conducted a three-day carnival in September,
1892, the highlight of which was the twenty-one-round knockout victory
of Corbett over Sullivan for a $21,000 purse and a $10,000 side bet. The
longest bout in the history of boxing was staged in the city on April 6,
1893, when the lightweight, Burke, and Bowen, a Negro, battled seven
hours and nineteen minutes to a no-round draw. Peter Herman and
Tony Canzoneri, native sons, have won world championships.
Baseball in New Orleans was first played on open lots by local amateur
and semi-professional teams. By the 1 870*5, however, visiting teams from
New York and other large cities were playing the famous Robert E. Lee
Clubs at the old Fair Grounds, and the public became sufficiently inter
ested by 1885 to support a two- team league (New Orleans and Mobile)
organized by a patent medicine company. The Southern League, com
posed of six teams playing a full season of professional baseball, was or
ganized in 1887, but lasted only one year; and it was not until 1901, after
the formation of the Southern Association, that regular seasonal games
were played in New Orleans. The Pelicans have won pennants in the
league in 1905, 1910, 1911, 1915, 1918, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1933, and 1934.
In 1933 and 1934 the team won the Dixie Series/ an annual play-off
with the Texas League for the championship of the South. Prominent
native sons who have gone to the big leagues include Mel Ott (Gretna),
Zeke Bonura, Bill Perrin, and Johnny Oulliber; other stars who have
gone up from the Pelicans include Joe Sewell, Dazzy Vance, Buddy
Myers, Eddie Morgan, Pinky Whitney, Al Milnar, and Denny Galehouse.
Football was first played in New Orleans at Tulane University in 1890.
The Southern Athletic Club organized a team two years later and won
the championship of the South in 1893; but interest in the game lagged,
and it was not until 1924 that high-school and college games attracted
large crowds. The peak in football was reached in 1932 when the Green
Sports and Recreation 87
Wave of Tulane journeyed to California to engage the University of
Southern California Trojans in the Rose Bowl. Tulane lost (21-12)
only after a valiant struggle.
Racing has long been a popular sport in the city. In ante-bellum days
New Orleans had five of the finest tracks in the country and witnessed
many outstanding races, the most famous of which was the contest on
April i, 1854, between Lexington and Le Compte, giants of the turf of
that era. The old Metairie course, now a beautiful cemetery, was the
most famous track in the United States at that time. At present racing
is perhaps the leading sport in the city. Approximately one hundred days
of racing, beginning on Thanksgiving Day, are held annually at the Fair
Grounds under the auspices of the Louisiana Jockey Club.
In 1934 the Mid- Winter Sports Association was organized for the pur
pose of staging an annual sports carnival during the week preceding and
following New Year s Day. The Sugar Bowl football game, vying with
the Rose Bowl game for national interest, is played on New Year s Day
between the outstanding team of the South and a team of championship
caliber from some section of the Nation. The calendar of sports events
includes an outdoor track and field meet participated in by outstanding
national and world champions, a tennis tournament attracting ranking
national stars, an intersectional basketball game, intercity boxing
matches, a golf tournament, and yacht races on Lake Pontchartrain.
A variety of trips to nearby hunting and fishing grounds add to the
popularity of New Orleans for tourists and seasonal visitors. Within
quick reach by road, boat, or train there are at least a score of places
tempting to the sportsman. In the late fall and early winter duck shooting
is good, sometimes exceptionally so, in the waters and marshes surround
ing the city. Black bass and smaller salt-water fish alternate in abundance
with changing tides and weather conditions in the bayous and lagoons.
Chef Menteur and other nearby tide races afford the highest type of
sport with large sheepshead, redfish, jackfish, and tarpon during the
fishing ceason, which is at its best from April to October. For exclusively
fresh-water fishing and quail and turkey hunting, it is necessary to go
north of New Orleans.
RADIO
DURING the 1920^ practically every newspaper in New Orleans
owned and operated its own radio station in conjunction with its daily
paper. In addition there were a number of privately owned stations, all
vying for recognition. One of the first musical programs to be broad
casted in the Mississippi Valley was presented on the night of March
30, 1922, by Station WWL of Loyola University. In the summer of
1926, because of unfavorable weather conditions, all newspapers of the
city discontinued operation of their stations, and the total number of
stations in the city was reduced to six, which were recognized by the
Federal Radio Commission when it came into existence. One of these
stations, WJBO, has since moved to Baton Rouge, leaving five active
stations in New Orleans. In addition to these there are a number of sta
tions in the parish serving the police department, ships at sea, airplanes,
etc., and several amateur stations operating under special license.
RADIO STATIONS
WBNOy studios on the mezzanine floor of the St. Charles Hotel, 211 St.
Charles St. (open during broadcasting hours; free), broadcasts on a fre
quency of 1200 kilocycles with a power of 100 watts. The Coliseum
Place Baptist Church, 1376 Camp Street, owns the transmitting equip
ment. Strictly commercial programs, with electrical transcriptions pro
viding music, are put on the air from noon to 5 P.M., and from 8 to 11 P.M.
Time is divided with station WJBW.
WDSU, studios at 1456 Monteleone Hotel, 214 Royal St. (open daily 8
A.M.-10 P.M.; free), broadcasts on an assigned frequency of 1220 kilo
cycles with a power of 1000 watts. Programs of the N.B.C. s Blue
Network and electrical transcriptions of the World Broadcasting System
are presented from 7 A.M. to midnight. Broadcasting of Pelican ball
Radio
89
games and other local events are featured. The transmitting station is
located at Gretna, Louisiana.
WJBW, studios at 619 Godchaux Bldg., 527 Canal St. (open during
broadcasting hours; free), and transmitter at 947 Howard Ave., broad
casts on an assigned frequency of 1200 kilocycles with a power of 100
watts from 5 to 8 P.M., and from 11 P.M. throughout the night until noon.
Commercial programs are given, recorded music being the usual form
of entertainment.
WSMB, owned and operated by the Saenger Theater and the Maison
Blanche Company, has studios on the thirteenth floor of the Maison
Blanche Bldg., 921 Canal St. (open during broadcasting hours; free).
Local and chain programs of the National Broadcasting Company are
presented from 7 A.M. to midnight on an assigned frequency of 1320
kilocycles with a power of 5000 watts. The transmitting station is located
at the United States Naval Base in Algiers.
WWL, studios on the second floor of the Roosevelt Hotel, 123 Baronne
St. (admission only by special permission of the management) , and trans
mitting station 2 m. east of Kenner, Louisiana, on State 1, is supervised
by Loyola University. Local and chain programs of the Columbia
Broadcasting System are presented from 6.30 A.M. to midnight on an
assigned frequency of 850 kilocycles with a power of 10,000 watts.
NEWSPAPERS
THE development of the New Orleans press is closely linked to the
development of native literature, and the newspapers, for many decades
the chief cultural influence t)f the Colony, had many contributors whose
names are now prominent in Louisiana literature. These included,
among others, George W. Cable, Lafcadio Hearn, Henry Castellanos,
Mollie Moore Davis, and Catherine Cole. For several months Walt
Whitman was a New Orleans newspaperman, contributing light verse,
essays, and short stories to the Crescent, a publication which flourished
for a few years during the middle nineteenth century.
The first newspapers in the city were published in both French and
English. Set in large, badly worn type and turned out on hand presses,
the papers devoted very little space to local current events, since news
happenings were usually common knowledge long before the sheets
were off the press. The columns were a melange of advertisements, clip
pings from European newspapers, fiction, poetry, and letters from readers.
Illustrations were limited to woodcuts of houses, boats, and trees, which
were used over and over.
Louis Duclot, a refugee printer from Santo Domingo, established the
first newspaper in New Orleans in 1794. Known as Le Moniteur de la
Louisiane, with Bombolio, Clangor, Stridor, Taratantara, Murmur as
its motto, it was published irregularly as a weekly, semi-weekly, and tri
weekly for a little more than twenty years, having been sanctioned by
Governor Carondelet as the official news organ of the government. As
the town became more cosmopolitan news sheets were published in other
languages, but few of these survived for more than a year or so. The
foreign-language presses were operated on Chartres Street, in the Vieux
Carre, while most of the English publications were issued from offices
along Camp Street, known in the early days as Newspaper Row.
Newspapers 91
During the early part of the nineteenth century a number of news
papers made their appearance, the most important of which were the
Louisiana Gazette (first English paper), L Ami des Lois, Le Courrier de la
Louisiane, and L Abeille. The most successful and probably the best
known of these was L Abeille, a French newspaper established in 1827 by
Francois Delaup. This publication was issued continuously in both
French and English for almost fifty years. In 1872 the English editions
were discontinued, and early in February 1921 the paper was purchased
by the Times-Picayune Publishing Company. Under the new manage
ment L Abeille was issued weekly until 1925 when, after almost a century
of publication, an editorial, La Fin de 1 Abeille, announced that the
paper was going out of existence.
The history of the Times-Picayune , the oldest present-day newspaper
in New Orleans, epitomizes a century of journalistic development in
Louisiana during which only those papers which combined with others
attained any degree of longevity. The Picayune, established in 1837 by
Francis Asbury Lumsden and George Wilkins Kendall, began a new era
in Southern journalism. Patterned after the Penny Press of the North,
it sold for a picayune, whence its name. The word picayune is the
Anglicized form of picaillon, a term then in use in New Orleans to desig
nate the smallest current coin, a piece of silver worth about six and
one-fourth cents.
G. W. Kendall, while reporting the Mexican War, gained national re
nown for the Picayune by using a pony express to relay his copy to New
Orleans, where it was first published before being forwarded to the East.
The Picayune is given credit for being the first to use this method of news
transmission.
In 1874, at the death of E. J. Holbrook, editor, the management of
the Picayune was taken over by his widow, better known as the poet,
Pearl Rivers. Mrs. Holbrook is said to have been the first woman in the
world to edit a metropolitan daily, and the first woman in the South to
enter journalism as a profession.
Dorothy Dix (Mrs. Elizabeth M. Gilmer) came to New Orleans in
1896 and has maintained an advice to the lovelorn column for the
Picayune over a period of forty years an unsurpassed record for news
paper features.
The present Times-Picayune is the result of numerous newspaper
mergers since the Civil War; the New Orleans Times absorbed the Crescent
in 1868 and in turn combined with the Democrat to form the Times-
Democrat in 1 88 1, which merged with the Picayune in 1914 to form the
92 Economic and Social Development
Times-Picayune. The Democrat had been established in 1875 with Richard
Tyler, son of President Tyler, as its first editor. Le Propagateur Catholique
and the Deutsches Zeitung were both founded before the Civil War and
published for several years.
Before the outbreak of the War Between the States, Gallic journalism
in New Orleans had increased in importance and prestige. At this period
there began a definite decline in the use of the French language, the
reason for which is readily apparent. Post-war poverty forced the once-
wealthy Creole planters to forego their frequent visits abroad, and their
sons were placed in the public schools of New Orleans instead of the uni
versities of Europe. Here the students were taught the English language,
a fact which resulted in a gradual break with French culture and tradi
tion, and a waning of the influence of the French press. Subsequent
writers have deplored the fate of the French newspapers, and the passing
of the gay and witty Creole editors who were equally at home with pen,
pistol and sword, and who lent such spice and color to New Orleans
journalism. Today there is only one French newspaper, Le Courrier de la
Nouvelle Orleans.
The New Orleans Item, founded June n, 1877, is said to be the oldest
afternoon newspaper in the South. The paper was established by eleven
journeymen printers, who, out of work, banded together to form a co
operative news publication. Mark Bigney was made managing editor
with Edwin L. Jewel assistant. At the end of the first week, when the
profits were distributed, each member of the staff received $2.65.
In June of the following year, Lafcadio Hearn, who had spent a miser
able seven months in New Orleans, sick, hungry, and out of work, was
introduced to the editor of the Item as a literary fellow after your own
heart. When Hearn s experience as a journalist in Cincinnati became
known, he was given work as assistant, with a salary of ten dollars a
week. Hearn s literary ability was recognized almost immediately, and
he was soon given a free hand in molding the policies of the Item. Within
a few months the paper had changed from a dry colorless sheet of ad
vertisements, letters, and excerpts from foreign papers to a flourishing
publication filled with local and national events, literary criticisms,
dramatic reviews, poems, and cartoons. Hearn was soon serving, not
only as chief editorial writer, but cartoonist and critic as well.
In 1 88 1 John W. Fairfax gained controlling interest of the paper,
retaining Bigney as editor until the latter s death in 1886. During these
years the Item employed a number of prominent writers on its staff, in
cluding, among others, J. B. Wilkinson, Henry Guy Carleton, Judge
Alexander Walker, and Thomas G. Tracey.
Newspapers 93
When Fairfax sold the paper in 1894 it was purchased by Dominick
O Malley, a stormy Irishman who had come to New Orleans from Cin
cinnati shortly before. Scathing editorials began to appear in the columns
of the Item, as O Malley denounced the political scandals of what he
contemptuously dubbed the boodle council. Fist fights and cane
lashings, as a result of these editorials, were frequent occurrences, with
fatalities not uncommon.
The Item, now in its sixtieth year, was begun as an independent pub
lication. Today, while perhaps more conservative than a great number
of other Southern newspapers, it is strictly a Democratic paper.
The most important newspapers at present published in New Orleans,
in addition to the Times-Picayune and the Item, are the States, an evening
daily founded in 1880 and owned and published by the Times-Picayune
Publishing Company, and the Morning Tribune, established in 1924
and now a tabloid, published by the Item. In addition to these there are
more than forty other news publications issued regularly in the city,
including weekly, monthly, and quarterly periodicals. Among these are
several commercial, labor, trade, school, and religious publications.
Straight News Publications
American Progress, 822 Perdido St., published monthly by John D.
Klorer, is a political organ established in 1933 by the late Senator Huey
P. Long. It carries no advertising and is not published for profit.
Herald, 1124 Lafayette St. (Algiers), is a weekly newspaper published
each Thursday by Dr. C. V. Kraft.
Louisiana Weekly, 632 S. Rampart St., is a Negro publication edited by
Mayme Osby Brown.
Morning Tribune, 722-730 Union St., is a tabloid published daily except
Sundays, when it is combined with the New Orleans Item. The paper is
edited by Marshall Ballard.
New Orleans Item, 722-730 Union St., edited by Marshall Ballard, is a
daily evening newspaper which combines with the Morning Tribune on
Sundays.
New Orleans States, 615 North St., a daily evening newspaper edited by
J. E. Crown, is under the same management as the Times-Picayune,
having been purchased by the latter in 1933.
Times-Picayune, 615 North St., edited by L. K. Nicholson, is the oldest
daily newspaper published in New Orleans, having been founded in 1837.
Weekly Crusader, 417 Canal Bank Building, is published by Sidney W.
Keats.
94 Economic and Social Development
Foreign Language Publications
Courrier de la Nouvelle Orleans (New Orleans Courier), 702 Camp St.,
printed in both English and French, is published twice a month by Andre
Laf argue and Mrs. J. G. de Baroncelli.
Deutsche Zeitung (The German Gazette), 200 South Galvez St., edited by
Walter Zachiedrich, is published weekly by the Deutsches Haus for
members of the organization.
II Messaggero (The Messenger), 941 Royal St., an Italian weekly, is
edited by Paul Montelepre.
La Voce Coloniale (The Colonial Voice), 604 Iberville St., an Italian
weekly, is edited by Joseph R. Colleta.
Vox Latina (The Latin Voice), 702 Canal St., a Spanish newspaper, is
published twice a month by Joaquin Barcenas.
Labor, Trade, and Commercial Journals
American Cotton Grower, 535 Gravier St., is published monthly under
the editorship of Stanley Andrews.
American Insurer, 217 Carondelet St., is published monthly by Louis
Phillips.
Cotton Trade Journal, 810 Union St., is published weekly under the
editorship of Will Branan.
Daily Journal of Commerce, 427 Camp St., is edited by A. L. France and
E. Washofsky.
Federationist, 520 Conti St., is published each Friday by William L.
Donnels.
Louisiana Grocer, 217 Pan-American Building, is published monthly by
the Retail Grocers Association.
New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 1430 Tulane Ave., edited by
John H. Musser, is published by the Louisiana State Medical Society.
Proceedings of the Louisiana Engineering Society is published bi-monthly
by the Louisiana Engineering Society, with James M. Robert as editor.
Rice, Sugar, and Coffee Journal, 201 Bienville St., the official organ of
the respective industries in the South, is edited and published by R. J.
Martinez.
Southern Plumber, 207 Board of Trade Annex, edited by Theodore A.
Walters, is published monthly by the New Orleans Association of Master
Plumbers.
Sugar Bulletin, 407 Carondelet St., is published bi-monthly by Reginald
Dykers.
School and Religious Publications
Catholic Action of the South, 712 Louisiana Building, is published weekly
by the Rev. Peter M. H. Wynhoven.
Christian Advocate of the Southwest, 631 Baronne St., is a colored publica
tion issued monthly by L. H. King.
Newspapers 95
Jewish Ledger, 938 Lafayette St., is published weekly by Dr. Mendel
Silber.
Lagniappe, Newcomb College, is published quarterly by Newcomb
College students.
Maroon, Loyola University, is published weekly during the regular
school session by Loyola students.
New Orleans Christian Advocate, 512 Camp St., is published each Thurs
day by W. L. Duren.
Tidane Hullabaloo, Bienville Hall, Tulane University, is published weekly
by Tulane students.
Miscellaneous
Court Records, 430 Chartres St., is published daily by K. P. Montgomery.
Louisiana Conservation Review, Department of Conservation, New Or
leans Courthouse Building, 400 Royal St., is published quarterly with
James P. Guillot as editor. Free distribution.
Louisiana Digest, edited by E. R. Greenlaw, 6831 West End Boulevard,
is the official journal of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana, and is
published monthly.
Menagerie, 2640 Upperline St., is a small literary magazine published
irregularly by Bennett Augustin.
New Orleans Directory, published annually by Soards, 502 Stern Building,
548 Baronne St.
Police Reporter, 623 Godchaux Building, John C. Roth, editor, is pub
lished weekly.
ARTS AND CRAFTS
THE story of art in New Orleans begins with the almost legendary figure
of Ferdinand Salazar (or Latizar), the artist whose full-length portrait
of Don Andres Almonester hangs in the Cathedral. Salazar also painted
portraits of Trudeau, the Spanish surveyor, and of Madame Trudeau,
about 1769, but beyond these few works nothing is known of him. There
is a tradition that an even earlier artist, Miguel Garcia, came to Louisiana
with Bienville, but there are no facts to substantiate this.
During the French and Spanish regimes the inhabitants of New Orleans
had little time for other than practical pursuits. Objects of art in the
finer homes and in public buildings were almost without exception im
ported from Europe.
Building design, however, made notable progress, and presented the
opportunity for a combination of the constructive and the artistic. The
early New Orleans architects usually followed the styles then prevalent
in European countries, as evidenced by many examples of French and
Spanish influence in older buildings of the Vieux Carre; gradually, how
ever, various originalities crept into their work, and ultimately a dis
tinctive Creole style was developed.
Possibly no single feature is more typical of this Creole architecture
than the delicate ironwork which decorated the finer buildings. Of the
two distinct kinds, wrought iron and cast iron, the wrought decorations
are the older.
After the annexation of Louisiana to the United States, New Orleans
began to grow rapidly in wealth and population, attracting both visitors
and new residents in increasing numbers. Artists from other American
cities began to come here, lured partly by the mild winters, but princi
pally by the prospect of finding a lucrative field for their work. Perhaps
Arts and Crafts 97
the optimism of the earliest of these pioneer painters was justified, for
still others came among them many prominent artists of that day.
Artists from France, Italy, Spain, and England were drawn to the
city. Many of them established studios in old homes in the Vieux Carre,
which were admirably suited to that purpose. Dominique Canova,
Pomarede and Ciceri, members of that group, were instrumental in
founding the Bohemian center which has long colorfully characterized
the French Quarter, and to which at a later date Degas, Wikstrom, and
others added their influence. At times the supply of painters exceeded
the demand for portraits, and that the artists sometimes suffered priva
tion as recorded in letters and journals like those of Audubon is not
surprising. Many of the better portraits and pictures which came out of
that interesting era unfortunately most of them unsigned are still
in the possession of old families of the city; others have been scattered
far and wide through auction sales, but a considerable number have been
preserved in the Cabildo, the City Hall, the New Orleans Courthouse,
and other public buildings.
Perhaps the painter most closely identified with New Orleans is John
James Audubon, who first came to the city in 1821. The artist-naturalist
was at that time working on his monumental Birds of America, and
made studies of game birds brought to the French Market, meanwhile
earning his livelihood by painting portraits. Audubon s diary is filled
with many vivid word-pictures of his experiences in New Orleans. He
seems to have written the journal hurriedly, for there is carelessness in
his spelling, punctuation, and grammar. This is especially true of some
of the lines in which he made reference to his contemporaries lines
not always complimentary, and sometimes caustic. He also has left
descriptions of the various residences he occupied while living in the
city, one of which was in Barracks Street near the corner of that and
Royal Street between Two Shops of Grocers and divided from them
and our Yellow Landlady by Mere Board Partitions. . . . Another entry,
dated October 21, 1821, is: Rented une Chambre garnie in Rue St.
Anne No. 29 for $16 per Month A later inscription records the
rental of a house on Dauphine Street.
Audubon seems to have disapproved, too, of the city s social life of
that day, making mention elsewhere in the diary of f rench Gayety that
really sicked me. However, he must have found the New Orleans
atmosphere at least conducive to work, for by the fall of 1821 he had
completed 62 drawings of Birds & Plants, 3 Quadrupeds, 2 snakes, and
50 Portraits of all sorts. In 1822 he left the city for Natchez, going
98 Economic and Social Development
from there to Louisville and Philadelphia. He returned to New Orleans
in 1837, but spent most of his time in the Barataria section, painting and
sketching.
A complete set of the elephantine edition of Audubon s Birds of
America can be seen at the Cabildo; the artist s drawing of his son,
James Woodhouse Audubon, is displayed on the second floor of the
Cabildo, Room B.
A contemporary of Audubon was John Wesley Jarvis, a native of
England and the nephew of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.
Jarvis, who was an annual winter visitor to the city from 1816 to 1834,
was considered by his contemporaries an artist of astonishing powers/
and one of the best portrait painters of his day. He displayed remarkable
speed in his work, often completing six portraits within a week. He, too,
kept a diary, which shows that, unlike many painters, he did not lack
financial reward for his art. One of his visits to New Orleans is described
as follows: My purse and pocket were empty. I spent 3000 dollars in
six months, and brought back 3000 to New York.
In character Jarvis was erratic: his studio and living quarters were in
a constant state of disorder, he was careless of his appearance, and his
peculiarities plainly stamped him an eccentric. At one time he was ac
customed to wear a long coat heavily trimmed with furs, and took two
large dogs with him wherever he went. Audubon once made an effort
to collaborate with him, but their temperaments were entirely incom
patible.
In the Cabildo are two oil portraits by Jarvis, that of Armand Beauvais,
Governor of Louisiana 1829-30, and that of Louis Philippe de RofEgnac,
Mayor of New Orleans 1820-28. There is also a painting on wood said
to represent the Lafitte brothers and Dominique You, and to have been
painted by Jarvis, who was friendly with the pirates, at their rendezvous
on Grand Isle.
John Vanderlyn, called by Audubon the historical painter, was in
New Orleans from 1820 to 1830. While best known for his portraits, he
painted a number of splendid panoramas, of which his Versailles is
considered best. A copy of Vanderlyn s portrait of Andrew Jackson, for
which Audubon posed for the body, is now in the Cabildo.
Among other well-remembered painters of this period were Matthew
Harris Jouette, a pupil of Gilbert Stuart, who painted Lafayette on his
American visit in 1824-25; Theodore S. Moise and Jacques Amans, who
won the prize of a thousand dollars offered by the Municipal Council in
1844 for a painting of Andrew Jackson on horseback; Jean Francois
Arts and Crafts 99
Vallee, a Frenchman, who painted the portrait of Jackson best liked by
the old warrior himself; Duval, another Frenchman, who did the best-
known portrait of Governor Claiborne; Enoch Wood Perry, who painted
John Slidell, and an unusual portrait of Jefferson Davis with a map
of the United States for a background; and A. G. Powers, who executed
a full-length painting of General Zachary Taylor. The French artist
Lion also lived in New Orleans for many years (1830 to 1845) and painted
many fine portraits.
In the meantime, as the city s population and wealth increased, skilled
artisans established themselves in New Orleans. Many of their produc
tions, built to suit the ideals of a class whose members were wealthy and
cultured, were exquisite in both material and design. In most of their
work the French influence was predominant.
Fine furniture and furnishings had been a feature of the wealthy homes
of New Orleans since the city s earliest days. In Colonial times these
were brought over from Europe; later American immigrants also
brought European importations, as well as Early American pieces.
The earliest locally made furniture now extant was fashioned by car
penters from native cypress. In style these chests and tables and chairs
resembled French Provincial pieces. Beds, because of the necessity of
mosquito baires, were always four-posted. By 1822, however, there were
more than fifty cabinet-makers listed in the city directory. In the period
that followed (1822-63), Mallard, Seignouret, and Seibrecht, all of whom
had their shops on Rue Royale, were outstanding. Mallard was especially
noted for his duchesse table, an ornately carved dressing-table. Sei
gnouret, whose work was less detailed than Mallard s, stamped his best
creations French chairs and four-posted beds with the letter S.
There are still some shops in the Vieux Carre where excellent repro
ductions of old pieces are made. Antique shops on Royal and other streets
in the Quarter are filled with articles both imported and collected from
old New Orleans homes.
Other woodwork of note is to be found in the simple but beautifully
proportioned mantels and paneling of the earlier homes. Marble mantels
were imported at a later date, as were designs for plaster ornamentation
of walls and ceilings in the general tradition of the Greek Revival.
In addition to the architectural ironwork already discussed, local
smiths produced the usual household utensils such as the chaudiere d trois
a three-legged iron pot with a handle, used especially for cooking
gravies along with such objects as the slave collar, now to be seen at
the Cabildo, fitted with bells that would ring whenever the wearer moved
ioo Economic and Social Development
his head. The wrought-iron triangular strap hinges still to be seen on the
storm blinds of many old houses were known as * smith or smithy
hinges and were frequently hammered out by slaves. Cast-iron benches
in elaborate grape and flower designs were placed in front of family
tombs, so that the bereaved might rest while they mourned. Only at a
much later date were these employed as garden furniture; and even
today they are still called cemetery benches.
In the cemeteries was to be found another interesting example of local
craftsmanship: everlasting wreaths made of beads or shells. In some in
stances the same wreath was brought out year after year on All Saints
Day to decorate the family tomb.
The tradition of fine French embroidery and needlework, brought to
New Orleans by the Ursulines in the eighteenth century, has been con
tinued by them and others, notably the nuns of the House of the Good
Shepherd, to the present. Elaborate church vestments, in memoriam
embroideries with the face of the deceased in white against a black
background, and the more usual samplers form interesting museum pieces.
The Ursulines also made a highly valued point lace, petit point tapestries,
a cork lace, so called because it was made on a piece of cork into which
pins had been stuck, and quilts. Early quilting designs included the
palm, the oak, and the banana. There was also a log cabin applique
pattern.
In the matter of dress the wealthier classes followed the French fashion
books as closely as possible, the French Opera and the Carnival balls
affording opportunity for elaborate costume designing. Atakapas
cottonade, a locally made cotton cloth of indigo interwoven with white,
was used extensively for men s suits in the nineteenth century; and until
the present decade, when they became popular elsewhere, New Orleans
was one of the few places in the United States where men habitually wore
linens, seersuckers, and other wash suits. Field Negroes were long dis
tinguished by red madras handkerchiefs imported from the West Indies
which they wore tied about their heads; house Negroes by blue. The
latter were better educated and held themselves socially superior to the
field workers. Even today Negro house servants frequently refuse to
wear red dust caps.
Although as early as 1822 there were twenty-four silversmiths and
goldsmiths in the city, no really local designs in jewelry or silverware
seem to have originated here. Most Creole ladies wore brooches of black
onyx or enamel outlined with gold scrollwork. Sometimes the black
stone was left plain, sometimes ornamented with a gold or jeweled design
Arts and Crafts ior
inlaid or in relief. In silverware the French thread pattern was the
most popular. Several examples of the work of Hyde and Goodrich are
to be seen at the Delgado Museum.
It is said that Hyde and Goodrich were put out of business for manu
facturing and supplying guns to the Confederate soldiers, but it is sur
prising how few guns, swords, and knives were made in New Orleans.
Most of the examples that turn up in museums and antique shops were
imported, even when they bore the stamp of a local dealer. The only
knives manufactured to any great extent locally were knives for opening
oysters.
From 1887 until 1889 the Hernandez Brothers manufactured china of
exquisite craftsmanship in their shop on Carondelet Walk. They came
from France, where they worked in the factory at Sevres, and the glaze
and composition of their own productions were equal to Sevres china.
The china was unsigned, white with a blue border and a raised monogram.
Examples of a white and gold china, said to date back to the forties, and
an elaborate flowered china are also extant; but the names of their
makers are not known.
As might be expected in a city as French as New Orleans, perfumes were
highly prized ; and the manufacture of certain local scents is still an in
teresting industry in the city. Jessamine, sweet olive, and magnolia are
among the most popular. Vetiver, a root from the East Indies that
grows with ease near New Orleans in the country around Covington and
Hammond, has been used as a sachet in the linen closets of Creole ladies
for generations. It is not known which if any of these were in the stock
of the Benjamin Franklin, essence maker, who in 1830 had his place
of business on Tchoupitoulas near Julia. But it is certain that he was
supplied with rice powder, rose essence, and a hair pomade made with
oil of Bergamot an oil of frequent use today in Voodoo potions.
Fans, hats, baskets, brooms, and chair seats were all made from the
native palmetto, known locally as latanier. Strips of lalanier are still
carried by Negro chimney sweeps, and the fronds are still to be seen used
as thatching on the homes of occasional trappers, fishermen, and squat
ters. In hot weather it was long the custom for the lady of the house to
supply her guests with palmetto fans. Frequently these were bound
along the edges with cloth from the scrap box and ornamented with a
rosette or a bow. Ladies in mourning had their fans bound in black.
For many years Choctaw and Chitimacha Indians sold their reed cane
baskets at the French Market. A display of these baskets, as well as
several other examples of the craftsmanship of Louisiana Indians, may
be seen at the Cabildo.
IO2 Economic and Social Development
These Indians must have greatly interested George Catlin, the noted
painter of Indian life, who paid several visits to New Orleans in the late
forties. A portrait of a woman of color wearing a tignon and said to be
Marie Laveau, the famous New Orleans Voodoo Queen, is attributed to
Catlin. A copy by Frank Schneider now hangs in the Cabildo. The
identity of the portrait is, however, not authenticated. The appearance
greatly resembles a Choctaw woman of the time.
The Bee for February 21, 1844, speaks of West s picture, Christ Heal
ing the Sick, being on exhibition in the Cathedral. Forty thousand people
are said to have viewed it at twenty-five cents admission. The occasion
for the notice was furnished by a heavy rainstorm which leaked into the
church and wet the picture.
As the city developed, the era of large buildings began with the erection
of the St. Louis and the St. Charles Hotels, the City Hall, and numerous
churches, theaters, and splendid private homes. This opened a field for
the work of decorators and mural painters.
Dominique Canova, a nephew of the famous Canova of Napoleon s
day, was engaged to do the frescoes in the St. Louis Hotel, which were
later purchased by the French Government when the hotel was de
molished following the storm of 1915. Canova came directly from France
to New Orleans, and remained a number of years teaching and painting.
The fine mural decorations in the Robb Mansion, now the Baptist Bible
Institute, are also his work.
Ciceri, another French painter, who came to New Orleans in 1859 to
decorate the French Opera House, remained to paint and teach, be
coming widely known for his pastels and gouaches, firasme Humbrecht
<:ame from St. Louis to paint the walls of St. Louis Cathedral in 1872,
and returned in 1892 to retouch them for the Cathedral Centennial.
The best known New Orleans work of Leon Pomarede, also a French
painter, is the group of three large murals in Saint Patrick s Church on
Camp Street, which are copies of famous works of Italian masters.
By 1844 New Orleans was sufficiently interested in art to support a
gallery for the exhibition and sale of foreign, American, and local works
of art. Known as the National Gallery of Paintings, it was located at 13
St. Charles Street (old number). Sully and Stewart were said to have
held exhibits of their paintings here. The last notable sale was that of
the collection of Colonel James Robb, February 26, 1859, which included
paintings by Rubens, Salvator Rosa, David, and Horace Vernet.
An added impetus was given to art in New Orleans in 1847 when a
-collection of three hundred and fifty paintings, assembled in Italy and
Arts and Crafts 103
sent to America in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a national gal
lery, was auctioned in the rotunda of the St. Louis Hotel. The pictures
found a ready sale among the planters and the wealthy leisure class.
The Civil War, however, caused a break in artistic activities, and
several years elapsed before pre-war interest in art revived. Alexander
Alaux, one of Ernest Ciceri s most brilliant pupils, became noted for his
portraits, historical pictures, and exquisite miniatures. A number of his
miniatures formed part of the Cusachs Collection in the Cabildo. One
of his last paintings, the panoramic Discovery of the Mississippi River
by De Soto, is in the State Capitol at Jackson, Mississippi.
Edgar Degas visited relatives here in 1873, and painted them at work
in his Cotton Factor s Office. Of this picture, which recently hung in
the Degas Exhibition at Philadelphia, Time (November 23, 1936) said:
In 1873 Painter Degas went to N. O. to visit his uncle Michel and his
two younger brothers, Rene and Achille, who were working there in the
cotton house. Brother Edgar painted an excellent view of his relatives
during office hours, which hung last week in Philadelphia s Exhibition.
Uncle Michel in his silk hat and frock coat sits in the foreground peering
at a sample of cotton. Behind him brother Rene is sprawled in a chair,
reading a newspaper, while customers finger samples and clerks tot up
books. When the picture was painted, Louisiana had a Negro Acting
Governor, P. B. S. Pinchback. The director of the little provincial museum
at Pau in Southern France snapped up the cotton market picture for $200
when it was exhibited in 1876. It is valued today at about $75,000. The
picture last attracted attention in Paris at the colonial Exposition of 1931
where it was shown as a memento of France s lost colony, Louisiana.
In the i88o s a revival set in, and art flourished as never before. The
Southern Art Union was organized in 1883, and held at least one formal
exhibition in a gallery which was opened at 203 Canal Street (old number)
near Dauphine Street. The membership of the Union rose steadily to
five hundred, when the feminine influence became too strong, and an at
tempt to add art embroidery to the list of interests resulted in the with
drawal of the professional painters.
The revival in the eighties brought many good painters to New Orleans
and developed some excellent local talent. Among the most famous
visitors may be mentioned George Innes and William Keith, who married
a New Orleans woman. A characteristic story is told of Innes while in
New Orleans. A local artist called at his room in the St. Charles Hotel on
Mardi Gras just as the Rex parade was passing and, to his amazement,
found Innes quietly painting, utterly unmoved by the riotous carnival
in the street below. Keith is best known for his California landscapes,
IO4 Economic and Social Development
but many of his paintings done here were highly regarded and com
manded a good price.
B. A. Wikstrom, a Norwegian who came to New Orleans in 1883, was
widely known as a painter of marines and the designer of numerous
Mardi Gras pageants. He promoted a new organization in 1885, known
as the Artists Association of New Orleans, which held exhibitions annu
ally on Camp Street until 1899. In 1901 William and Ellsworth Wood
ward, in charge of the Newcomb Art School, promoted a new group called
the Arts and Exhibitions Club, which merged with the Artists Associa
tion in 1904. The resulting organization, the Art Association of New
Orleans, since its inception, has been the artistic mainstay of Delgado
Museum.
Joseph Pennell, who made sketches for George Cable s Creoles of
Louisiana, had a studio on Royal Street in 1883; and William Hamilton
Gibson spent some time here in 1886 making sketches of New Orleans
scenes for Charles Dudley Warner s articles in Harper s Magazine.
Richard Clague is noted for his French Market scenes, one of which
hangs in the Cabildo, and for his Louisiana landscapes. Paul Poincy,
born in New Orleans and educated in Paris, did many splendid portraits,
pictures of children, and religious subjects. A number of his pictures now
hang in various churches and institutions of the city; perhaps the best
known of these are the portrait of Archbishop Perche and the large
painting (done in collaboration with Moise) of a Volunteer Fire Depart
ment Parade, now in the City Hall. Andres Molinary, a native of
Gibraltar, in the years he spent here painted many of the portraits which
line the walls of the New Orleans Courthouse and the Charity Hospital.
Molinary also conducted an art school.
Achille Parelli, a French sculptor and painter, some of whose work is
in the Delgado Museum, spent a number of years in New Orleans, and
died here in 1899; Achille Peretti, often confused with him, was an Italian
who came to New Orleans in 1885. His paintings in the Church of Saint
John the Baptist on Dryades Street, and his copy of Raphael s Saint
Stephen in Saint Stephen s Church on Napoleon Avenue are well
known.
Other artists who should be mentioned include William H. Buck, who
painted Louisiana landscapes; August Nogieri, whose paintings of the
Lee and the Natchez are now in the Cabildo ; Edward Livingston, a
pleasing landscape artist; E. D. B. Fabrino Julio, born in St. Helena,
painter of the Last Meeting of Generals Lee and Jackson, and Miss
Jenny Wilde, granddaughter of Richard Henry Wilde, the poet, who is
Arts and Crafts 105
remembered both as an artist and for her work as a designer of carnival
pageants.
Joe Jefferson, the actor, who maintained a home in Louisiana, followed
painting as a hobby all through his life. Francis Wilson, his biographer,
writes:
On an occasion ... I had called upon him at New Orleans. After greeting
me he said: I don t give you my hand/ presenting his elbow to be shaken,
because it is so dirty. Then I observed how besmeared he was. His face
had a streak of green and yellow, and his fingers were shining with all the
colors of the painter s palette. ... I asked him if it were true that he would
rather paint than act. He replied it most emphatically was.
Oscar Wilde on his visit to New Orleans expressed the feeling that the
Negro, with his picturesqueness of manner and dress, had been largely
overlooked as an interesting art subject. But the Negro at that time
occupied virtually no position in the city s art either as subject or
producer. Julian Hudson, the one exception, was an octoroon, whose
portraits were highly praised.
Among the artists of a later date, A. J. Drysdale, painter of misty
Louisiana bayous and live oaks in an impressionistic style distinctively
his own, was perhaps the most prolific. P. M. Westfeldt was an excellent
water colorist. Robert B. Mayfield, an artist who also devoted part of his
time to newspaper work, is remembered for his fine New Orleans sketches.
The late Charles Woodward Hutson, who began to paint when past
middle age, won the Blanche Benjamin prize for Louisiana landscape
when he was more than eighty. Later, when the picture was exhibited in
New York, critics stated that it was obviously the work of a young man
of surprising talent who should be encouraged.
The late Ronald Hargrave spent several years in New Orleans. Aside
from his portraits remaining in the city a series of his colored etchings
hang in the Roosevelt Hotel and in Arnaud s Restaurant.
Ellsworth Woodward, Dean of the Newcomb Art School, and painter
of both portraits and landscapes, has long been identified with art in
New Orleans. His most recent work of importance is a mural decoration
in the new Criminal Courts Building at Broad Street and Tulane Avenue.
He is also known for his etchings and water colors. His brother, William,
is likewise well known for portraits and landscapes. There is an interest
ing collection of ten portraits of former faculty members by William
Woodward in the Faculty Room at Tulane University.
A magazine, called Arts and Letters, issued bi-monthly, and sponsored
by Wikstrom and the Woodwards, existed for one year 1887. It con-
io6 Economic and Social Development
tained fine etchings and literary material by the artists and writers of that
day, and deserved a better fate.
Today a long line of artists, many of whom are in the midst of their
careers, either live in New Orleans or make frequent visits. Charles Bien,
Laura Bodebender, Douglas Brown, George Castleden, Josephine
Crawford, Boyd Cruise, Caroline Durieux, Xavier Gonzalez, Weeks Hall,
Knute Heldner, Rita Hovey-King, Catherine Howell, George Izvolsky,
Alberta Kinsey, Jeannette LeBoeuf, Myron Lechay, Olive Leonhart,
John McCrady, Clarence Millet, Paul and Jane Ninas, Nell Pomeroy
O Brien, Clay Parker, Gardner Reed, Charles Reinike, Margaret Robin
son, Helen Samuels, Claire Silber, Gideon Stanton, Will Stevens, Jacques
De Tarnowsky, Helen Turner, Dan Whitney, and Ella Wood are only a
few of those who have won recognition. Gertrude Roberts Smith, now
retired, is well known for her work at Newcomb with textiles and design;
Inez Lugano for miniatures; Sadie Irvine and Martha Westfeldt for
pottery; Anita Muras and Mary Butler for jewelry and silver. Sculptors
include Albert Rieker, a native of Germany, who has done outstanding
work both here and abroad; Enrique Alferez, a young Mexican sculptor,
who is also winning rapid recognition; Angela Gregory, and Rai Graner
Murray. Miss Kinsey s studio at 823 Royal, and Mr. Rieker s at 628
Toulouse, are usually open to visitors.
In 1928 a group of young Negro men, encouraged by Fannie Williams,
Negro teacher, formed the Little Arts and Crafts Club and obtained
instruction in art by mail. They gave three exhibitions of their work, one
at the Dryades Street Public Library and two at the Negro Y.M.C.A.
The work was crude, but showed promise, and deserves mention as an
indication of the Negro s capacity for and interest in art.
Richmond Barthe, young Negro sculptor, passed his youth in New
Orleans, where his modeling of small clay animals attracted the attention
of a local critic. He studied at the Art Institute in Chicago, and has
within the last few years gained national recognition. Several of his
bronzes are in the Whitney Museum in New York, and he has exhibited
elsewhere in New York and in Paris. His bust of Roland Hayes is well
known. Recently he designed an eighty-foot frieze for a Negro audi
torium in Harlem.
New Orleans has two well-recognized schools of art. The School of Art,
Newcomb College, Tulane University, 1229 Broadway, offers, for girls
only, a regular four-year course in art with special classes in pottery,
ceramics, interior decoration, bookbinding, jewelry designing, and model
ing. A gallery is maintained in which oil paintings, water colors, and
pastels are always on display. An outstanding department in the art
ARTS AND CRAFTS
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THE CAIUI.DO DOOR
THE CABILDO
THE GEORGE W. CABLE HOUSE
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ANNUAL OPEN-AJR ART EXHIBIT IN THE FRENCH QUARTER
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(Bronze by Richmond Barth6)
THE CITY HALL, DESIGNED BY GALLIEK
DELGADO ART MUSEUM
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ST. JOSEPH S ALTAR
Arts and Crafts 107
school is the pottery division. Its product has gained international recog
nition, mainly through the work of Joseph F. Meyer, prominent figure in
the development of Gulf Coast pottery, who was engaged as a thrower at
Newcomb for some thirty years, and the late Juanita Gonzales, Instructor
in Pottery from 1931 to 1935. A talented sculptress, Miss Gonzales was
noted in ceramics for her research work in the development of glazes and
enamels. The fine collection of pottery on display has won one interna
tional and several national awards.
The Arts and Crafts School, 712 Royal St., was organized by the Arts
and Crafts Club in 1922 to furnish an opportunity for training to those
interested in art. At the beginning, the subjects offered were limited to
painting, but the school now furnishes a complete art course, including
oils, charcoal, still-life, landscapes, perspective, water color, sculpture,
design, and criticism. Children s classes are conducted in drawing, poster-
painting, and clay. The school operates from October i to May 30, with
classes from 9.30 to 4.30. Night classes are also offered from 8 to 10.
Exhibits by nationally known artists are held every two or three weeks,
and there is a general student show at the end of the term. The school is
under the direction of a committee, of which Xavier Gonzalez is chairman.
Dillard University, 2300 Gentilly Road, in addition to art instruction,
holds six exhibits each year, an annual feature being the exhibit, through
the co-operation of the Harmon Foundation, of the work of nationally
distinguished Negro artists. A permanent collection of paintings, prints,
and photographs by Negro artists is steadily being enlarged. An Arts
Quarterly, stressing creative efforts among Negroes, and including general
information on art development, is published by the University.
Private classes are also held by individual artists throughout the city.
The Reinike Academy of Art, 632 Royal St., has a small gallery where
students work is placed on exhibit.
The Art Association of New Orleans, organized in 1900, promotes the
appreciation of all branches of esthetics. The association, which meets
at the Delgado Museum of Art, has a permanent collection of paintings,
drawings, and prints, some of which are loaned to the museum at in
tervals during which special exhibits are arranged in monthly series.
Annual scholarships are awarded at the exhibits.
The Fine Arts Club was chartered in 1916 by a group of New Orleans
women interested in the study and advancement of the fine arts. Activ
ities center at Newcomb College, where semi-monthly lectures are given
and social meetings are held three times a year. The club co-operates
with museums and art organizations of the city in promoting public ap
preciation of cultural studies, and awards occasional prizes to art students
showing unusual ability in some field.
The New Orleans Art League, 632 Toulouse St., organized in 1927 by a
group of professional artists, meets monthly and holds annual exhibits
at Delgado Museum. Prizes are occasionally awarded for compositions
of exceptional merit.
io8 Economic and Social Development
The Southern States Art League has for its object the union of local art
groups and individual artists and patrons, and the promotion of art in
the South. It was organized in Charleston, S.C., in 1921, and since then
annual exhibitions have been held in various Southern cities. Mr.
Ellsworth Woodward has been President of the League since its inception,
except for one year, and Miss Ethel Hutson has served as Secretary-
Treasurer since 1924.
The Federal Art Project of Louisiana, under the direction of Gideon
Stanton, has produced much interesting creative work as well as draw
ings and research for the Index of American Design.
The most important art collections in the city available to the general
public are at the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art at City Park and the
Louisiana State Museum in the Cabildo. The Linton-Surget Collection
at Tulane University is also noteworthy. Commercial galleries include
the Reed Art Gallery, 520 Royal St., Lieutaud s, 529 Royal St., and the
Art Shop, conducted by Dr. I. M. Cline at 622 St. Peter St. In the
French Quarter, numerous antique shops contain valuable objects of
artistic worth.
On the mezzanine floor of the St. Charles Hotel there is a permanent
exhibit of paintings by both American and European artists. The col
lection includes two Wikstroms and a series of New Orleans scenes by
Robert W. Grafton and R. O. Griffith. Grafton also painted portraits
of a number of prominent New Orleanians as did Luis Graner, who
likewise was in the city for some time. Other permanent exhibits of both
contemporary and earlier artists may be seen in the mezzanines of the
Roosevelt Hotel and the Saenger Theater, and in the D. H. Holmes
Company s restaurant.
Public murals are to be seen at the Shushan Airport (by Xavier Gon
zalez), the Roosevelt Hotel (by Paul Ninas), the Criminal Court Building
(by Ellsworth Woodward), the United Fruit Company, 321 St. Charles
St. (by William Woodward), and the Army Supply Base, 4400 Dauphine
St. (by Ella Miriam Wood).
For several years a picturesque feature of New Orleans art life was
the open-air picture fair held in the early spring in the alleys adjoining
the Saint Louis Cathedral. Discontinued in 1935 and 1936 it was revived
in 1937, and is to be held annually as part of the Spring Fiesta.
LITERATURE
IN THE cultural life developed in New Orleans between 1820 and 1860,
literature was well represented a literature written almost entirely in
French and inspired by the French Romantic writers. Indeed, Chateau
briand, the great French exponent of Romanticism, in his brilliant
novels of the Louisiana Territory, Atala (1801) and Rene (1802), had
first made Louisiana writers aware of the literary possibilities of their
State.
The excellent French newspapers and revues published in New Orleans
had a large share in the creation of this native literature, opening their
pages generously to poems, short stories, and novels. By 1850 there were
fifty-two writers of sufficient importance in the city to be included in
Charles Testut s Portraits Litteraires de la Nouvelle Orleans. Much of the
writing borrowed merely the weaknesses of the Romantic style without
its compensating beauty; but when it is remembered that there existed
no local literary background and that, as citizens of the United States
using the language of another country, these writers were isolated
both from America and France, the literary accomplishment appears
creditable.
The two best-known writers of this early period were the gifted Rou-
quette brothers, Dominique and Adrien. The sons of a wealthy New
Orleans merchant, whose home with its monogrammed balcony can still
be seen at 413 Royal Street, Dominique and Adrien were educated in
France. Each wrote his first book, a collection of poems, in Paris, and
was acclaimed by leading French writers Victor Hugo, Beranger,
Barthelemy, Deschamps, Sainte-Beuve. Dominique published only two
collections of poems, M eschacebeennes (1839) and Fleurs d Ameriguc
(1856), though he continued as a sort of unofficial bard of New Orleans
until his death many years afterward. Adrien, who shortly after his Les
Savanes appeared in Paris (1841) had become a missionary among the
Choctaw Indians near New Orleans, continued writing throughout his
no Economic and Social Development
life. His most noteworthy effort besides Les Savanes was the pantheistic
novel of Indian life, La Nouvelle Atala (1879), pronounced by Lafcadio
Hearn the most idyllic work in the literature of Louisiana. 5 The pre
vailing theme of both Rouquettes was the beauty of Louisiana scenery
and love for their native State.
While lyric poets predominated among these early writers, there were
many who were fascinated with history. The Battle of New Orleans was
celebrated in such works as Tullius St. Ceran s poems, Mil huit cent
quatorze et mil huit cent quinze, and Urbain David s ten-canto epic, Les
Anglais a la Louisiane en 1814 et 1815. The rebellion of 1768 against
Spanish domination in Louisiana inspired the historical novel Louisiana
by Armand Garreau, and the dramas, Les Martyrs de la Louisiane, by
Auguste Lussan and France et Espagne by Placide Canonge, a talented
dramatist whose plays were very popular in New Orleans and whose Le
Comte de Carmagnola achieved a hundred-night run in Paris.
In 1843, a group of free men of color published a magazine called
L Album Litter air e containing poems, short stories, and editorials. Poems
by this same group appeared in an anthology, Les Cenelles, edited by
Arnold Lanusse, the first anthology by American Negroes. Three con
tributors, P. Dalcour, Victor Sejour, and Camille Thierry, gained literary
distinction in France.
With the Civil War, the importance of French literature in Louisiana
diminished rapidly. Alfred Mercier, one of its most brilliant representa
tives, belongs, however, to the post-war period. Educated in France, he
had begun his literary career there, but after the Civil War he returned to
New Orleans, dividing his time between medicine and writing. A widely
cultured and versatile writer, he produced noteworthy fiction, poetry,
literary criticism, essays on scientific questions, and even a grammar of
the Negro-French patois in Louisiana. His novel, ^Habitation Saint-
YbarSj was praised by both Lafcadio Hearn and Edward Larocque
Tinker as a permanent contribution to Louisiana literature. In 1876,
Doctor Mercier founded in New Orleans the French literary society,
L Athenee Louisianais, still existent, in whose official publication,
Comptes rendus, practically all the French literature produced in
Louisiana since 1876 has first appeared.
There is no complete collection of the French literature of Louisiana,
nor has any of it been translated; but two valuable bibliographies of the
writings have recently appeared, Caulfield s The French Literature of
Louisiana (1929), and Tinker s Les Merits de la Languefranqaise en Louisiane
(1932). In recognition of his work, Tinker was awarded a doctorate in
Literature 1 1 1
literature by the University of Paris and made a member of the French
Academy.
There were only a few isolated writers in English connected with New
Orleans before 1860.
John J. Audubon resided in Louisiana from 1821 to 1830, making
most of his drawings and accumulating voluminous notes for his Birds
of America. Audubon s Journal, kept day by day during the winters of
1821 and 1822, which he spent in New Orleans, is an intensely human
and interesting document, valuable for its side-lights on the life of the
time. Two houses in which he lived while in the city are still standing,
at 706 Barracks Street and 505 Dauphine Street. Audubon Park was
named after the great ornithologist, and a bronze statue of him has been
erected there.
Francois Xavier Martin published in 1827 his History of Louisiana,
the basis for all future histories of the State. This book and Charles
fitienne Gayarre s History of Louisiana, written both in French and
English, furnished much material for later literary works.
B. M. Merman s New Orleans and Environs (1845) is not only interest
ing as the first local guide-book, but valuable for its historical back
ground.
In 1848, the New Orleans Crescent gave young Walt Whitman a part-
time job for a few months. While Whitman s newspaper work in New
Orleans is comparatively unimportant, and the one bit of literature
directly resulting was the poem I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Grow
ing, the experience had much bearing on his psychological development.
The cosmopolitan old city exerted a broadening influence; but of still
greater significance was a passionate love for a New Orleans woman whose
identity, however, was never revealed.
Vincent Nolte, the international financier who lived intermittently in
New Orleans from 1808 to 1838, related in his book of reminiscences,
Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres (1854), many anecdotes and adventures
connected with his life here. Nolte carried on his cotton commission
business from 1819 to 1827 in the building known as The Court of the
Two Lions, 641 Royal Street, and lived for a time in the house still
standing at 621 Toulouse Street. Nolte s book also served as source
material for the recent novel, Anthony Adverse, by Hervey Allen, of which
several scenes are laid in New Orleans.
The most unusual book to appear in this period was Bliss of Marriage,
or How to Get a Rich Wife (1858), by S. S. Hall, a New Orleans attorney.
The book contained interesting views on love, courtship, and marriage,
112 Economic and Social Development
and an appendix in which the author listed all wealthy marriageable pros
pects in and around New Orleans, both men and women, with the amount
of their fortunes explicitly stated. The book created a sensation in New
Orleans, causing no less than six duels. Mr. Hall himself was forced to
leave town.
Between the years 1857 and 1861 Samuel Clemens, as a Mississippi
River steamboat pilot, traveled regularly between St. Louis and New
Orleans, but beyond a few broadly humorous articles contributed by him
to the New Orleans newspapers, and the fact that he acquired his famous
pen name here, there was little significance in the contact. In 1882, as
Mark Twain the writer, he revisited the city, and in Life on the Missis
sippi he devoted ten delightful chapters to the incidents of this visit and
his impressions of New Orleans.
During the dormant period immediately after the Civil War, De Bow s
Review, published in New Orleans between 1847 an d 1870, was almost the
sole representative of literary effort in New Orleans, sandwiching in be
tween its statistics an occasional poem, essay, or well-written editorial,
as well as interesting bits of information on contemporary life. Only a
few books, of purely local significance, were published John Augustin s
collection of war poems, War Flowers (1865), M. F. Bigney s Forest Pil
grims and Other Poems (1867), and Charles Patton Dimitry s novel,
House in Balfour Street (1868).
But following came the most vigorous period of literary activity in the
city s history. Edward King, a representative of Scribner s, made a
lengthy visit to New Orleans in 1873 while collecting material for his
1 Great South series. The Cotton Centennial Exposition in 1884 brought
many more such visitors. Writers like Joaquin Miller, who for six months
covered the Exposition for a New York daily, and Julia Ward Howe, in
charge of the Woman s Department, became for a time part of the city s
cultural life. Richard Watson Gilder, editor of Century, and Charles
Dudley Warner, an editor of Harper s, were also in New Orleans during
the Exposition, Warner subsequently returning for several winters. These
publishers and writers, who were alert for literary material, entered into
the life of the city and assisted obscure but promising young writers such
as Lafcadio Hearn, George W. Cable, Grace King, and Ruth McEnery
Stuart to secure recognition.
Following publication of * Sieur George, in Scribner s Magazine (1873),
George W. Cable found himself hailed as a genius; he had opened a rich
and unexplored vein in his stories of New Orleans Creole life. So exclu
sively did he use the New Orleans locale, and so factual were his charming
Literature 113
descriptions of the old homes, gardens, and streets of the city, that he has
been accredited along with Bret Harte as being the cause of the local
color episode in American fiction. His short stories, reprinted in the
collection Old Creole Days (1879), and The Grandissimes (1879), a novel,
are the most enduring of his works. Other important books dealing with
New Orleans are the novel Dr. Sevier (1887), and the historical writings
The Creoles of Louisiana (1884) and Kincaid s Battery (1908). Three of
Cable s fictional houses remain today almost exactly as he described
them: Sieur George s House, 640 Royal Street, Madame John s Legacy,
632 Dumaine Street, and The Poulette s Dwelling, 710 Dumaine Street.
His own home which he built in the Garden District, 1313 Eighth Street,
is occupied today by the New Orleans writer, Flo Field.
In 1877 there arrived in New Orleans Lafcadio Hearn, who was to
bring Romanticism to a brilliant fruition. In the ten years he spent here,
for one so little anchored, so eternally distracted by the pathos of dis
tance, Hearn identified himself curiously with New Orleans, finding
fulfillment for himself as artist, and making his own splendid contribution
to the city s literature and cultural life. Perhaps his most notable work
during these years were his translations and reconstructions from other
literatures, but of more local interest are Chita, Gombo Zhebes, and his
newspaper writings in the Item and Times-Democrat, later collected and
published by Albert Mordell in An American Miscellany, and by Charles
Woodward Hutson in Editorials and Fantastics and Other Fancies. Chita
(1889), a story of the destructive tidal wave which swept over Last Island
near New Orleans in 1856, contains some of Hearn s most brilliant word-
painting; Gombo Zhebes (1885) is a little book of Creole proverbs which he
collected with infinite pains; the newspaper writings constitute a day by
day record of his moods, experiences, and reactions to New Orleans, his
explorations into strange literatures, and gleanings from his wide reading
of foreign newspapers. Hearn is also supposed to have written La
Cuisine Creole (1885), and to have collaborated with Coleman in his His
torical Sketchbook and Guide to New Orleans (1884) ; two articles previously
published by Hearn appeared in the latter, The Scenes of Cable s Ro
mances and Pere Antoine s Date-Palm.
Among houses in which Hearn lived while in New Orleans are his
first boarding-house, now a tire shop, at 813 Baronne Street, and Mrs.
Courtney s boarding house at 1565 Cleveland Street, still standing.
Grace King, who was drawn into writing by the challenge of Richard
Watson Gilder, If Cable is so false to you, why do not some of you write
better? and who won immediate recognition through her first short
114 Economic and Social Development
story Monsieur Motte (1886), remains one of the more important
writers of New Orleans. Among her best-known works are New Orleans:
the Place and the People (1907); The Pleasant Ways of St. Medard (1916),
a novel based on her own girlhood; and the short stories contained in
Balcony Stories (1892). The home in which Miss King lived for the last
twenty-eight years of her life, at 1749 Coliseum Street, is still occupied by
the King family.
Cable, Hearn, and Grace King enriched their writing through the use
of Louisiana folk literature, which, because of the wide variety of the
sources from which it is drawn, has distinctive color and great literary
value. There are animal tales, resembling those of Uncle Remus, al
though showing a less marked interest in nature and a somewhat greater
faculty for endowing the animal heroes with human characteristics,
together with a keen sense of the laughable in human nature. Tales of
witchcraft and conjuration were strongly influenced by the insidious
power of Voodoo worship. Fairy tales adapted by the Louisiana Negroes
from the French provincial tales, some of which show a marked Celtic
flavor, and tales of the supernatural, contributed by the Acadians of the
Bayou Country, as well as by their German neighbors, all help to make
the wealth of background from which Louisiana writers have drawn
from time to time.
In addition, there are the legends, such as those surrounding Pere
Antoine, the Lafitte brothers, and the royal runaway lovers, Princess
Charlotte and Chevalier d Aubant. Indian legends have also occasion
ally been used.
Ruth McEnery Stuart, a native of the State, began her literary work
in New Orleans and even after she moved to New York, in 1888, con
tinued to draw on her early environment for her stories. She was one
of the popular writers of her day, especially skillful in stories of the
plantation Negro. Her books with a New Orleans locale are The Story
of Babette (1902), a Creole story for children, and Solomon Crow s Christ
mas Pockets (1896), a collection of quaint Negro tales.
Cecilia Viets Jamison, who had married a New Orleans man, lived in
the city from 1887 to 1902. She wrote charming children s stories of
New Orleans Lady Jane (1891), Toinette s Philip (1894), and Thistle
down (1903) which attracted a wide audience at the time and are still
dear to the hearts of New Orleans children. Mrs. Jamison pictured the
everyday, homely details of Creole life, and her books are important by
reason of their fine local color and interesting character types.
Mrs. M. E. M. Davis moved to New Orleans in 1879 when her hus-
Literature 115
band became editor of the Daily Picayune. She wrote novels, short stories,
poems, and plays, being perhaps most successful in her delineation of
Creole types. Her writings having a New Orleans setting are the novels
The Queen s Garden (1900), The Little Chevalier (1904), The Price of
Silence (1907), and the poems contained in Christmas Boxes (1896).
She is best remembered today, however, as one of the famous hostesses
of New Orleans who, in a historic old home on Royal Street, brought
together in charming and informal fashion all local persons of any note
as well as visiting celebrities. In a little book, Keren-Happuch and I
(1907), Mrs. Davis has told of the famous people who were her guests.
Mary Ashley Townsend ( XarifiV), the local poet laureate of her day,
is represented in two volumes of poems, Xarijfa s Poems (1870) and
Down the Bayou (1882). Mrs. Townsend achieved mention in Clarence
Stedman s Poets of America, and her sonnet Down the Bayou has been
included in a recent anthology, Alfred Kreymborg s Lyric America (1935).
The newspapers of the city were also flourishing during this period,
and attracted to their staff whatever was promising in the way of local
literary talent. Noteworthy was a little group of women writers, pioneers
in the newspaper field. Mrs. E. J. Holbrook, as owner and editor of the
New Orleans Picayune, was the first woman publisher of a daily city
newspaper in the United States. Mrs. Holbrook, who later became Mrs.
Nicholson, was also a poet, and published a small volume of verses
entitled Lyrics under the name of Pearl Rivers. Julia K. Wetheril (Mrs.
Marion A. Baker) wrote verses and articles for the local papers, and con
tributed literary criticism to Lippincott s Magazine and the New York
Critic. Elizabeth Bisland, a native of Louisiana, was a friend of Lafcadio
Hearn and his contemporary on the Times-Democrat, who, according to
Hearn, occasionally contributed superb poetry to the paper. She later
moved to New York, and as Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore became well
known for her novels and her Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn. Mrs.
Martha R. Field ( Catherine Cole ) did noteworthy work for the Times
and Daily Picayune, attracting attention with her travel articles on
European countries and her Outings in Louisiana series. In 1896,
Mrs. Elizabeth M. Gilmer ( Dorothy Dix ) arrived in New Orleans to
begin her brilliant career as a journalist.
Henry C. Castellanos, a veteran journalist, published, in 1896, New
Orleans As It Was. Described by him as the unwritten history of the city,
it contained much interesting and valuable information on nineteenth-
century New Orleans.
In the summer of 1896, William Sidney Porter ( O. Henry ), charged
Ii6 Economic and Social Development
with embezzlement of bank funds in Texas, fled to New Orleans. Very
little is known about his stay here, but in the brief time he remained he
stored up enough fictional background for four stories of the city: * Blind
Man s Holiday, Cherchez la Femme, Renaissance at Charleroi, and
Whistling Dick s Christmas Stocking. It was in New Orleans, O.
Henry always insisted, that his pen name was acquired.
The literary activity of the seventies and eighties had died out almost
completely by 1900. The first two decades of the century brought forth
only a few books, with the city apparently unaware that important new
movements and freedoms were being expressed abroad. In 1904, Helen
Pitkin Schertz published An Angel by Brevet, a novel dealing with Voodoo
in New Orleans. Eliza Ripley s Social Life in Old New Orleans, a delight
ful book of reminiscences covering her girlhood here from 1835 to 1852,
appeared in 1912. The Jack Lafaience Book, a collection of the news
paper letters in Creole patois written by James J. McLoughlin under the
pen name of Jack Lafaience during the preceding thirty years, was
published in 1922.
In January, 1921, a group of young intellectuals, deciding it was time
that the city break with the old literary traditions and become acquainted
with the new, established the Double Dealer, a cosmopolitan, anti-puri
tanical, and liberal magazine with decided modern tendencies. The first
issue declared: To myopics we desire to indicate the hills; to visionaries,
the unwashed dishes We mean to deal double, to show the other
side, to throw open the back windows stuck in their sills from misuse,
smutted over long since against even a dim beam s penetration. These
were strange words in New Orleans, whose literature was conceived in
the Romantic tradition and had continued so through a hundred years.
The publication held out for five years, becoming known nationally as an
excellent literary journal. It was devoted almost exclusively to fiction,
poetry, and literary criticism, radical and conservative literary move
ments of the i92o s being represented. The importance of the magazine
as a medium for the expression of all literary trends and the extent to
which it discovered and encouraged notable talent may be seen in the
number of contributors who have since attained literary recognition
Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Jean
Toomer, Thornton Wilder, and others.
Sherwood Anderson, who had bought an old home at 715 Governor
Nicholls Street, in the Vieux Carre, and who lived in the city from 1922
to 1925, contributed various articles, among them a series of impression
istic studies called variously New Testament and More Testament/
Literature 117
Sherwood Anderson s Notebook (1926), written largely while he lived in
New Orleans, contains articles first printed in the Double Dealer and
his short story of the city, A Meeting South, published originally in the
Dial.
William Faulkner, who resided in New Orleans during 1924 and 1925,
for a time sharing an apartment with Sherwood Anderson, published both
poems and articles in the magazine, and during his stay here wrote most
of his first novel, Soldier s Pay.
Associated with the Double Dealer were the local writers John McClure,
literary critic and poet; Flo Field, author of the play ^4 La Creole, pro
duced in Philadelphia (1929) as Mardi Gras; Richard Kirk, author of
several volumes of epigrammatic verse, A Tallow Dip, Penny Wise, etc. ;
Louis Gilmore, Basil Thompson, Julius Friend, James Feibleman, Lillian
Marcus, Paul Godchaux, Jr., Albert Goldstein, etc.
Among writers living in New Orleans today are Lyle Saxon and Roark
Bradford.
Lyle Saxon, a native of the State and a resident of the city for twenty
years, is the author of Father Mississippi (1927), Fabulous New Orleans
(1928), Old Louisiana (1929), Lafitte the Pirate (1930) and Children of
Strangers (1937). He served an apprenticeship in newspaper work with
the Times -Picayune.
Roark Bradford, who has lived off and on in the city for the past four
teen years, first came to New Orleans to do newspaper work, but aban
doned it for fiction. An early short story, Child of God, won the O.
Henry Memorial award for 1927. He soon became widely known, also,
for OI J Man Adam an His Chillun, which furnished the material for
Marc Connelly s play The Green Pastures. In his treatment of the old-
time Southern Negro, Roark Bradford, who knows his blacks of the deep
South better than perhaps anybody else writing today, continues to use
the Louisiana and Mississippi plantation for his background. His novels
John Henry (1931), and Kingdom Coming (1933), touch slightly on New
Orleans; the latter contains a fine picture of the Voodoo organization in
New Orleans during the Civil War.
Leona Queyrouse Barel, a friend and contemporary of Lafcadio Hearn,
whose early poems were written in French and printed in LAbeille and
Com pies rendus, published in 1933 The Idyll, My Personal Reminiscences
of Lafcadio Hearn, containing reproductions of letters written to her by
Hearn during his stay in New Orleans.
Hermann B. Deutsch, well-known New Orleans journalist, has written
numerous articles and stories, the most recent of which have appeared in
n8 Economic and Social Development
Esquire and in the Saturday Evening Post. His first book, The Incredible
Yanqui (1931), a biography of General Lee Christmas, is laid partly in
New Orleans. His novel, The Wedge (1935), is a story of revolution in
Mexico.
E. P. O DonnelPs first novel, Green Margins, published in 1936, is a
story of the lower Mississippi delta; the novel won a Hough ton Mififlin
scholarship prize and was also chosen by the Book of the Month Club.
Elma Godchaux has recently published Stubborn Roots (1936), a story-
of-the-soil novel with a Louisiana cane plantation setting, whose strongly
drawn heroine invites comparison with Becky Sharp.
Innis Patterson is the author of two detective novels, The Eppworth
Case (1930) and The Standish Gaunt Case (1931).
Gwen Bristow and her husband, Bruce Manning, have written a number
of detective stories with scenes in New Orleans. One of these, The Ninth
Guest, was produced on Broadway and later made into a movie. Mrs.
Manning s first serious novel, Deep Summer, was published early in 1937.
Mary Barrow Linfield s novel, Day of Victory (1936), depicts an event
ful day in the life of a New Orleans business man.
Sallie Lee Bell of Algiers is the author of Marcel Armand (1936).
Non-resident writers who use New Orleans locale almost exclusively
in their books include Edward Larocque Tinker, Robert Emmet Kennedy,
and Hamilton Basso.
Edward Larocque Tinker, a native of New York, has made New Orleans
practically a second home. In 1916 he married Frances McKee Dodge of
this city, and for years spent his winters here. He has delved extensively
into the folklore and history of New Orleans, and has contributed vitally
to the city s literature. Much of his writing has been in the form of
magazine articles, but he has also published the following books: Laf-
cadio Hearn s American Days (1924), concerned largely with Hearn s
New Orleans life; Toucoutou (1928), the story of a New Orleans octo
roon; Old New Orleans (1931), four novelettes written in collaboration
with his wife and depicting life in New Orleans from 1860 to 1900; and
Les Merits de la Langue franqaise en Louisiane (1932), a study of French
literature in Louisiana.
Robert Emmet Kennedy, a native of Gretna, Louisiana, immediately
across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, in his short stories
Black Cameos (1924) and Gritny People (1927) and his novel Red Bean
Row (1929), has made himself known as one of the more gifted writers
dealing with Negro life. Although he now lives in New York, all his
stories are centered around East Green, a Negro settlement in Gretna,
Literature 119
and the True Vine Baptist Church, near the Carrollton Levee in New
Orleans.
Hamilton Basso, born in the city but now residing in North Carolina,
continues to write about his early environment. Relics and Angels (1929)
is a novel depicting the reaction of a student recently returned from Europe
to New Orleans toward the changing manners of the city. Beauregard
the Great Creole (1933) is an interesting, authoritative biography of the
New Orleans Civil War general.
Another non-resident writer, claimed originally by New Orleans but
of late years belonging almost exclusively to New York, is Fannie Heaslip
Lea, whose Chloe M alone (1916) and Jaconetta Stories (1912) are based on
her life in New Orleans.
Interesting contributions to New Orleans literature have also been made
by visiting writers and those who have remained only a short time in
the city. Only a few of the better known of these writers are included
here.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich lived in New Orleans as a boy from 1849 to
1852, as he recounts briefly but delightfully in his Story of a Bad Boy
(1877). One of his most famous short stories, Pere Antoine s Date-
Palm, in Marjorie Daw and OtJier People (1871), is about a legendary
date-palm which stood, until recent years, at 837 Orleans St.
Eugene Field, one of the most beloved of New Orleans visitors, spent
three months here in the spring of 1894. He haunted the antique shops,
particularly Waldhorn s, and the old Begue Restaurant, and was a
frequent guest at the home of Mrs. M. E. M. Davis on Royal Street.
Among his poems written about New Orleans are Good Children Street
and Dr. Sam (a Voodoo doctor).
John Galsworthy, who visited New Orleans toward the close of the
past century, was so impressed with the melancholy grandeur of the St.
Louis Hotel, then tottering on the brink of dissolution, that he wrote
one of his haunting prose poems about it, That Old-Time Place, in
The Inn of Tranquillity (1924).
Frank Stockton, author of The Lady or the Tiger? was a friend and
frequent guest of Mrs. M. E. M. Davis during his visits here. He has
written a delightful love story of New Orleans, The Romance of a
Mule-Car, in Afield or Afloat (1900).
Winston Churchill s novel The Crossing, involving the acquisition
from France of the Louisiana Territory, is laid partly in New Orleans.
The Court of the Two Lions was the home of his heroine.
Rex Beach, an enthusiastic sportsman who came often to New Orleans
I2O Economic and Social Development
in the early years of the century for duck hunting, used New Orleans
locale in The Net (1912), a novel dealing with the Mafia, and The
Crimson Gardenia, a short story in The Crimson Gardenia (1916).
Charles Tenney Jackson married Carlotta Weir of New Orleans and
spent a great deal of time in and around the city from 1911 to 1919.
In Captain Sazerac (1922), a novel dealing with the Lafitte pirates, he
has made skillful use of the historical background of New Orleans.
William McFee, the English writer of sea stories, has been in the city
at various times. A chapter in his Harbours of Memory (1921), entitled
The City of Enchantment, is devoted to New Orleans, and he also
makes use of New Orleans locale in Captain Macedoine s Daughter (1920).
Two of Joseph Hergesheimer s stories, Quiet Cities (1928) and Swords
and Roses (1929), are laid partly in New Orleans, the latter containing
an interesting study of the Creole Civil War leader, General Beauregard.
Oliver LaFarge, whose Laughing Boy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
for 1929, spent two years, from 1926 to 1928, in New Orleans as assistant
in ethnology at Tulane University, where he was associated with Frans
Blom in the Department of Middle American Research. He wrote Tribes
and Temples (1927) in collaboration with Mr. Blom, author of Conquest
of Yucatan (1936).
Carl Carmer, best known for his novel Stars Fell on Alabama, lived
for two years in the city, serving for a while as columnist on the New
Orleans Morning Tribune. While here, he published French Town (1928),
a collection of short poems about the French Quarter.
Harris Dickson, the Mississippi author, who has written extensively
of New Orleans in newspapers and magazines, has also published three
historical novels with a New Orleans setting: She That Hesitates (1903),
Gabrielle, Transgressor (1906), and Children of the River (1928).
LIBRARIES
Public Libraries
Howard Memorial Library, 60 1 Howard Ave. (See Tour 3.)
Italian Library, Italian Hall, 1020 Esplanade Ave. (open Tuesday,
Thursday, and Saturday, 5-7), is a very small reference library consist
ing of Italian classics, fiction, and current periodicals. A comfortable
reading-room is provided.
Louisiana State Library, Room 415, New Orleans Court Bldg. (open
weekdays 9-5; Sat., 9-12), possesses the most complete collection of
reference law books in New Orleans, numbering approximately 60,000,
available to the general public as well as to the law profession. The
library and reading-room are in charge of Miss Alice M. Magee, Librarian.
Literature 121
Louisiana State Museum Library, 545 St. Ann St., lower Pontalba Bldg.
(See Tour French Quarter.)
New Orleans Public Library, 1031 St. Charles Ave. (See Tour 3.)
A rchives
City Hall Archives, City Hall (open Mon.-Fri., 9-1; Sat., 9-12), contain
a complete file of New Orleans newspapers from 1804 to date (with the
exception of the year 1868), which includes the first American news
paper published in New Orleans, the Louisiana Gazette, and all news
papers published in New Orleans during the Civil War, both Confederate
and Federal. City Hall Archives are also the repository for the mayors
messages, minutes of the City Council, and digests of city ordinances.
St. Louis Cathedral Archives, St. Louis Cathedral, 615 Pere Antoine Alley
(open weekdays 2-5). The archives of the St. Louis Cathedral, for more
than a century the only Catholic church in New Orleans, cover baptismal,
marriage, and burial records from 1720 to date, contained in 123 registers.
The first period covers the years from 1720 to 1777, written in French,
with no division between white and colored. Baptismal records are
available from 1731 to 1733 and from 1744 to 1777; marriage records
from 1720 to 1733, 1759 to 1762, and 1764 to 1768; burial records from
1731 to 1733. Loss of the missing records was due to conflagrations, or
the use of inferior ink or paper, causing deterioration.
The second period covers records from 1777 to date, written first in
either French or Spanish, but by the beginning of the present century
almost entirely in English. For whites, the baptismal and marriage
records are complete; burial records are available from 1777 to 1843.
For colored, baptismal records are available from 1777 to 1873; marriage
records from 1777 to 1866; burial records from 1777 to 1843.
These records are of much importance. Requests for genealogical re
search in the Cathedral s archives are received constantly from every
State of the Union and from almost every country of Europe. In addi
tion, various marginal notes have been made by the priests, particularly
in the early years, which form a running commentary on interesting and
important historical events. The Battle of New Orleans is recorded thus:
On the 8th of January 1815 great battle between Americans and
British in which the latter lost four thousand men between killed,
wounded and prisoners, and they were compelled to withdraw.
Presbyter e Archives, Jackson Sq. (See French Quarter Tour.)
University and College Libraries
Baptist Bible Institute Library, 2828 Camp St. (See Tour 4.)
Loyola University Library, Loyola University, 6363 St. Charles Ave.,
opposite Audubon Park. (See Tour 3.)
Newcomb College Library, Newcomb College, 1 229 Broadway. (See Tour 3.)
Tulane University Library, Tulane University, in 6300 block of St. Charles
Ave., opposite Audubon Park. (See Tour 3.)
122 Economic and Social Development
Private Libraries
Walter S. Lewis Collection, 806 Carondelet Bldg. This collection includes
the Robert Lawson Correspondence, consisting of military correspond
ence to Lawson from such men as Lafayette, Jefferson, Von Steuben,
Hardy, General Nelson, Muhlenberg, and Richard Henry Lee. One
unsigned letter is thought to be from General Washington.
Dr. Rudolph Matas Collection, 2251 St. Charles Ave. Dr. Matas Medical
Library, one of the most complete in the country, covers every phase of
medical history. Dr. Matas contributes internationally to medical and
surgical journals and is now writing a history of medicine in Louisiana.
E. A. Parsons Private Library, 5 Rosa Park, known as the Bibliotheca
Parsoniana, was founded about 1900. It consists of a collection of his
torical documents, autographs, manuscripts, incunabula, bindings,
medals, and ancient and modern private presses. About 50,000 items
have been collected, including what is probably the finest Louisiana
Americana in the world, and 500 incunabula, among them one of the
two Canon Missae. Mr. Parsons will permit qualified students to use
the library, if appointment is made previously with him.
T. P. Thompson Private Library, 1912 Calhoun St., is one of the most
complete private collections to be found in New Orleans. The library
comprises interesting historical documents, many connected with
the early history of Louisiana, including the valuable B. F. French His
torical Collection, the works of Lafcadio Hearn, Grace King, George W.
Cable, Charles Etienne Gayarre, Alcee Fortier, and the unpublished let
ters and correspondence of John James Audubon; many English and
early American writers of note, as well as the older classics; and a com
prehensive set of books on European art. There is also an admirable
collection of oil paintings, many by early American artists.
Other important private libraries in New Orleans are the Charles H.
Behre Collection, 2800 Jefferson Ave.; Crawford Ellis Collection, 5411
St. Charles Ave.; Hunt Henderson Collection, 1410 Second St.; Andre
Laf argue Collection, 1116 Carondelet Bldg.; Walter Parker Collection,
924 Moss St.; Robert Polack, Jr. Collection, 1424 Whitney Bldg.; Henry
Soule Collection, 836 Pine St.; John Wisdom Collection, 1415 Cadiz St.
Libraries for Negroes
Dillard University Library, Dillard University, Gentilly Rd. (See Tour 1.)
New Orleans Public Library, Dryades and Philip Sts. (open weekdays 9-9;
Sun. 1-8; take Jackson car at Canal and Baronne Sts., or Freret car at
Canal and St. Charles Sts., and walk one block), contains approximately
14,500 volumes, including books on Negro history written by nationally
famous Negro writers.
Xavier University Library, 3912 Pine St. (See Tour 3.)
THEATER
FOR the half-century preceding the Civil War New Orleans was an im
portant center in the theatrical world. The population of the city, made
up in large part of pleasure-loving Latins, was quick to support the first
efforts at establishing a theater. As a result several theaters sprang up
during the early part of the nineteenth century, and the drama in New
Orleans for a time achieved a standard of excellence rivaling, or perhaps
surpassing, that of any city in the country.
While New Orleans was yet under the rule of Spain, there arrived in
1791 a homeless refugee band of actors and actresses who had fled the
terrors of a murderous Negro uprising in the French West Indies. This
troupe, which was headed by a Monsieur Louis Tabary, for a time gave
performances in improvised quarters such as tents or vacant shops, and
received such enthusiastic acclaim that before long it obtained a more
permanent and commodious location. This first theater was known under
various names through the years, but is best remembered as Le Spectacle
de la Rue St. Pierre. The building was located at 732 St. Peter Street; it
is not known whether any part of the original structure remains.
A noisy and boisterous element, as well as the elite, must have fre
quented the playhouse, because on November 28, 1804, the following
police orders were published and posted in the theater:
Article I
No person shall present himself to the several entrances of the theater
without having a ticket of admittance, and if any be proven to have
gained admission by cunning or otherwise or by having used violence,
he will be brought before a competent magistrate to be punished by im
prisonment or fine in accordance with the varying degree of trouble he
may have occasioned.
124 Economic and Social Development
Article II
If good order is to be maintained, the orchestra of the hall cannot be
subject to fanciful demands to play this or that tune; the management
binds itself to satisfy the public s demand by the rendition of national
airs; no person by bringing up any request in this regard shall disturb
either the orchestra or the audience without running the risk of being
brought before the magistrate as is provided in the first part of the
ordinance.
Article III
Neither shall anyone have the right of taking possession of a box or
any place which shall have been rented to someone else.
Article IV
No one shall express his approval or his disapproval in such a way as
to disturb the calm of the theater, either by noisy clapping if pleased or
hissing if displeased.
Article V
No one will be allowed to throw or to pretend to throw oranges or
anything else, be it in the theater or in any part of the hall, nor in a word,
shall anyone be allowed to start quarrels with his neighbor or with any
one; nor shall anyone insult anybody or come to blows or speak ill of
anyone in order to stir up trouble under penalty of being punished with
all the severity allowed by the present ordinance, as a disturber of public
peace.
The department desires greatly that the order of the theater and the
pieces played will contribute to the keeping of harmony, good-will and
good manners, for alone on these rests the permanence and success of this
institution.
The second theater to be founded in New Orleans was the St. Philip,
erected in 1808 on St. Philip Street between Royal and Bourbon at a
cost of approximately $100,000. It had a seating capacity of seven
hundred and included a large parquet with two tiers of boxes. One of
the early programs here included the first corps de ballet to be presented
in New Orleans; for several years the best dramatic talent available was
offered. The theater continued to be a successful enterprise until 1832.
The Orleans Theater, the third to be established in the city, was lo
cated at 721 Orleans Street, just off Royal. The first building, erected in
1809, was destroyed four years later by fire, but rebuilt soon after in a
more pretentious style, the exterior being adorned with Doric colonnades.
Besides a spacious parquet, the building contained several galleries, two
Theater 125
tiers of boxes, and loge seats set off by lattice or iron grillwork. Per
formances began at six in the evening and frequently lasted until two or
three o clock the next morning. One night s program might include an
opera or vaudeville, a comedy, and finally a heavy drama to complete
the bill. It was here that Lafayette was entertained in 1825, a special
performance having been arranged in his honor. In the building next
door, and operated in connection with the theater, was the Orleans
Ballroom, scene of many of the most noted entertainments of the period;
for a time the famous quadroon balls were held here.
These first theaters were given over to programs in the French lan
guage. It was not until an American troupe known as the Common
wealth Company, with Noah Ludlow as one of its members, came to
New Orleans in 1817 and obtained temporary use of the St. Philip
Theater that plays were produced in English. These first performances
were so well received by the English-speaking element of the city that
James Caldwell, an English actor who came to the city in 1820, was
encouraged to build a theater in which only English plays would be
produced. This was accomplished with the erection of the American
Theater in 1822-23, the first building in New Orleans to be illuminated
with gas. Located on the lake side of Camp Street, between Gravier and
Poydras, and seating 1 100 people, the building was put up at a cost of
$120,000. The theater, formally opened on January i, 1824, became
noted throughout the country for its excellent entertainment. Almost
every prominent actor or actress of the day appeared there.
Caldwell erected another theater, the St. Charles, at 432 St. Charles
Street, in 1835 an d in 1842 took over the New American, the second
theater of that name erected on Poydras near Camp Street. The St.
Charles, then perhaps the most magnificent in America, is said to have
compared favorably with the opera houses of Naples, Milan, and Vienna.
Construction of the building alone cost $350,000. The huge central dome
and mammoth chandelier attracted hundreds of people from all over the
country; the chandelier, weighing more than two tons, had 250 gas lights
and 23,300 cut-glass drops. Playing to a full house containing four
thousand seats and forty-seven boxes, the theater opened with the
School for Scandal and the Spoiled Child. Seven years later it was
destroyed by fire, and a second theater by the same name was built on
the site by Noah Ludlow and Sol Smith, competitors of Caldwell.
This theater was operated with success until it was destroyed by fire in
1899. A new theater, built on the site in 1902, was used by the Orpheum
Company before the present Orpheum Theater on University Place was
126 Economic and Social Development
constructed in the early 1920*5. After remaining closed for several years,
the St. Charles was used from time to time for legitimate stage produc
tions; at present it is a motion-picture house.
Many famous players appeared at the three theaters, among them
Edwin Booth, James Brutus Booth, Jenny Lind, and Fanny Ellsler.
Joe Jefferson, who made his home at Jefferson Island, Louisiana, after
1869, appeared often at the St. Charles. Returning from a tour of
Texas during the Mexican War, he mentions seeing Mr. and Mrs. James
W. Wallack, Jr., in Richard III, a play finely acted but indifferently
mounted. What impressed him most, however, was the after-piece,
A Kiss in the Dark, a farce featuring the rising young comedian, James
E. Owens, whose effective style and great flow of animal spirits aroused
the professional jealousy of Jefferson, who had hoped to see something
not quite so good.
Another popular theater of the nineteenth century was Placide s
Varieties, opened in 1849, on Gravier Street between Baronne and Caron-
delet. The establishment was under the management of Tom Placide,
the actor. After five successful seasons the theater was partially de
stroyed by fire, but reopened the next year under a new name, the
Gaiety. In 1870 the building burned down completely, and the owners
built a new theater, afterwards called the Grand Opera House, on the
present site of the Maison Blanche, a Canal Street department store.
The old Varieties experienced its greatest period of prosperity during
the three-month stay in 1853 of Lola Montez, the famous dancer who
was created Countess of Lansfield by the King of Bavaria. Upon arrival
in New Orleans she was met by two large groups one representing the
more puritanical element in the city, which bitterly opposed her appear
ance; the other hailed her coming with glee and boisterous celebration.
A near-riot occurred at the St. Charles Hotel a few hours later, when the
music of a band employed by the welcoming young blades was drowned
out by boos and catcalls of the opposing faction.
Perhaps the most amusing series of many hilarious incidents surround
ing Lola s stay in New Orleans ensued when she, replying with a kick to
amorous advances made by the theater prompter, was very much
astonished to be soundly kicked in return; the stage manager and others
intervened, and the luckless Lothario suffered a severe beating. He then
very ungallantly proceeded to file charges of assault and battery against
the dancer. A great crowd scrambled madly to her trial, cheering when
Lola exhibited as evidence a swollen, angry bruise high upon her thigh.
Thereafter the prompter cherished his one rather dubious bid to fame
as the Man who kicked the Countess.
Theater 127
On December i, 1859, the initial performance was given at the French
Opera, which housed plays as well as operas until it was destroyed by
fire in 1919.
The National Theater, established about the middle of the nineteenth
century, was located on Baronne Street, at the present site of the De
Soto Hotel. The theater was founded for the production of German
plays, and for a time was known as the German National. The playhouse
had a varied but successful existence until it burned in 1885.
Other places of amusement in existence before 1880, but which played
comparatively minor roles in the development of dramatic art in the
city, include the Club Theater, the Bijou, Atlantic Gardens, and Wenger s
Garden.
The showboats were in their heyday from 1870 to 1890. These floating
palaces bore such picturesque names as * Cotton Blossom, * Daisy Belle/
and River Maid. Up and down the Mississippi and its tributaries they
plied, playing the old favorite melodramas over and over, to a thousand
miles of audience. East Lynne and Tempest and Sunshine were
enjoyed time and again by young and old, white and Negro, often so
many times that the audiences knew the lines as well as the actors did;
but when the showboat came round the bend, calliope screaming, band
blaring, and flags flying, excitement spread along the levee and back into
the fields like wildfire, as if an entirely new and wonderful thing were
about to happen.
The Greenwald Theater, 201 Dauphine Street, opened in 1904 with a
stage presentation of The Wife. But the following season it opened
with a burlesque show, which type of entertainment continued for some
years. Then, for a time, the building was used by a stock company, the
Emma Bunting Players, and the name was changed to the Emma
Bunting Theater. From 1915 to 1930 the building was operated
when it was operated at all as a motion-picture and vaudeville house,
under the name of the Palace. In 1935 it was made a Negro theater,
offering motion pictures and vaudeville.
The Tulane Theater, Baronne between Canal and Common, built in
1898, and demolished in 1937, had a seating capacity of 15(50, with a
parquet, balcony, and gallery including four boxes on each floor. Special
attention was given to the acoustics, the design imitating the drumlike
formation of the old French Opera. A great number of famous actors and
actresses appeared at the Tulane, including Julia Marlowe, George
Arliss, Richard Mansfield, Maude Adams, De Wolf Hopper, Robert
Mantell, Katharine Cornell, and Anna Held. For the last five years New
128 Economic and Social Development
Orleans has had no regular theatrical season, only occasional plays having
been presented at the Tulane before it was razed. The Municipal Audi
torium, in which concerts, operas, and dance programs have been given
since its dedication in May, 1930, has recently housed its first dramatic
production.
New Orleans has produced a host of lesser theatrical lights and about a
half-dozen who attained world-wide recognition and fame. At the head
of the list is Adah Isaacs Menken, born in Milneburg, a suburb of New
Orleans, about 1835. Her parentage and early life are shrouded in mys
tery; her own accounts, conflicting statements apparently given out for
publicity purposes, add to the confusion. She began her career as a
dancer, graduated to drama in her early twenties, and in the short space
of her life thirty odd years became remarkably versatile, adding
poetry, painting, sculpturing, singing, and a knowledge of French, He
brew, German, and Spanish to her accomplishments. In 1856, at Living
ston, Texas, she married Alexander Isaacs Menken, the first of a series
of four or more husbands, and the following year made her stage debut
at Shreveport, Louisiana, as Pauline in The Lady of Lyons. A few
months later she appeared in New Orleans as Bianca in Fazio/ and there
after, using her first husband s name, began a theatrical career that made
her the toast of Europe and America.
Her remarkable beauty, her extravagant and uninhibited manner of
acting, and the aura of rumored immorality attached to her name caused
her every performance to be a sell-out. Adept in the modern Hollywood
technique of acquiring box-office value through publicity stunts, she
committed one sensational act after another. She was involved in bigamy
with her second husband, John Heenan, famous prize-fighter of the day,
was arrested as a Secessionist, and at Astley s Theater in London in 1864
created a sensation as a scantily clad Mazeppa, the first woman to essay
the role and the first performer to ride a horse in the scene in which a
dummy had always been strapped to a horse.
Celebrities of two continents Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Artemus
Ward, Walt Whitman, Georges Sand, Alexandre Dumas, Theophile
Gautier, Charles Dickens, Algernon Swinburne paid homage to her,
and she went from triumph to triumph, amusing herself and the world.
She died in Paris in 1868 while rehearsing for a new version of Les
Pirates, and was buried in Montparnasse. The simple inscription on her
tomb, Thou Knowest, epitomizes her brilliant career, as does Swin
burne s remark written on a copy of her volume of poems, Infelicia\ Lo,
this is she that was the world s delight.
Theater 129
Cora Urquhart Potter, another native star, made her first professional
appearance in London, in a play called Man and Wife, produced in
1877. She later played at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York and
toured the United States in Shakespearian and other roles.
Minnie Maddern Fiske was born in New Orleans in 1865. She made
her first appearance at the age of five as the little Duke of York in
Richard the Third. In 1897 she attained her greatest success in Tess
of the D Urbervilles, one of the greatest pieces of emotional work done
by any actress of her time.
Edward Hugh Sothern was born in a boarding-house on Bienville
Street, New Orleans, in 1859, while his parents were on tour. During the
first years of his career he was known as a comedian, later as a romantic
and Shakespearian actor. Between 1904 and 1914 he and Julia Marlowe
were considered the leading Shakespearian exponents in the United
States.
In Sothern s entertaining reminiscences, Melancholy Tale of Me, he
tells of how, on a visit to New Orleans, an old lady gave him a small
fawn-colored coat, very old-fashioned, with high collar, bell-shaped cuffs,
pearl buttons as large as a half dollar, much moth-eaten, which Dion
Boucicault had lent to Sothern s father to wear on the stage. In a pocket
of the coat he was pleasantly surprised to find some memoranda written
in his father s hand.
Sidney Shields, who for many years was Walker Whiteside s leading
lady, was born and reared in New Orleans. She came of a family long
active in theatrical circles of this city.
Robert Edeson, born in New Orleans in i868 t spent his childhood in
Brooklyn, and began his successful stage career in New York. He was
one of the first actors of the legitimate stage to enter motion pictures.
Marguerite Clark (Mrs. Harry P. Williams), famous star of the silent
films, has lived in New Orleans many years.
Many plays have been written in, about, and for New Orleans, ranging
from French printings on the intrigues of the nineteenth century to a very
modern play, Stevedore, based on Negro life of the city s wharves.
One of the earlier plays, titled Mis Nelly of N Orleans, was written
by Lawrence Eyre; Minnie Maddern Fiske toured in it for several years.
Danse Calinda, by Ridgely Torrence, is a pantomime of nineteenth-
century Mardi Gras in New Orleans. A La Creole, a three-act play by
Flo Field produced in 1927, is of authentic New Orleans atmosphere, and
has genuine Creole and Cajun characters; as presented in New Orleans,
the play was considered one of the best ever written about the city.
130 Economic and Social Development
Stevedore, by George Sklar and Paul Peters, is the latest play with a
New Orleans setting. This three-act race tragedy, performed by a cast
of Negroes and whites, is a dynamic portrayal of a wharf strike. The
play has been highly successful in the East.
A history of the amateur theatrical groups about which theatrical
activity in the city now centers would begin with what is believed to
have been one of the earliest little theaters in the country. On the spa
cious grounds of her mansion Roselawn (now 3512 St. Charles Avenue)
Madame Rosa Salomon da Ponte, a noted beauty, built and equipped
a miniature theater. She engaged a director in 1891, and presented the
first play, Called Back, a Romance Drama, a thriller with subtitles
such as The Blind Witness, Recognition/ The Vanished Past, A
Black Lie, and Tracked to Siberia.
Madame da Ponte carried stage illusion into her drawing-room; her
friends remember teas in caverns of ice, and balls in Egyptian marble
palaces. After a few years the Roselawn s patroness left for Europe in
search of new triumphs; she succeeded in her quest, gaining international
fame as a beauty and belle. But the hitherto promising little theater, no
longer blessed with Madame da Ponte s extraordinary personality and
generous purse, went into a decline and died an almost unnoticed death.
Today Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, 616 St. Peter Street, the out
growth of The Drawing Room Players, headed by Mrs. Oscar J. Nixon
and organized in 1916, has become one of the best-known little theaters in
the country. The Group Theater, 2211 Magazine Street, organized in
1934, has given a number of noteworthy modern productions. Le Petit
Theatre du Reveil Francais, 939 North Rampart Street, was started in
1930 with the purpose of preserving the French language in New Orleans.
The Civic Theater, the Algiers Little Theater, and the dramatic clubs
of the schools and colleges throughout the city are also active. A limited
number of tickets for non-members are usually on sale for the various
productions.
MUSIC
THE music of New Orleans has been as varied and colorful as the
nationalities which have made up its population. From the operas of
Paris, Milan, and Vienna came the classics which gained such popularity
in the city during the middle of the nineteenth century; from the West
Indies came barbaric, rhythmic chants that evolved through a period
of years into work songs, dance melodies, blues, and jazz; from Canada
and the outlying French settlements came the Cajun songs. The Creoles,
descendants of pioneer French and Spanish families, absorbed it all,
and contributed, in their turn, light airs and whimsical melodies.
New Orleans was the first Southern city to establish an opera com
pany, and for more than half a century the city was recognized as one
of the leading music centers of the country. As early as 1810 light
operas, romances, musical comedy, and drama were presented at the
Spectacle, St. Philip, and Orleans Theaters, all of which were located in
the French Quarter. It was not until 1837, however, that serious atten
tion was given to opera. In that year Mile. Julia Calve made her debut
at the Orleans Theater, scoring a great success. Three years later Charles
Boudousquie, who afterwards became the husband of Mile. Calve, brought
from France the first important company of singers to visit New Orleans.
Their first appearance in the city was made at the Orleans Theater, in
<Le Chalet.
Ole Bull, famous violinist of his day, gave many concerts in New
Orleans over a ten-year period, 1844-54. On his first visit the old rivalry
between Creoles and Americans was reawakened; the Frenchman Vieux-
temps, an arch-rival of Bull s, being in the city at the same time, compe
tition between the two performers evoked warm discussion as to their
comparative artistry. In 1845, at the conclusion of his concert series,
a practical joke was played upon Bull at a banquet held at the St.
Charles Hotel. The violinist, upon being asked to show his silver medal
132 Economic and Social Development
and famous Cremona violin, was horrified to find that the medal had
turned to lead and the violin had been crushed and broken. Tension was
relieved when a magician, the perpetrator of the trick, produced the
real articles. In the concert series of 1853, Maurice Strakosch, appearing
with Bull, introduced his protegee, little Adelina Patti. It is interesting
to note with what perspicacity the Picayune, on February 27, 1853,
predicted that if proper attention were paid the prodigy she might cer
tainly become a vocalist of remarkable power. Seven years later at
the French Opera House Orleanians thunderously applauded a mature
Patti, who soon after won international fame in London.
Jenny Lind, while under the management of P. T. Barnum, created a
furore among opera-loving Orleanians during her month s stay in the
city in 185 1 . Crowds lined the levee at her arrival, and it was only through
a ruse employed by Barnum, who, with an associate, escorted two veiled
ladies down the gangplank, that the famous singer was able to reach her
quarters in the lower Pontalba Building without discomfort. Seats
for her first concert, held on February 10 at the St. Charles Theater,
were sold at auction, the first being purchased for $240. The theater
was sold out for each performance, and so great was public acclaim that
Barnum was induced to extend the * Nightingale s engagement.
Eliza Ripley s Social Life in Old New Orleans contains an interesting
account of the opera of the forties:
It was on Orleans Street, near Royal I don t have to shut my eyes
and think very hard, as the Marchioness said to Dick Swiveller, to see
the old Opera House and all the dear people in it, and hear its entrancing
music. We had Norma and Lucia di Lammermoor and Robert le
Diable and La Dame Blanche, Huguenots, and Le Prophete, just
those dear old melodious operas, the music so thrillingly catchy that
half the young men hummed or whistled snatches of it on their way home.
There were no single seats for ladies, only four-seated boxes. The pit,
to all appearances, was for elderly, bald gentlemen only, for the beaux,
the fashionable eligibles, wandered around in the intermissions or stood
at attention in the narrow lobbies behind the boxes during the perform
ances. Except the two stage boxes, which were more ample, and also
afforded sly glimpses towards the wings and flies, all were planned for four
occupants. Also, all were subscribed for by the season. There was also a
row of latticed boxes in the rear of the dress circle, usually occupied by
persons in mourning, or the dear old messieurs et mesdames, who were not
chaperoning a mademoiselle. One stage box belonged, by right of long-
continued possession, to Mr. and Mrs. Cuthbert Buiiitt. The opposite box
was la loge des lions, and no less than a dozen lions wandered in and out of
Music 133
it during an evening. Some were blase and looked dreadfully bored, a
few were young and frisky, but every mortal one of them possessed a
pompous and self-important mien.
If weather permitted (we had to consider the weather, as everybody
walked) and the opera a favorite, every seat would be occupied at 8 o clock,
and everybody quiet to enjoy the very first notes of the overture. All the
fashionable young folks, even if they could not play or whistle Yankee
Doodle/ felt the opera was absolutely necessary to their social success
and happiness. The box was only five dollars a night, and pater-familias
certainly could afford that.
Think of five dollars for four seats at the most fashionable Opera House
in the land then, and compare it with five dollars for one seat in the top
most gallery of the most fashionable house in the land today. Can one
wonder we old people who sit by our fire and pay the bills wag our heads
and talk of the degenerate times?
Toilets in our day were simple, too. French muslins trimmed with real
lace, pink and blue bareges with ribbons. Who sees a barege now? No
need of jeweled stomachers, ropes of priceless pearls or diamond tiaras
to embellish those Creole ladies, many of whom were direct descendants
of French nobles; not a few could claim a drop of even royal blood.
Who were the beaux? And where are they now? If any are living they
are too old to hobble into the pit and sit beside the old, bald men.
It was quite the vogue to saunter into Vincent s, at the corner on the
way home. Vincent s was a great place, and he treated his customers with
so much confidence. One could browse about the glass cases of pates,
brioches, eclairs, meringues, and all such toothsome delicacies, peck at
this and peck at that, lay a dime on the counter and walk out. A large
Broadway firm in New York attempted that way of conducting a lunch
counter and had such a tremendous patronage that it promptly failed.
Men went for breakfast and shopping parties for lunch, instead of dropping
in en passant for an eclair.
As I said, we walked. There were no street cars, no buses, and precious
few people had carriages to ride in. So we gaily walked from Vincent s
to our respective homes, where a cup of hot coffee put us in condition for
bed and slumber.
Monday morning, Mme. Casimir or Mam selle Victorine comes to
sew all day like wild for seventy-five cents, and tells us how splendidly
Rosa de Vries (the prima donna) sang Robert, toi que j aitne last night.
She always goes, Oui, madame, toujours, to the opera Sunday. Later,
dusky Henriette Blondeau comes, with her tignon stuck full of pins and
the deep pockets of her apron bulging with sticks of bandoline, pots of
pomade, hairpins and a bandeau comb, to dress the hair of mademoiselle.
She also had to tell how fine was Robert, but she prefers De Vries in
Norma, moi. The Casimirs lived in a kind of cubby-hole way down Ste.
134 Economic and Social Development
Anne Street. M. Casimir was assistant in a barber shop near the French
Market, but such were the gallery gods Sunday nights, and no mean critics
were they. Our nights were Tuesday and Saturday.
Society loves a bit of gossip, and we had a delightful dish of it about
this time, furnished us by a denizen of Canal Street. He was horribly
English, you know. As French was the fashion then, it was an imperti
nence to swagger with English airs. The John Bull in question, with his
wife all decked out in her Sunday war paint and feathers, found a woman
calmly seated in his pew at Christ Church, a plainly dressed, common-
appearing woman, who didn t even have a flower in her bonnet. The pew
door was opened wide and a gesture accompanied it, which the common-
looking somebody did not fail to comprehend. She promptly rose and retired
into the aisle; a seat was offered her nearer the door of the church, which
she graciously accepted. Lady Mary Wortley Montague had asked for
a seat in that pew, as she bore a letter of introduction to its occupant.
This incident gave us great merriment, for the inhospitable Englishman
had been boasting of the coming of Lady Mary. I introduce it here, for it
has a moral which gives a Sunday school flavor to my opera reminiscences.
Now they have all gone where they are happily singing, I hope, even
better than Rosa de Vries, and where there are no doors to the pews.
The French Opera Company, which came into existence near the mid
dle of the nineteenth century, had a long and successful career, during
which many of the old classics were presented. The French Opera was
one of the South s greatest contributions to music. The building was
erected in 1859 in the Vieux Carre, five blocks from Canal Street, on the
uptown lake corner of Bourbon and Toulouse Streets. The house was
opened in December with the presentation of Guillaume Tell, conducted
by Professor Eugene Prevost, a New Orleans musician.
The opera became the focus of social life in New Orleans a scene of
costly jewels, elaborate costumes, lovely women, gallant gentlemen, and
magnificent music. European artists coming to New Orleans for engage
ments lived in the city throughout the opera season. People of all walks
in life attended the opera, even those who wished solitude. For these
persons the loges grilles, or boxes enclosed with lattice work, were intended,
being occupied chiefly by those in mourning and femmes enceintes. A
favorite New Orleans anecdote is that of the Creole belle who was almost
born in the opera house. For it was not until the middle of Faust
that her mother, Mme. Blanque, turned to M. Blanque and said, Pierre,
I do not think I can wait for the ballet!
Among the outstanding stars who appeared at the French Opera were
Adelina Patti, Mme. Urban, Mile. Hitchcock, and Julia Calve. Among
Music 135
works given here for the first time in America were Gounod s La Reine
de Saba and Le Tribut de Zamora, Bizet s L Arlesienne, Massenet s
Herodiade, Werther, and Don Quichotte, Saint-Saen s Samson and
Delilah, and Lalo s Le Roi d Ys. The opera house was destroyed by
fire in November 1919 and has not been rebuilt.
Since the early period of its history New Orleans has developed a
definite type of music in its Creole and Negro songs. The former origi
nated among the slaves of French and Spanish refugees who came from
the West Indies to New Orleans during the first decade of the nineteenth
century. The Negro songs are heard in a patois with local variations
wherever the French language and Negro dialects are found along the
Gulf Coast and throughout the West Indies. A mixture of humor and
pathos runs through the apparently nonsensical lyrics, and with their
original theme based on some French or Spanish melody, well disguised
by a novel interpretation, the songs express the passions of the Louisiana
Negro. Po Pitie Mamze ZiZi, one of the best of their love songs, was
used by Gottschalk in a piano composition; his La Bamboula was
based upon what he heard and saw in Congo Square as a boy. A favorite
of the more modern songs is Mary Blane, composed almost entirely
of eighth and sixteenth notes.
The plantation songs of the Southern Negro have constituted one
of the most interesting developments in American folk music the
quaint melodies and fascinating rhythms of the befo -de-war Negro
offering, in addition to their own beauty, a rich field for future com
posers. Both Chadwick and Dvorak made use of these melodies in
their symphonies.
The following (taken from Emmet Kennedy s Mellows) is an excellent
example of the Negro song:
Tell yuh bout a man wot live be-fo Chris
His name was Adam, Eve was his wife.
Tell yuh how dat man he lead a rugged life,
All be-cause he tak-en de ooman s ad-vice.
She made his trou-ble so hard She made his trou-ble so hard
Lawd, Lawd, she made his trou-ble so hard.
Yas, indeed his trou-ble was hard.
In the Creole songs ran a lighter, more whimsical vein. Death is
treated in a matter-of-fact fashion, as in the song Grenadie, ca-ca-yie,
the words of which give a feeling of fatalism: What matter, the death
of one soldier, simply one ration less, so much the worse for him, indeed.
Love in these songs was treated lightly, and gossip ran from an account
136 Economic and Social Development
of some minor incident to the hushed whisper of scandal. The gay life
of old Creole days, when casket girls were wooed by soldiers, is musically
related in Victor Herbert s Naughty Marietta.
Street cries among vendors have always been a characteristic of New
Orleans. Crude rhymes are composed by peddlers who saunter along the
streets crying their wares to housewives, servant girls, or any who will
listen.
The blackberry woman, having walked miles from the woods and
bayou banks, with skirts tucked gypsy-fashion around her waist and
bare legs showing traces of dusty travel, calls in a melancholy tone:
Black-ber-ries fresh and fine, I got black-berries, lady,
Fresh from de vine, I got black-berries, lady, three glass fo a dime,
I got black-berries, I got black-berries, black-berries.
New Orleans has often been said to be the birthplace of jazz (originally
called jass ), the outgrowth of cacophony turned out by spasm bands,
which made their appearance in the last decade of the nineteenth cen
tury. Playing in front of the theaters, saloons, and brothels of the
city, these bands regaled the public with their informal ear music.
One of the earliest of these organizations, the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band/
was composed of such colorful individuals as Stalebread Charley, Family
Haircut, Warm Gravy, Cajun, Whisky, Monk, and Seven Colors.
Instruments consisted of a cigar-box fiddle, old kettle, cowbell, pebble-
filled gourd, bull fiddle constructed of half a barrel, harmonica, and numer
ous whistles and horns. However abhorrent the clamor produced by
this assortment of instruments might have seemed to music-loving
Orleanians, the band attained sufficient popularity by 1911 to warrant
an engagement in New York, where its name was changed to Jazz Band.
Other early bands New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Crescent City
Jazzers, Creole Jazz Band, Original Dixie Land Jass Band popular
ized the new type of hot music and introduced it to the North, where
its acceptance in the form of a national craze was instantaneous. The
famous Dixie Land Jass Band, composed of five players, none of whom
could read or write music, reached the height of its popularity in 1915,
when it is said to have serenaded Sarah Bernhardt. In the same year
the band started on a tour of the country, aiding in glorifying jazz as
the national dance music.
A diversity of influences white and Negro folk music, brass band
and military numbers, and French tunes are reflected in jazz. Tiger
Rag, for example, is said to be based upon a French quadrille; musicians
Music 137
of the old school can still break it down into the tempi and movements
of the original dance form. The clarinet chorus of High Society Blues,
practically a definitive form for * swing players, derives, supposedly,
from the flute passage of a march by John Philip Sousa. The influence
of Negro folk music is apparent in the numerous blues that have ap
peared. Canal Street Blues, Basin Street Blues, Milneburg Joys/
and other songs celebrate the city and show its influence.
The originality and creativeness of New Orleans composers contributed
much to the development of jazz. In its formative stage ; bucking and
cutting contests, friendly and informal competitions in improvisation
constantly vitalized the new music form, adding originality and variety
to a field already rich in unconventionalities. In these contests, which
usually were held on the streets of the city or at Milneburg resorts,
cornetists of rival bands would cut choruses of tunes until one or the
other would throw away his instrument in a gesture of defeat.
Negro jazz, made popular by Louis Armstrong, a New Orleans Negro
now credited with being one of the world s greatest trumpeters, deserves
mention. Armstrong s success in this field was probably due to his
practice of leading or crying up to a note instead of striking it immedi
ately and decisively. His long-drawn-out high notes on the trumpet
also added to the weird, bizarre appeal of his music. Armstrong, one of
the first exponents of the scat style of singing the substitution of
such syllables as da-de-da-da for words is noted principally for his
individual technique with the trumpet, one of his most popular record
ings being Basin Street Blues. Clarence Williams, remembered for his
swing technique on the piano, and now a music publisher in New York,
published I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate, composed by
A. J. Piron, who conducts an orchestra aboard the steamer Capitol, a
pleasure craft and one of the few remaining Mississippi paddle- wheelers.
Other New Orleans Negro composers and exponents of jazz are Henry
Allen, Jr., Buster Bailey, Sidney Bechet, Barney Bigard, Johnny Dodds,
Jelly-Roll Morton, Joe Oliver, Kid Ory, and Spencer Williams.
Among the prominent white jazz artists are George Brunies, Eddie
Edwards, Nick LaRocca, Wingy Mannone, Henry Rogas, Leon Rappolo,
Larry Shields, and Tony Sparbaro. Louis Prima, another native son, has
won wide acclaim on Broadway, over the radio, and in moving pictures.
A peculiar form of jazz, which has been called the polyphonic, a type
concentrating on rhythm and time, also developed in New Orleans.
Although never popular, and now almost extinct, it portrays an interest
ing style of harmony. Very little orchestration is used; three or four
138 Economic and Social Development
melody instruments improvise at once, each playing a solo, and con
tributing to the whole with an almost perfect sense of balance in relation
to the other instruments. The success in such a presentation lies in
the strict adherence to rhythm and time on the part of each player.
This school of jazz is not basically different from original jazz music,
the chief difference lying in the method in which the melody is handled.
A novel attraction of New Orleans today is the soap-box orchestras
frequently stationed on street corners of the French Quarter. The instru
ments, which include perforated tin cups, pie pans, bucket lids, and
bottles, are attached to a wooden box and played by a Negro boy, usu
ally between the ages of ten and fifteen. With him are other Negro chil
dren, who, in ragged, unkempt garments, dance to the music. New
Orleans visitors are attracted by the surprising amount of rhythm and
harmony pounded from these crude one-man orchestras.
During the nineteenth century New Orleans produced a number of
recognized musicians. Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the State s most emi
nent pianist and composer, was born in New Orleans May 1 8, 1829. At
the height of his career he was well known both in America and abroad
for his compositions, among which were The Last Hope and Tarantelle.
It is said that his own interpretations of his compositions held an undeni
able sensual charm that few, if any, pianists could approach. Gottschalk,
who gave his first European concert at the age of sixteen, gained wide
acclaim in Paris, both for his virtuosity and his compositions. * Bamboula,
built around a dance of the Louisiana Negro, written while Gottschalk
was convalescing from a severe attack of typhoid fever, took the French
capital by storm. La France Musicale, a Parisian paper, bestowed
great praise upon the young American pianist.
An amusing incident connected with one of Gottschalk s tours occurred
in San Francisco, where he had arranged Wagner s march from Tann-
hauser for fourteen pianos. On the eve of the concert one of his pianists
fell sick and Gottschalk was at a loss to find a capable substitute. He
searched in vain for an accomplished musician, but in all San Francisco he
could find none. The proprietor of the hall finally offered to speak to his
son, an amateur pianist, whom he claimed could easily perform the part.
Gottschalk was skeptical, but decided to test the son s ability. The ama
teur derided the suggestion of a rehearsal, but Gottschalk insisted. After
the young man had played two bars the great musician realized the
impossibility of accepting his services, but he could not easily refuse the
enthusiastic son nor the beaming father. Gottschalk s tuner suggested
that the hammers of the piano be removed so that the instrument would
Music 139
produce no sound. Gottschalk acceded to this plan and arrangements
were completed for the performance. The auditorium was filled to capac
ity, and the young amateur, in full evening clothes, paraded back and
forth before his friends. He had even succeeded in having his piano placed
in the center of the stage.
The concert began with a flourish, and continued to an almost flawless
finish. The young man had behaved superbly, employing all the elaborate
gestures at his command, and perspiring freely. An encore was demanded.
The youth, greatly pleased with himself, could not resist playing a short
prelude before the others began, so he ran a chromatic scale, but the piano
was mute. Gottschalk, seeing the danger, ignored the youth s frantic
gestures and gave the signal for the others to begin. To save appearances
the young man pantomimed the passages, striking the instrument furi
ously. Gottschalk said later, God protect you, O artists, from the fathers
of amateurs, from the sons themselves, and the fathers of female singers.
Gottschalk died in Rio de Janeiro when, tired of his wanderings, he was
planning a quiet retreat in Paris. For some time he had been weakened
by fever and fatigue. During one of his concerts he seems to have been
seized by a presentiment of death, and was unable to finish his last compo
sition, La Morte.
Ernest Guiraud, also a native of New Orleans, another of the city s
prominent nineteenth-century composers, is best known for Sylvia/ the
Kobold, and Piccolino. His first opera was produced in New Orleans
when Guiraud was only fifteen years of age. Seven years later he won the
Prix de Rome in Paris, giving him the privilege of four years travel and
study at the expense of the French Government. In 1864 his Sylvia was
presented at the Opera Comique in Paris, scoring an immediate success.
Emile Johns won considerable recognition through his Album Louisi
ana is, a collection of original compositions. Johns, also one of the city s
pioneer publishers, was a great admirer of beautiful Creole women,
dedicating many of his works to them. Florian Schaffter, although not a
native of the city, came to New Orleans while still a youth, and in addition
to composing music served as organist and choirmaster at the Christ
Church Cathedral for forty years. He was also one of the best-known in
structors of the city, giving lessons in theory, piano, organ, and voice.
Theodore von La Hache, a native of Germany, spent the greater part of
his life in New Orleans composing and acting as organist at various
churches of the city. In his Yearly Musical Album were many composi
tions portraying life in New Orleans, By the Banks of the River being
one of his most popular melodies.
140 Economic and Social Development
I Wish I Was In Dixie, written in 1859 by Daniel D. Emmet as a
walk-around for Bryant s Minstrel Troupe of New York, attained its
widespread popularity, according to one authority, after its appearance
in New Orleans in the fall of 1860, when Mrs. John Wood sang it at a per
formance of John Brougham s burlesque, Pocahontas. It became popu
lar overnight, and within a short time the entire city was humming the
tune. A New Orleans publisher, P.P. Werlein, aware of the possibilities of
the hit, had the air harmonized and rewritten. Various versions of the
song appeared in different parts of the country and Dixie became almost
as popular in the North and East as in the South. After the Civil War
started it became the war song of the Confederacy. Werlein s version,
expressive of the strong Southern feeling on the eve of the war, differs
slightly from the modern song, as shown in the first and third verses of the
original:
I wish I was in de land of cotton, Cinnamon seed and sandy bottom look a-way
a-way in Dix-ey."
Dix-ey s land where I was born in early on one frosty morning look a-way
a-way in Dix-ey.
Buckwheat cakes and good strong butter makes my mouf go flit-ter flut-ter
look a-way a-way a-way in Dix-ey.
Here s a health to the good ole Mis-sis or to all the gals dat want to kiss us look
a-way a-way a-way in Dix-ey.
All music lovers are familiar with the meteoric rise of Adelina Patti,
who had her first extended engagement at the New Orleans French Opera
House in 1860. Her initial performance was in Lucia, a role which won
her instant recognition in the musical world. While in New Orleans Patti
resided in the Vieux Carre at 629-631 Royal Street, two blocks from the
Opera House. From New Orleans she went to Havana and to London, to
one of the most remarkable careers in the history of modern music.
Catarina Marco, who shared honors with Patti in Moscow in 1875, was
born in New Orleans in 1853, the daughter of an actor named Mark
Smith. Most of her life was spent in Europe. She made her American
debut in New York in 1872, and sang again in America in 1878 and 1879.
In 1927, when over seventy, she gave a come-back concert in New York
and was acclaimed the oldest soprano in the United States.
One of the most popular bands ever to appear in New Orleans was that
under the direction of Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, commonly called Band
master Gilmore. An excellent example of his showmanship was demon
strated in 1864 when Louisiana, under the carpetbag legislature, elected
Music 141
Michael Hahn as Governor. Gilmore sought out, in public schools,
saloons, and alleys, all available tenors and basses and finally assembled
a grand chorus of five thousand voices. All the military bands, about
five hundred strong, and a huge drum and trumpet corps were merged into
this assembly. The concert was given at Lafayette Square amidst a
thunderous roar of cannon and the continuous pealing of bells. It was a
tremendous triumph for Gilmore. Just before the close of the Civil War
he brought out When Johnny Comes Marching Home. It is unknown
whether the pseudonym Louis Lambert belongs to him or another, but he
claims the air as his own.
The years of depression following the Civil War brought about a notice
able decline in music in New Orleans. Several theaters closed their doors,
and numerous music groups and societies were disbanded.
The renewal of interest in music in New Orleans during the late nine
teenth and early twentieth century may be attributed in large part to a
number of able instructors, some of whom were born in the city, and others
of whom came to New Orleans from European countries. Giuseppe
Ferrata, a pupil of Liszt, taught at the Sophie Newcomb College of New
Orleans for many years and also produced original compositions. Gre-
gorio Curto, a native of Spain, was responsible, according to contemporary
critics, for a generation of singers in New Orleans. Like Ferrata, he
produced compositions of his own, many of them being published as
church music. Mme. Marguerite Samuels was well known for her work as
teacher of piano. Mark Kaiser, who was sent to Paris for instruction by
his New Orleans admirers, was a noted violinist and teacher. Mme. Jane
Feodor, who sang in the French Opera in 1902, and the late Ernesto
Gargano were both well-known teachers of voice.
There were numerous choral organizations in New Orleans during this
period; and in 1890 the city was chosen for the national Saengerfest of
German singing societies. Among the old choral societies which are now
no longer active were the Orphean Franqais, of male voices, with George
O Connell as leader; the Polyhymnia Circle, for many years the only
mixed chorus in the city; a women s chorus directed by Victor Despom-
mier which gave large choral works with the assistance of soloists from the
East; the Quartet Club, an organization sponsored by German singers;
and the Choral Symphony Society, which was directed by Ferdinand
Dunkley and consisted of orchestra and chorus.
Today the New Orleans Philharmonic Society, which succeeded the
Choral Symphony Society in 1906, is one of the city s leading musical
organizations. The society was formed by Miss Corinne Meyer and held
142 Economic and Social Development
its first concert in the spring of 1907. The main object of this organization
is to bring to New Orleans outstanding artists and concert groups, whose
programs are presented at the Municipal Auditorium. In April 1936, in
celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the society, the
directors secured the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Leo
pold Stokowski.
The Philharmonic Society also sponsors concerts of chamber music
groups such as the Dixon Hall Series, which gives performances at New-
comb College for the benefit of a scholarship fund, and the Junior Phil
harmonic, which offers competitive auditions to amateur artists.
The New Orleans Civic Symphony Orchestra, a newly organized group
under the direction of Arthur Zack, opened its initial season October 12
to March 25, 1936-37, presenting six concerts in all. The orchestra in
cluded sixty professional artists who presented selections from Bach,
Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wagner,
Franck, Debussy, Ravel, Elgar, and Strauss. The last concert in the
series presented a symphonic prelude, Orleans Alley, an impression of
New Orleans and its early-morning street cries composed by John Beach r
who taught and composed in the city from 1904 to 1907. Included on
the same program was New Orleans, an overture based on Mardi Gras,
which won for its composer, Mortimer Wilson, a five-hundred-dollar
prize offered by Hugo Riesenfeld of New York in 1920 for the best original
American overture. Youth concerts, showing the relation to the orches
tra of various groups, such as percussion, wind, brass, and string, are also
presented.
The Newcomb College of Music, in existence since 1909, is well re
cognized throughout the country. Doctor Leon Ryder Maxwell, who has
been director since 1910, has a national reputation as a music educator.
Recitals are held at Newcomb every Thursday afternoon throughout the
school year at Dixon Hall, local, faculty, and outside artists participating.
The music department of Loyola University is under the direction of
Doctor Ernest Schuyten, founder of the New Orleans Conservatory of
Music and Dramatic Art, which was absorbed by Loyola. The Loyola
orchestra is one of the best college orchestras in the State. Dillard Uni
versity sponsors the Lower Mississippi Valley Musical Festival, an
annual event. At the inaugural festival in 1937 more than three hundred
Negro choristers from some twenty communities sang at the school. Part
of a twenty-five-thousand-dollar fund is devoted to the development of
the Music Department which has a fine collection of more than eight
hundred records.
Music 143
There are several orchestras in the city, only a few of which, however,
are permanent organizations. Albert Kirst s Orchestra, which plays
daily at the Fountain Room of the Roosevelt Hotel and broadcasts over
WWL, is one of the best known. There are also numerous spot orches
tras which have no permanent location but play intermittently as dance,
wedding, or banquet engagements are booked. Among them are Johnny
De Droit s Orchestra and Gordon Kirst s Orchestra. The Filiberto
Mandolin Orchestra, composed of thirty Orleanians under the direction
of Roger G. Filiberto, won first place in the Music Guild contests in 1934,
1935, and 1936.
Among the fifty or more Negro bands in the city, Celestin s Tuxedo
Orchestra stands out as one of the foremost in the South. Many out
standing musicians obtained their start with Oscar Celestin. There are
a variety of Negro choral groups in New Orleans which specialize in
spirituals, hymns, and classic and semi-classic melodies; performances are
given at churches, radio stations, clubs, and schools. The James A.
Gayle Music Company, Pythian Temple Building, is the only Negro
publishing company in New Orleans. Phonograph records of local music
may be purchased at stores along North Rampart Street.
There are a number of concert band groups in New Orleans which pre
sent complimentary programs at various charitable institutions and
parks. Harry Mendelson s Band, composed of students from the Mendel-
son School of Music, gives free concerts at City Park twice a week (Sun
day and Wednesday afternoons). The State Band and Orchestra School
(for children) and the Stephenson Boys and Girls Band both give
free concerts at Audubon and City Parks, and frequently at school pro
grams, asylums, and hospitals. The Federal Music Projects of Louisiana,
under the able direction of Rene Salomon, conducts several music groups,
including a small symphony orchestra.
Choral societies now active include the Treble Clef, a women s chorus;
the Cercle Lyrique, a mixed chorus of French singers under the direction
of Mrs. Dupuy Harrison; the Deutsches Haus male chorus, a merger of
the Harugari and Turnverein choral clubs of former years, which continues
the traditions of German Maiinerchor singing under Professor Drueding;
and the Apollo Club, a male chorus under Louis Panzeri. The usual
church and school organizations are also active.
Among the other contemporary musicians of New Orleans who have
won recognition for their achievements are Ferdinand Luis Dunkley,
composer, organist, and conductor now affiliated with Loyola University;
Henri Wehrmann, violinist and composer of Creole melodies; Mme.
144 Economic and Social Development
Eugenie Wehrmann-Schaffner, now head of the piano department of
Louisiana State University; Walter Goldstein of Newcomb School of
Music, and well-known piano teacher and lecturer on musical subjects;
Mme. Eda Flotte-Ricau, Rene Salomon, and Maynard Klein, also of
Newcomb; Mrs. Anita Socola Specht, who won the first prize as the best
amateur pianist in the United States at the Columbian Exposition in
Chicago, in 1893; an ^ Miss Ruth Harrison, formerly connected with the
French Opera and now a teacher of voice. Claire Coci is a well-known
organist.
Among the present singers of note are Edna Thomas, mezzo-soprano,
who has gained a reputation both in America and Europe for her Negro
spirituals, folk songs, and New Orleans street cries; Sidney Raynor, now
with the Metropolitan ; Kitty Carlisle, who has appeared both in movies
and on Broadway; Rose Dirmann, Bernadine Wolf, Julian Lafaye, and
the Boswell Sisters.
Those interested in musical collections will find at the Howard Memo
rial and New Orleans Public Libraries several shelves devoted to sheet
music, old scores, and historical data relating to composers and their
productions. At the former will be found a fine collection of Creole and
Negro songs portraying life among the slaves and early residents of New
Orleans. Both libraries are open to the public.
ARCHITECTURE
THE United States has but few cities wherein the architecture of their
original inhabitants has left a permanent stamp of distinctiveness and
individuality. New Orleans is one of them. As a city within a city, its
Vieux Carre, or French Quarter, is unique; for this original portion of New
Orleans still retains the same architectural dress and flavor that charac
terized it more than a hundred years ago. Perfectly conceived and ad
mirably suited to the needs of its early citizens, the straight, narrow streets
and brick houses of this old town remain as a monument to the people who
first settled Louisiana.
But the architecture of New Orleans is more than that. It is a living
chapter in the changing panorama of the city s historical and social de
velopment. The original city plan, as designed by Bienville and his en
gineers, was similar to that employed in the erection of most outposts in
Louisiana. The town was rectangular in shape and was surrounded by a
palisade and foss fortified by five forts. The streets, of even length and
width, ran at right angles, and a place d armes, or public square, occupied
the central portion of town facing the levee in front of a small church.
As the old quarters became too cramped, the city sprawled out gradually
in several directions; while from its distant outskirts an inward move
ment took place. The curvature of the river, and the annexation of
suburbs before the development of low-lying, swampy central areas was
completed, made uniform street-plotting a difficult matter.
All the environmental changes brought about by the growth of the city
coincided with other changes in wealth, social consciousness, desires,
146 Economic and Social Development
ambitions. These influences crept in as the city grew in size and impor
tance; so that instead of retaining their original aspect, the houses and
public buildings of New Orleans acquired a motley appearance, which
owes its existence to the fusion of many tastes and temperaments. Thus
the individuality of New Orleans, which is at variance with the character
of other cities, likewise varies within itself. Certain localities stand out
by virtue of their own peculiar architectural make-up, to which they
cling tenaciously in the face of changing modes and modern standardiza
tion. Besides the old French Quarter, the two other sections of the city
that most amply repay the architecturally minded visitor for his trip are
the Garden District and the headwaters of the Bayou St. John.
Two centuries of expansion and change have not robbed the Vieux
Carre of its identity. Few of its present buildings, to be sure, were erected
by the founders of the city; yet most of those that stand today are re
miniscent of the eighteenth century, having absorbed its charm, it would
seem, through heredity. The earliest structures, hurriedly built of split
cypress slabs, were of no architectural importance. They merely served
as makeshift residences until the advent of the Ursuline nuns and the
files a la cassette, whereupon more substantial and comfortable buildings
became necessary. The half-timber method of construction was borrowed
from Europe. Durable structures built of brick laid in between timbers
(briquete entre poteaux, in which the soft porous quality of the domestic
bricks was reinforced by stout cypress timbers) gradually replaced the
wooden dwellings, although not until after the great fires of 1788 and 1794
did this type of construction gain widespread acceptance. These early
buildings were of a type frequently found in European towns; that is,
they usually combined shop and residence in one, the proprietor and his
family dwelling above his place of business, in the gabled rooms under the
roof. The houses were all low-roofed, seldom over a story and a half in
height, with a wide, projecting overhang protecting the sidewalk, the roof
sloping invariably toward the front and rear, and generally having gable-
ends at the sides. Occasional dormer windows and centrally located
chimneys relieved the monotonous pitch of the roofs. This style of build
ing persisted long after brick, stucco, and slate roofs were introduced ; so
that today the visitor may wander along street after street in the Vieux
Carre and see many small shops of brick plastered over, the falling off
here and there of the plaster revealing the soft-toned orange brick.
The finest example of the original French construction remains stand
ing today in an excellent state of preservation. It is the Couvent des
Ursulines, later known as the Old Archbishopric. The exterior of this.
Architecture 147
two-storied brick edifice, with its plain stucco-finished facade, its high-
pitched roof and well-spaced dormer windows, and its tall slender chim
neys, strongly suggests the contemporary French Renaissance architec
ture. The interior, however, is quite plain and unpretentious. Its great
bare beams remain today just as they were left by the axe that fashioned
them. Completed in 1734, this building is said to be the oldest now stand
ing in the Mississippi Valley, although recent research shows that Ma
dame John s Legacy, 623 Dumaine Street, has a claim to the distinction.
Half a century after the city was founded it was under Spanish domina
tion. And despite their unpopularity, the Spaniards gradually superim
posed their own architectural ideas upon those already established. The
eventual result was a native style, part French, part Spanish, but not
quite either or even both, which has no duplicate on the American con
tinent. This new type of architecture flowered during the third epoch of
the city s growth; that is, in the years following the two conflagrations
that ravaged the town of virtually all its original residences and public
buildings. At first the changes in design were relatively slight. One-and-a-
half-story buildings, which served as residence and shop, continued in
vogue; but tile and slate roofs replaced shingled ones, and brick houses
superseded frame ones, in a concerted city-wide effort to prevent future
disasters. Now, however, a more dignified class of establishments began
to appear, two full stories in height, or two stories and an attic.
This was the era of the patio or courtyard dwelling. Wealthy citizens
began building large houses along Royal, Bourbon, Conti, St. Louis, and
Toulouse Streets, the chief function of which was to provide comfort and
spaciousness in a neighborhood which, with its sloppy, poorly drained
streets and narrow lots, gave evidence of neither. Originally created for
the sake of expedience, these houses form the most architecturally inter
esting group of buildings in the Vieux Carre. They are in a real sense, as
one authority says, architecture, inasmuch as their style and arrange
ment are founded upon the fundamental conditions of a contemporary
society. Social customs, climate, local materials, and cultured taste have
each contributed toward making these delightful dwellings almost per
sonal witnesses of their environment/ Latter-day architects have found
it difficult to devise anything more suitable for year-round habitation in
New Orleans than these elegant courtyard dwellings.
They were built flush with the street line, and instead of affording a
broad, flowered front-lawn vista from a wide veranda, such as was com
mon to their contemporaries, the plantation dwellings on Bayou St.
John, they hid their interior beauties from the outside world. Casual
148 Economic and Social Development
passersby saw nothing but a plain, two-story facade fronting the ban
quette, above which hung a lacy, weblike pattern of ironwork galleries
adorning the second stories. These delicate traceries, which offset the
austerity of the smooth-stuccoed brick walls and delighted the eyes of
generations of visitors, have been pronounced by critics the chief dis
tinction of New Orleans architecture.
Of the two distinct kinds of ironwork, wrought and cast iron, the
wrought decorations are the older. For grace and balance of mass, and
painstaking craftsmanship, this is the finer work; but the intricate detail
of the cast iron is more varied.
Charming but preposterous tales have been circulated concerning the
making of these grilles and balconies. They are supposed to be the handi
work of unskilled slave labor, sweating before open hearths; other legends
have them made by the brothers Lafitte, Jean and Pierre, whose black
smith shop was a blind for the lucrative trade of slave-smuggling. The
Lafittes were even said to number among their black ivory customers
such respectable citizens as the church wardens of the cathedral, and the
Governor himself, all entering the shop ostensibly to contract for iron
mongery.
These tales, though interesting, are highly improbable; although re
cords show that the Lafittes did own a blacksmith shop there is nothing
to show that the shop was ever anything other than a blind. The earliest
ironwork was imported, there being then no known deposits of iron ore
near New Orleans. According to Stanley Arthur s Old New Orleans, the
wrought-iron decorations were probably made in the vicinity of Seville.
Mr. Moise Goldstein and other authorities, however, dispute the Seville
origin. Later, local artisans began to produce wrought iron comparable
to the imported article.
The more pretentious houses used monograms, the initials woven re
peatedly through the design. This fashion extended well into the cast-
iron era, which dawned in New Orleans in the late i82o s. By 1840 cast
iron had superseded the finer, but more costly, hand-wrought decorations.
It was clear that there were great possibilities for freedom of design in a
material that could be easily worked into intricate and delicate lines, and
the early architects immediately put aside the tendency to appropriate
the architectural forms and ornaments of other nations and sought their
motifs of design in the infinite variety of plant growth luxuriant in their
own southern climate. The tulip pattern, the rose vine, the morning
glory, the maize, and the live oak predominate in the work produced at
this time. Among the other designs one of the most interesting is the
Architecture 149
bow-and-arrow, in which the bow is a bow of ribbon tying two crossed
arrows.
To enter the courtyard house one passed through massive portals into
a high-arched flagstoned alleyway which, wide enough to admit a car
riage, led from the banquette to an inner courtyard garden, surrounded
by high walls that provided an abundance of shade throughout the day.
Life in such habitations as these possessed a distinctly European flavor;
for the inhabitants, seated in their cool patios or on the verandas that
surrounded them, enjoyed absolute freedom from the hot, dusty streets.
Most of the houses of this type were built during and immediately after
the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The exquisite details of fan
windows, spiral staircases, handrails, door panels, and cornices are still
revealed today.
After 1840, a new era, born of ante-bellum opulence and expansion, had
begun. Along with the demand for more cotton and more slaves, flush
times on the Mississippi created a corresponding demand for newer, finer,
costlier mansions. During the quarter-century between 1835 and the
Civil War probably more elegant homes were built in Louisiana than dur
ing any other period before or since. It was the era of the Greek Revival. 5
Archaeological discoveries in and around Athens set a new mode in
American architecture: residences, public buildings, hotels, churches,
theaters, tombs all were designed in what was thought to be the best
tradition of ancient Greece. The effect was extremely imposing.
Many of the finer residences built during this period are still in use.
Most of them are concentrated in the neighborhood above Jackson Avenue,
now known as the Garden District because of the spacious and beautifully
flowered grounds that surround the houses. As a class, the houses them
selves are large, and l represent the highest expression in domestic archi
tecture that the wealth and talent of the day were capable of producing.
Usually designed with an L-shaped plan, these massive brick houses rise
to a height of two or three stories, their side-wall surfaces of plain, smooth
stucco or plaster, adorned with richly designed cast-iron galleries, ending
in a parapet unbroken by conspicuous horizontal band or cornice. Two
tall chimneys, which serve the fireplaces in their double drawing-rooms,
break the raked lines of the side wall that mark the gable end of the
roof; while tall windows and doors relieve the classic plainness of their
colonnaded facades the arrangement being one of perfect symmetry.
The interiors of these mansions are stately and elegant in effect, and
often monumental in proportions. High ceilings, often sixteen to eighteen
feet on the ground floors, blend harmoniously with tall French windows
150 Economic and Social Development
and double doors; the mahogany handrails of the gracefully curving stair
cases are most delicately turned. Smooth, white plastered walls, sur
mounted with cornices of ornate plaster scrollwork and the fine marble
mantels and full-length mirrors, standing in adjoining drawing-rooms,
complete a background of classic beauty.
Coincidental with the development of the two types of residential
architecture mentioned above, a third style of dwelling arose. It may be
called the plantation house, for want of a more specific name, since that
was its original purpose. This style of architecture probably owes its
origin to the Spaniards, though the dictates of climate and environment
were primarily the cause of its widespread adoption. Basically, this type
of dwelling differs from the courtyard and Greek Revival residences in
that it generally has all its main rooms on one floor, through the center
of which runs a wide hall that gives independent access to each room.
The house is raised some eight or nine feet above ground level and is
completely surrounded by a broad veranda that rests on massive, round
brick columns, which are in turn surmounted by slender wooden posts
that support the overhanging eaves. The piazza or corridor beneath the
veranda is usually paved with flagstones, and the basement beneath the
house may be used for service quarters, laundry, and the like. A straight,
wide staircase in the center front leads to the veranda, which is accessible
from virtually all rooms because of their tall French windows. There
were, of course, numerous variations in this basic type, particularly in
exterior columnar treatment.
Many simple plantation homes as well as a number of extremely elab
orate ones are still scattered throughout Louisiana, but in New Orleans
only a few remain. They are most concentrated in the neighborhood of the
Bayou St. John headwaters, where they stand today, long after the plan
tations that surrounded them have been subdivided into city blocks. The
Schertz residence, formerly the old custom house, typifies this style of
architecture, though variations of the plantation house can be seen in
the Westfeldt residence at 2340 Prytania Street, the Delord Sarpy home
at 534 Howard Avenue, the Olivier Plantation house at 4111 Chartres
Street, the Stauffer home, No. 3 Garden Lane, which was formerly the
Hurst Plantation, and Madame John s Legacy in the Vieux Carre.
New Orleans best-known monument to the age of the Spanish domina
tion is the Cabildo. The solid repose of this edifice, originally known as
the Casa Curial, or courthouse, emanates from the graceful repetition
of massive arches that make up its facade. Yet an air of delicacy is also
manifest: the French wrought-iron balconies and the proportioning of the
Architecture 151
cornices, pilasters, and pediment are delightful to an eye trained in the
appreciation of architectural details. The one incongruous note in the
whole conception is the mansard roof, which, with its dormer windows
and cupola, was added half a century after the Cabildo s erection in 1795.
As originally conceived, both the Cabildo and its neighboring counterpart,
the old Presbytere, which was built in 1813, were flat- topped structures,
their pediments rising several feet above the roofs; while the Cathedral,
originally designed in the Spanish mission style, with short bell-shaped
towers on each side of a central pediment, was considerably different
from its present appearance.
Nevertheless, Jackson Square today possesses an individual charm of
its own. Together with its entourage of stately buildings, it is a monument
to Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, the altruistic Spanish grandee
whose funds built the cathedral where he lies buried; and to his daughter,
Micaela, Baroness Pontalba, who in 1848 built the long row of handsome
red-brick apartments that still bear her name, and bestowed the name of
her friend General Jackson upon the place d armes.
Among other public buildings of the city s early period, the French
Market deserves mention. Built in 1813, it is an arcaded structure of
stuccoed brick, with a flagstoned floor. The plan is that of a central
corridor or promenade from end to end, with stalls between the arches or
columns.
Another fine old building, designed in 1822 by Latrobe, one of the
architects who designed the Capitol at Washington, stands at the corner
of Conti and Royal Streets. Heavily constructed of brick, and as nearly
fireproof as was then possible, this building originally housed the Louisi
ana State Bank. Diagonally across from it stands another brick building,
massive and colonnaded, which was erected in 1826 for the Bank of
Louisiana. The list of public buildings in the Vieux Carre runs on, too
extensive to permit individual treatment here; yet each building deserves
more than the visitor s merely casual attention.
Paul Morphy s house, another former bank building, the old United
States mint, the old arsenal behind the Cabildo these can still be
appreciated because they can be seen. But the splendor that belonged to
such buildings as De Pouilly s masterpieces, the St. Louis Hotel, and the
Citizens Bank adjoining it, and to Gallier s French Opera House, and to
the old St. Charles and Orleans Theaters, has perished forever. The loss
of the St. Louis Hotel, with its dome constructed of hollow cylindrical
earthenware pots, has been termed an architectural calamity. A still
greater calamity is in store, however, for unless the famous old buildings
152 Economic and Social Development
of New Orleans are carefully and properly preserved against the corrosive
effects of time and modern standardization, the city will eventually lose
its most distinctive claim to fame a native architecture that flourished
a century ago and has never been equaled since.
But perhaps New Orleans is fortunate in that even a few of its most
impressive old edifices still stand, gallantly serving their original purpose.
The men who built them built well: the Dakins, the De Pouillys, and the
Galliers, pere etfils. The elder Gallier was perhaps the ablest exponent of
the Greek mode; at least he preferred it to the exclusion of all other styles.
Besides the numerous fine residences he built, he was commissioned to
design several public buildings, churches, banks, and the original St.
Charles Hotel. The City Hall is probably the finest example of Gallier s
art. Completed in 1853, this building is hardly surpassed in dignity and
beauty of proportion by any other building of the Greek Revival in the
United States.
Some of the most interesting architectural forms in New Orleans are to
be found in the churches and cemeteries. Generally speaking, the earlier
churches, like their contemporary dwellings and mansions, deserve the
greater recognition; for they were designed and built by men whose sole
idea was to create simple, straightforward edifices for the purpose of
worship. One is immediately struck with the dignity of conception and
precise workmanship evident in such fine old buildings as these: Saint
Louis Cathedral; Saint Alphonsus, on Constance and Josephine Streets;
Our Lady of Guadalupe, on Rampart and Conti Streets; The Holy
Trinity, on St. Ferdinand and Dauphine Streets; Saint Augustin, at
Bayou Road and St. Claude Avenue; Rayne Memorial, on St. Charles
Avenue and General Taylor Street; and Saint John the Baptist, 1139
Dryades Street.
Nathaniel C. Curtis writes: 1850-1860 was a period when brick masons
of rare skill flourished in New Orleans In these old churches built
entirely of brick, architectural forms and details appropriate to brick
have been devised and employed with an intelligence superior to that
shown in later work. It may be said with probable truth that as examples
of the organic expression of brick architecture, these edifices are hardly
equalled by any elsewhere in the United States, and are fairly comparable
to the latter fifteenth century brick churches of Rome. The exteriors of
these early churches are, on the whole, in better taste than their interiors.
The splendid little Holy Trinity Church on St. Ferdinand Street, however,
proves an exception to that statement, for there are combined grace,
harmony, and simplicity of design and execution, both inside and out.
CITY OF MANY BUILDERS
ST. LOUIS CATHI-.DK M.. SI FN FROM THF PONTAI.HA APAKTMI NTS
THE CABILDO, ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL, THE PRESS YTERE AND THE LOWER
PONTALBA BUILDING IN JACKSON SQUARE
THE OLD BANK OF LOUISIANA, DESIGNED BY LATROBE
1 i
DETAIL OF THE CATHEDRAL
THE BRITTEN HOUSE FAMED FOR ITS CORNSTALK FENCE
A BAYOU ST. JOHN PLANTATION HOUSE
1
tf
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, OLD MORTUARY CHAPEL
TRINITY CHURCH (EPISCOPAL >
Architecture 153
On the other hand, what New Orleans more recent churches lack in
grace and simplicity they make up for in ornateness and gingerbread :
lavish accessories imported from foreign lands that often do not blend
harmoniously with their surroundings, but stand out rather too boldly
in exaggerated relief. An infinity of combinations is manifest. But the
Roman Catholic churches, in the main, have retained not only a certain
homogeneity of design but also a great deal of beauty, despite the vaga
ries of their divers builders. Modified Gothic motifs prevail in many
of them, so that one grows accustomed to finding certain minor varia
tions in spires and rose windows and lofty, pointed arches all of
which reflect the same general idea. The interiors of many of these
churches are highly ornate; their focal point is an elaborate display of
towering altar at the intersection of nave and transept. Among the
city s most interesting churches in this category are the Church of the
Immaculate Conception, an adaptation of Hispano-Moorish architec
ture; Saint Stephen s Church, on Napoleon Avenue; Holy Name of
Jesus, on St. Charles Avenue; Saint Joseph s, on Tulane Avenue; Our
Lady of Lourdes, on Napoleon Avenue; and Saint Anthony of Padua,
on Canal Street.
The other denominations have on the whole less lavish churches,
though hardly less varied architectural styles. At least three Jewish
synagogues in New Orleans are outstanding. Foremost among these is
Temple Sinai on St. Charles Avenue and Calhoun Street, a modern
interpretation of Byzantine architecture built .of light-colored brick and
limestone. Another, Touro Synagogue, at St. Charles Avenue and General
Pershing Street, is notable for its perfectly spherical tiled domes and for
the variegated color effects which the tiles produce. The third, Beth
Israel, 1622 Carondelet Street, shows an Arabic influence.
Many of the Protestant churches are designed in modified Gothic styles,
some in simpler classic styles, and some in styles that defy precise iden
tification. Among the most impressive Protestant churches are: Christ
Church Cathedral (Episcopal) at St. Charles Avenue and Sixth Street;
the Napoleon Avenue Presbyterian Church, at St. Charles and Napoleon
Avenues; the St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church, at St. Charles
Avenue and State Street; the Saint Mark s Methodist Episcopal Church,
at Rampart and Governor Nicholls Streets; and the Prytania Street
Presbyterian Church, at Josephine and Prytania Streets.
The fame of New Orleans many cemeteries has become so widespread
that little need be said about them here. They resemble miniature
towns. Ever since the early days, when earth burial was found to be
154 Economic and Social Development
impracticable in New Orleans, custom has decreed that the tombs of the
dead be as magnificent as money can buy. As a result, nearly every
burial place in the city presents row upon row of tombs built of marble,
granite, sandstone, and limestone, and designed in countless variations
and adaptations of architectural patterns Egyptian, Greek, Gothic,
and modern.
Post-bellum architecture in New Orleans, owing to an ill-digested
eclecticism, as well as to an impoverished reconstructed South, was an
unfortunate synthesis of bad taste. After the Civil War, foreign architects
were no longer attracted to New Orleans, and native talent was virtually
nonexistent. The city, however, was not alone in its poverty; through
out the Nation as a whole the art of building had fallen upon evil days.
Out of a welter of incongruous styles prevalent during the Victorian era,
only one arose which seemed destined to revive American architecture
and stabilize it. That was the Romanesque style adopted by Henry
Hobson Richardson. Richardson was a native of Louisiana, who had
studied abroad in the Ecole des Beaux Arts, but who spent the most
fruitful years of his life in New England. New Orleans has but one
building actually designed by Richardson, the Howard Memorial Library,
and only a few others, notably on the Tulane University campus, that
are done in his manner.
Splendidly executed in massive brown sandstone, the Howard Library
resembles nothing so much as a medieval fortress. The exterior clearly
shows Richardson s deep feeling for solid masonry; but the interior,
despite its high-vaulted ceiling, has a dim, somber aspect. Nevertheless,
it is one of the most substantial pieces of architecture in the city, and
may outlast many a more recent structure.
Some extraordinary examples of bad carpenter architecture are to be
found among the more pretentious residences erected during the last
decades of the nineteenth and the first of the twentieth centuries. These
are interesting by virtue of their extreme confusion in mass and their
elaborate and wholly incongruous ornamentation. Innumerable wings,
bay windows, turrets, dormers, and galleries were put together without
rhyme or reason; wooden fretwork, in tortured design, was attached to
almost every available surface; stained-glass windows and cut-glass front
doors heightened the effect. Topped by mansard roofs, in turn sur
mounted by weather vanes and lightning rods, these houses today
present amusing and at times almost terrifying examples of Steamboat
Gothic.
The smaller houses of this period offer several interesting types: the
Architecture 155
double cottage or, as the English say, the semi-detached villa ; the
camel-back house, of which the front is one story, the rear two; and the
shotgun cottage, so called because the rooms are built one behind
another with the doors in line, so that a charge of shot fired in the
front door could pass through the entire house and out the back door.
Of strictly modern architecture New Orleans has but few examples.
The most recent of its skyscrapers are the Hibernia, American, and Canal
Banks, and the Pere Marquette Building. Possibly the closest approxi
mation to what is now considered modern architecture is the Shushan
Airport s administrative building.
SCIENCE
NEW ORLEANS has long served as a proving-ground for applied science.
In overcoming the problems arising from the soggy nature of the subsoil,
the low elevation of the city, climatic conditions favorable to malignant
diseases, and the danger of Mississippi flood waters, New Orleans has
made many contributions to scientific advancement.
Noteworthy work has been done in medicine, especially in the control
of yellow fever, malaria, cholera, smallpox, hookworm, and dysentery
diseases which once, because of climatic conditions, lack of adequate
sewage disposal, and poor drainage, proved a scourge to the city. They
are now under control, and the danger of epidemics has been minimized.
Although the discovery of the causative agent of yellow fever was made
elsewhere, many of the problems of practical control in large cities were
solved in New Orleans by local physicians. Samuel Chopin, C. B. White,
A. W. Perry, and others introduced quarantine and disinfecting methods
which, though the carrier of the disease was unknown at the time, were
Science 157
instrumental in checking the fearful toll of yellow-fever epidemics. Doctor
Charles Faget contributed an indispensable diagnostic sign of yellow
fever a fall in the pulse rate during the first days of the disease.
In other fields of medicine New Orleans physicians and surgeons have
done much pioneer work and have made many important contributions:
C. C. Bass and F. M. Johns, cultivation of the plasmodium of malarial
fever; A. W. De Roaldes, establishment of the first eye, ear, nose, and
throat hospital in the South; Ernest S. Lewis, pioneer work in gynecology ;
C. A. Luzenburg, removal of a gangrenous bowel in hernia; J. L. Riddell,
invention of the binocular microscope; H. D. Schmidt, demonstration of
the origin of bile ducts in intercellular spaces; A. W. Smyth, ligation of
the innominate artery; Warren Stone, work on aneurysm, and resection
of a rib to secure permanent drainage in empyema. Doctor Edmond
Souchon developed two methods of retaining the color of muscles and
organs in the preservation of anatomic dissections; the curing method
using arsenic, calcium chloride, and formol; and the physical or paint
method by which colorless muscles in a dissection are given permanent
color. In addition to founding the Souchon Museum of Anatomy at
Tulane University, he did much original work on aneurysm of the sub-
clavian artery and aorta. Doctor Rudolph Matas, world-famous surgeon,
has made many contributions to surgery, especially to vascular surgery,
as well as a method of reducing and securing fixation of zygomatic frac
tures, an original method of blocking nerves in regional anesthesia, and
the application of spinal subarachnoid anesthesia for surgical purposes.
Valuable contributions to the medical profession have also been made by
Caine, Bruno, Jamison, Couret, Parham, Martin, Compton, and Lynch.
In dentistry, Doctor Edmund C. Kells, about thirty-five years ago, was
the first to employ the X-ray in his profession. A recent noteworthy
accomplishment in dentistry was the method devised by Doctor S. C.
Fournet and his assistant, C. S. Tuller, for stabilizing and retaining lower
dentures. The Loyola Dental School, established in 1914, is rated as a
class A dental school, and is one of the best-equipped institutions of its
kind in the South.
In Charity Hospital New Orleans has one of the finest medical institu
tions in the country. Almost every physician in the city and a number
practising in the neighboring parishes do part-time work at the hospital.
The Medical Schools of Tulane and Louisiana State Universities train
their students at the hospital and carry on much valuable research. Both
medical schools rank with the best in America. The Tulane Medical
School began in 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana and merged in
158 Economic and Social Development
1845 with the University of Louisiana, forerunner of Tulane University.
In the Department of Tropical Medicine much important research is
carried on in tropical diseases. The Medical Center of Louisiana State
University, established in 1932, is domiciled on Charity Hospital grounds
and has all the facilities of the hospital at its command. It is one of the
few medical schools in the country requiring a fifth year of interneship.
The Flint-Goodridge Hospital is one of the South s leading hospitals
for Negroes.
A constant menace to New Orleans ever since its founding has been the
danger of overflow of the Mississippi River. Levees were built soon after
1718 as a protective measure, and the two centuries of maintenance and
improvement that followed have added much to man s knowledge of the
river and the means of controlling it. Various flood-control measures
have been tried, but the most important, and one which gives the city the
greatest assurance, is the recently constructed Bonnet Carre Spillway, a
dike-enclosed runway used during high-flood stage to divert a great por
tion of water (maximum capacity 250,000 cubic feet of water per second)
from the Mississippi to Lake Pontchartrain. The spillway was first used
in 1937, when it was estimated that the stage at New Orleans was lowered
approximately three and one-half feet through its use.
Flood-control work is carried on by the War Department, which main
tains a district office (United States Engineers, Second New Orleans Dis
trict) at New Orleans. A floating asphalt plant and a fleet of dredge boats,
cranes, launches, etc., are in constant use in dredging, revetment work,
and levee construction.
In making the Mississippi navigable for large ocean-going ships great
difficulties were encountered by engineers in maintaining a channel at the
mouth of the river, where deposits of silt are built up in the form of banks
and bars. Adrien De Pauger, Colonial engineer, as early as 1721 advo
cated the construction of jetties as the best means of obtaining a channel
of suitable depth. Various other methods were tried, and much money
was spent before De Pauger s plan was carried out by James B. Eads,
whose no cure, no pay proposition was endorsed by Congress in 1874.
Eads proposed to create and maintain, by means of jetties, a twenty-
eight-foot channel for $10,000,000, payments to begin when a depth of
twenty feet was secured and continue as certain other depths were reached.
Final payment was to be made upon permanence of the channel for ten
years. A wall of willow mattresses, stone, and debris was constructed on
each side of the proposed channel, confining the current of the river and
forcing it to cut and maintain a deeper channel. By 1880 a depth of
Science 159
thirty-two feet was reached. Today a thirty-five-foot channel of an aver
age width of one thousand feet is maintained at the mouth of the
river.
Because of the low elevation of the city and the fact that it is entirely
surrounded by levees, the drainage and sewerage systems of New Orleans
differ radically from those of other American cities. Drainage has to be
pumped out of the city from a network of canals, and the pumping ap
paratus, to take care of torrential rains, must necessarily be of the best
type obtainable. Screw pumps developed by a local engineer, Albert B.
Wood, are employed, and are said to be the largest of their kind in the
world. Since 1900 a modern sewer system has been developed, in which
underground mains have been substituted for the former unsanitary open
conduits.
Furnishing the rapidly expanding city of New Orleans with pure water
was another problem which taxed the ingenuity of its inhabitants. For
more than one hundred years after the founding of the city the towns
people were dependent mainly on water taken manually from the river
and from cisterns. Drinking water was peddled through the streets,
usually at exorbitant prices. Early waterworks piped a limited amount
of water to residences near the river, but the water was usually muddy and
unfit for domestic purposes. Between 1892 and 1900 much valuable in
formation concerning methods of purification was gathered by George G.
Earl, General Superintendent of the New Orleans Sewerage and Water
Board, and an experimental purification plant was established in Audu-
bon Park. The modern and highly efficient system in use today is a result
of these long years of experimentation. Water is pumped from the river
into a thirty-six-acre tract of open reservoirs, where it is permitted to settle
before passing through a battery of twenty-eight filters to be purified
with a chlorine treatment. Four steam-driven and two electrically
driven pumps, with a total capacity of 160,000,000 gallons per day, force
the water through more than five hundred miles of city mains.
Scientific advancement was also made as other public utilities were
developed. The present street-car system is a result of a century of ex
perimentation in which horsecars, steam engines, walking cars, fireless
engines, and electric trolleys were employed. Gas was introduced in 1823
by James H. Caldwell, who imported a gas machine from England to
illuminate his American Theater. Electric lighting was one of the wonders
of the Cotton Centennial Exposition of 1884, and came into general usage
some years later. The growth of these services has kept pace with city
expansion, but development has been made possible only by local scien-
160 Economic and Social Development
tists who through engineering skill and inventive genius overcame pro
blems of construction and improvement.
In the industrial development of New Orleans applied science has
played an important part, as exemplified by the sugar industry. Early
sugar-cane planters tried various methods of refining the cane, but were
successful only in producing a milk sugar or * marmalade of poor quality.
Etienne de Bore finally succeeded in granulating cane on a commercial
scale on his plantation (now part of Audubon Park) in 1795. His success
immediately encouraged other planters to build sugar factories and em
ploy his refining method. Since then the industry has developed as im
provements were made by pioneer refiners. John J. Coiron, in 1822, in
troduced steam power in the manufacture of sugar, and, about 1840, burners
for the utilization of cane pulp, or bagasse, as a fuel were perfected. Nor-
bert Rillieux, a native of New Orleans, revolutionized sugar-boiling
through his invention of the multiple effect apparatus in 1830 .The inven
tion of the centrifugal machine in 1844, the use of bisulphateof lime for
bleaching in 1840, and the invention of the filter press in 1853 aided in
developing the sugar industry by speeding production and decreasing
manufacturing costs. Along with these mechanical improvements went
agricultural experiments, resulting in the development of superior types
of cane. The Sugar Experiment Station was established in 1885, and in
conjunction with the Audubon Sugar School, founded in 1891, conducted
research in the agricultural and technological fields of the sugar industry
and trained experts for sugar-mill operation. The Audubon Sugar School
was taken over by Louisiana State University in 1899, and the Sugar
Experiment Station functioned until 1923. In 1922 a plant atMarrero,
across the river from New Orleans, began the production of Celotex,
a building material made of bagasse, sugar-cane refuse formerly discarded
or used as fuel.
Various scientific societies, along with the educational institutions of
the city, serve to popularize theoretical science and stimulate research and
experimentation. The New Orleans Academy of Sciences, founded in
1853, has done much in this respect, and has co-operated with various
civic bodies in scientific work of benefit to the city. The cotton cushion
scale, camphor tree scale, and Argentine ant were eradicated as a result
of the academy s work. The Junior Academy of Sciences, composed of
members having interest in sciences of the type taught in high schools, is
affiliated with the older institution through Tulane University. The
Louisiana branch of the American Chemical Society, established in Janu
ary, 1906, by Professors B. J. Caldwell and W. R. Betts, is concerned with
Science 161
all phases of chemistry, its object being to promote interest in that science
among its members. The Louisiana Engineering Society, a branch of the
National Engineering Society, is composed for the most part of engineers
and professors of the local colleges of engineering, who are encouraged to
do individual experimentation and report upon their findings.
In the realm of pure science much important work is being done in the
Department of Middle American Research of Tulane University. Under
the direction of Frans Blom, research in archeology, ethnology, an
thropology, and allied sciences is conducted in Mexico, Central America,
and the West Indies. Since its establishment in 1924 the department has
developed the foremost library in its field in the world. Material col
lected on more than a dozen expeditions is housed in a museum and in
various places on the campus.
In the collection and publication of meteorological data, the work of
Doctor Isaac M. Cline, forecaster and director of the local station of the
United States Weather Bureau from 1900 to 1935, is particularly note
worthy. Doctor Cline has written extensively on climate in New Orleans
and in Louisiana and on general meteorology; his treatise, Tropical
Cyclones, has been acclaimed as an outstanding contribution to the science.
Seismological and meteorological data are recorded at the Nicholas D.
Burk Seismological Observatory of Loyola University, where vertical and
horizontal instruments of the Wiechert astatic type are under observation.
In airplane designing and research in aeronautics much valuable work
has been done in New Orleans. James Wedell, in his famous 44, a plane
of his own design, broke the land-plane speed record in 1933. He made
many improvements in plane designing and was known internationally
for the fast ships he built. The Delgado Maid, designed by Byron
Armstrong, head of the aeronautics department of the Isaac Delgado
Trades School, and built by students of the school, was one of the fastest
planes ever constructed in the United States. It attained a speed of 420
miles per hour in trial flights before it crashed at the air meet held in New
Orleans in 1936.
Because of its semitropical climate, long growing season, and geograph
ical position New Orleans is the logical site for an arboretum, plans for
which are now under consideration. A general botanical garden, with an
assemblage of trees, shrubs, and woody vines, including sample forest
types of the South, and a collection of woody plants used in agriculture,
industry, and medicine is to be established in City Park. The facilities for
plant research thus created will enable scientists of local universities
and private and public organizations to improve economic and horticul-
1 62
Economic and Social Development
tural plants and devise new methods of combating insect pests and fungus
diseases. The arboretum, in addition to its educational work, will also
render valuable service to the community through the importation and
cultivation of flora from foreign countries, especially from Central and
South America.
CREOLE CUISINE
CREOLE cuisine is a combination of the French and Spanish influence
the Spanish taste for strong seasoning of food combined with the French
love for delicacies and it originated in Louisiana. The slaves of
Louisiana had their share in refining the product, and likewise the Indians,
who gathered roots and pungent herbs in the woods.
Although several of the customs in regard to the serving of food passed
with other customs as the city became more cosmopolitan, still today
no Creole kitchen is complete without its iron pots, bay leaf, thyme,
garlic, and cayenne pepper. Some of the restaurants of New Orleans
are known the world over for their Creole cooking; yet you will be
served just as fine a meal in a Creole home.
If you have no faith in the potency of herbs and seasonings, don t try
Creole cooking. Remember there is a difference between one bay leaf
and two bay leaves; and the difference between one clove of garlic and
two cloves of garlic is enough to disorganize a happy home.
Some of the Creole dishes can be procured in the larger restaurants of
other cities; others are still typical of New Orleans and can seldom be
found elsewhere. Among these are wine or baba cake, a large porous
cake dipped in claret or rum many of the older caterers would dip
it in anisette; pie Saint-Honore, made with a puff paste and a vanilla,
or striped vanilla and chocolate cream filling with little balls of puff
paste on top; and daube glace, a highly seasoned, jellied meat.
Louisiana has valuable natural resources which are a great asset in
the preparation of food: partridge, snipe, quail, ducks, and rabbits;
fresh and salt-water fish of every description; numerous fruits, the most
1 64 Economic and Social Development
outstanding being oranges and figs; many nuts, the most delicate being
the pecan.
The Creole dejeuner or breakfast was quite a feast. Black coffee would
be taken the first thing in the morning. Then at nine o clock the dejeuner
was served, consisting of several different meats and always grillades,
grits, biscuits, and pain perdu (lost bread), more commonly known as
French toast.
The French Market was the scene of social gatherings on Sunday
morning. Some of the Creole ladies (followed by their servant carrying
the basket) and gentlemen would attend early mass at the St. Louis
Cathedral and later buy the food for the day at the market. Others
would attend later mass and afterwards take breakfast at the restaurant
of Monsieur and Madame Begue on Decatur Street. This breakfast was
served from eleven in the morning until three o clock in the afternoon,
and consisted of several dishes, including Begue s famous preparation of
liver and all the wine one could drink. In the afternoon practically
everyone would attend the matinee at the French Opera House; at six
o clock there was dinner, another huge meal.
The Choctaw Indians were very friendly with the white men, and to
them New Orleans is indebted for the file, which is used in one of the
best-known Creole dishes gumbo. The file is made from dried
sassafras leaves pounded to a powder. The Indians would come to the
city from their settlements in Lacombe, Louisiana, three times a week.
On weekdays they would sell their wares at the French Market and on
Sunday the tribe would gather in front of the St. Louis Cathedral with
an array of baskets, beads, pottery, and file; Negro women would like
wise be there selling their colas tout chaud (hot rice cakes).
Although the Creoles are lavish entertainers and can prepare a sump
tuous meal which is a source of never-ending pleasure to the gourmet,
they also follow the French trait of economy and were taught early in
life the secret of a perfect blending of a quantity of well-cooked simple
foods which are nourishing, but not a strain on the budget. An example
of one of these simple meals consists of soup-en-famille, or vegetable
soup as it is most commonly known. Boulli, a beef brisket, is cooked
with the soup and served either hot or cold with a sauce made from oil,
vinegar, horse-radish and Creole mustard; catsup may be added if de
sired. Some of the vegetables from the soup are placed around the dish
in which the boulli is served, as a garnish; a salad of lettuce or lettuce
and tomatoes, French bread, and a bottle of claret are added. This is
a very good, economical, and nourishing meal.
Creole Cuisine 165
Native Orleanians are fond of sea food, and will drive miles to partake
of any well-seasoned dish of this delicacy. At West End, a park situated
on Lake Pontchartrain, there are numerous stands which specialize in
the serving of boiled crabs and shrimp. In warm weather tables are
placed along the sea wall, and nothing is more enjoyable on a warm
night, or after a swim in the lake, than to ride to one of these places for
a feast. On certain nights (usually Thursday, Friday, and Saturday)
many bars serve free crabs, shrimp, and crayfish with the purchase of a
glass of beer or any other drink.
The following is a list of New Orleans Cook Books:
Cooking in the Old Days. Celestine Eustis.
La Cuisine Creole. Believed to have been compiled by Lafcadio Hearn.
The Old and New Cook Book. Mrs. Martha Pritchard Stanford.
200 Years of New Orleans Cooking. Natalie V. Scott.
Mirations and Miracles of Mandy. Natalie V. Scott.
Gourmets Guide to New Orleans. Natalie V. Scott and Caroline Merrick
Jones.
The Creole Cook Book. The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, La.
Below are some Creole recipes written down exactly as given by local
chefs and bartenders.
FAMOUS DISHES
Bouillabaisse
(Antoine s Recipe)
A great variety of firm fish should be served, such as red snapper, red
fish, sheepshead, green trout, black fish, and the like.
The heads should be used for a thorough boiling, in order to extract
the essence. After straining the bouillon, same should be somewhat
reduced by boiling.
The fish should be cut in pieces, and properly smeared with virgin
olive oil, then laid to pickle for some time with a seasoning of salt and
pepper, fresh peppers, thyme, and bay leaves.
After the bouillon of the heads has been reduced, pour in a large
fish dish and boil therein hard shell crabs, crayfish, and lake shrimps,
together with the pieces of fish aforementioned, taking care to add suffi
cient first class French dry wine, such as Chateau de Cursan.
Let the whole simmer down.
Prepare, in a separate dish, on a slow fire, some shallots, a dash of
garlic, and fresh peeled tomatoes cooked in virgin oil, and nicely reduced,
in order to pour over the fish, as aforementioned (when same is cooked)
to impart color and flavor.
When almost ready to serve, pour over the whole a small quantity
1 66 Economic and Social Development
of saffron, which has been dissolved in a small amount of white wine
(non-alcoholic).
A last simmer, and the bouillabaisse is ready to serve.
Cut squares of stale bread and toast lightly cover same with a
very light mixture of chopped chevril and pounded garlic.
The toast should be served separately, to be placed in each individual
plate.
Colas Tout Chaud
(Hot Rice Cakes)
i cup boiled rice $4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs i cup flour
>2 cup sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder
y teaspoon salt
Beat the eggs until thick; add sugar and other ingredients. Beat
vigorously until thoroughly blended. Drop by teaspoon in deep hot fat.
Fry until golden brown. Drain on heavy paper and sprinkle with powdered
sugar and serve hot.
These cakes are delicious, and when properly made they puff up and
are extremely light.
Courtbouillon
6 slices red fish i lemon sliced
i coffee spoon allspice y* cup chopped celery
1 pint can tomatoes i chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil i onion
3 sprigs each of parsley, 2 tablespoons flour
thyme, and bay leaf i large glass claret
3 pods garlic
Salt and pepper to taste. .:
Make a roux by browning flour and olive oil. Brown onion. Add
tomatoes, seasonings, salt, pepper, and lemon. Let all simmer about
half an hour in a large iron pot. Salt and pepper fish, add to sauce,
being careful not to let the slices overlap. Cook until fish is done, about
fifteen minutes. Before serving add claret. Serve on toast.
Red snapper, which is smaller and tenderer than the red fish, is also
delicious stuffed with an oyster dressing and baked with a tomato gravy.
All Creoles have their fish set, which consists of a large platter and
twelve plates, each having a different fish painted in the center.
The most frequently served Creole entree is the red snapper, which is
boiled or poached in a highly seasoned water, containing lemon, onion,
celery, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. The fish is served cold
in large pieces with mayonnaise to which capers have been added.
The fish plates are garnished with lettuce, sliced tomatoes and celery
curls.
Creole Cuisine 167
Crabs
(Boiled)
Crabs can be found at all seasons in the markets. They must be
purchased alive, and washed thoroughly.
Into a pot of water put several stalks of celery, thyme, bay leaf,
parsley, an onion, sliced lemon, salt, and cayenne pepper. If desired,
allspice and a few blades of mace may be added. The water should be
salted to a brine, as crabs require much salt and it cannot be added after
cooking. When the water boils, add the live crabs and boil about twenty
minutes, or until the shell turns a bright red. Let cool awhile in the
seasoned water. Serve either hot or cold.
Shrimp and crayfish are cooked in the same manner. In New Orleans
there are two kinds of shrimp river and lake. The river shrimp is
seasonable and more delicate in flavor, and is usually boiled and served
on a bed of ice as an entree or as a salad. The lake shrimp is abundant all
the year. It is larger and is used for cooking purposes, being served in
various ways.
Crabs
(Soft Shell)
This is considered one of the greatest delicacies. Unlike the hard crab,
the shell and all is eaten. The soft-shell crabs can be found in the markets
all year round. They are more plentiful in the summer months.
Great care must be taken in cleaning the crab; it should be carefully
washed in cold water, as boiling water ruins its fine flavor. The feathery
substance under the side points must be taken off, also the eyes and the
sand bag under the shell between the eyes. Dry in a towel after washing.
The crabs may be dipped in flour or flour meal to which salt and pepper
have been added. To obtain the best results in frying the crabs, dip them
first in cracker meal, then in beaten egg, and again in the cracker meal.
Fry in deep fat, drain on brown paper, and serve hot with tartar sauce.
Crayfish Bisque
(Madame Begue s Recipe)
Choose about forty nice crayfish and let them have a good boiling. Re
move from fire and drain. Clean the heads, keep thirty of the shells and
also the remains which you will set to boil in a quart of water. Peel the
tails and chop fine. Make a paste with the meat to which add a cupful of
soaked bread, a large spoonful of chopped onions, two pods of garlic,
chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. With this fill the thirty
shells and set them aside. Start your soup by frying in butter an onion,
some flour for thickening, and a cupful each of green onions and parsley
chopped fine, a sprig of thyme, and two bay leaves. When brown pour
in the bouillon made with the remains of the heads, and season with salt
and strong pepper; let boil slowly for half an hour. Add more water if
needed. When ready to serve take each head, roll it in flour, and fry all
in butter until crisp all around and throw in the soup. Let boil three or
four minutes. Serve with boiled rice.
1 68 Economic and Social Development
Daubv Glace
3 pounds beef or veal round Parsley, thyme, bay leaf,
(have the butcher lard the cloves, green pepper, red
meat with pieces of fat) pepper, onion, celery,
4 pig feet garlic and salt
2 veal knuckles
Soak the meat in vinegar over night. Next morning salt, pepper, and
flour the meat. Put a kitchenspoonful of lard in a deep iron kettle. Put
in meat, cover, and let cook on slow fire until it makes its own gravy. In
another pan boil the pig feet and veal knuckles with two onions cut in
quarters, celery, and parsley. Boil until meat comes from the bone.
When daube is tender take it out of the pot and make the gravy. Slice
an onion and cook until light brown, add a tablespoon of flour, and cook
until flour is brown. Put daube back in the pot with the gravy and water
in which the knuckles and pig feet were boiled, add the green pepper,
thyme and bay leaf chopped fine, a handful of cloves, salt, and red pepper.
Cook about two hours on a slow fire. If gravy becomes too thick, add a
little warm water. When the small center bone is detached from the
meat it is done. Chop the meat from the veal knuckles and pig feet fine
and add to jelly. Put daube in a round bowl, pour the gravy over it.
When cool put in refrigerator to jell. Next day unmold daube on a dish
and garnish as desired. This is a delicious dish, and when sliced the meat
is in the center of the jelly. If desired, some of the gravy may be strained,
put into fancy molds, and served as a garnish. Chicken or turkey may be
used in place of the veal.
Grillades
Veal rounds Flour
i can tomatoes (or 6 fresh ones) Lard
i onion, green pepper Parsley
i clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste.
A deep iron pot or skillet with a tight cover is necessary for making
this dish. Cut the rounds in size appropriate for individual serving. Two
rounds will make four ample servings. Make a roux by browning a table-
spoonful of flour in a tablespoonful of lard. Add the finely cut onion,
pepper and garlic, and the meat, which has been seasoned with salt and
pepper. Let this cook on a slow fire until the meat is brown, and enough
juice extracted from the meat to make a little gravy. Add the tomatoes
and simmer on a slow fire until done (about two hours). After this has
cooked an hour add a teacupful of hot water.
Gumbo
% dozen hard-shell crabs 2 stalks celery
1 pound shrimp i onion
2 dozen oysters 2 pods garlic
i green pepper Thyme, bay leaf, and
parsley
Salt, black pepper, and cayenne to taste.
Creole Cuisine 169
Scald the crabs, clean, and cut in quarters. Make a roux by browning
a kitchenspoonful of flour in the same amount of hot lard. Add the sliced
onion and brown. Put in the crabs and shrimp, cover, and cook about
fifteen minutes. Add the other seasonings, chopped, and two quarts of
warm water. Cover and cook on a slow fire about two hours. Fifteen
minutes before serving add the oysters and their liquor. Just before
serving turn off the fire and add a tablespoon of file. Pour into a tureen
and serve with boiled rice. Never cook the file, as it will become very
stringy. Okra may be used in place of the file, but it is cooked with the
gumbo. The basic recipe is the same, but chicken, veal, and ham or a
combination of veal and a hambone can be substituted for the crabs and
shrimp. After Thanksgiving and Christmas the left-over turkey may
be made into a gumbo with oysters. A deep iron pot is preferable for
making gumbo.
Gombo Zhebes
(Gumbo of Herbs)
There is a legend that this gumbo should be cooked on Holy Thursday
for good luck. Upon passing the French Market on this day, you will
hear the vendors crying, Buy your seven greens for good luck!
2 tablespoons lard
2 tablespoons flour
i bunch spinach, mustard greens, beet tops, turnip tops, outside
leaves of Creole lettuce, green cabbage, green celery leaves, green
onion tops or almost any combination of greens.
Bacon strips, salt meat or a hambone. The hambone is preferable
as it gives the best flavor.
Chopped onion, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, green pepper, salt, pepper,
red pepper pod.
Wash the greens thoroughly and boil all together with sufficient water
to cover. When tender take from fire, drain off water and save it. Make
a roux by browning the flour in a deep pot with the lard. Add the onion
and let brown. Fry the meat. While this is cooking chop the greens and
other seasonings thoroughly. Add the greens, and fry for a few minutes,
stirring constantly to prevent burning. Add the water in which the greens
were boiled. Simmer in a covered pot about two hours. If it should get
too thick add a little boiling water. Serve with boiled rice.
Hollandaise Sauce Supreme
(For fish)
Take the yolks of two eggs and beat. Drip one half pound of melted
butter (like mayonnaise) in a double boiler or on a slow fire until thick.
Add the juice of one lemon, twelve shrimp, one half can of mushrooms,
two truffles cut in slices, and a little water from the fish. Take off the fire
and serve over the fish.
170 Economic and Social Development
Jambalaya au Congri
This is a very popular dish and is more generally called Congri.
i cup rice i pint cowpeas
i large onion i square inch ham
^2 pound salt meat
Wash the salt meat and chop; cut ham into small pieces. Boil the
cowpeas, salt meat and ham together. Boil the rice. After the peas and
rice are cooked pour the rice into the pot of peas, which must not be dry
but very moist. Mix well, let all simmer for five minutes, and serve hot.
Jambalaya a la Creole
i pound chorices (pork sausage) 2 pods garlic
i slice ham i onion (chopped)
i l /2 cups rice 2 sprigs parsley, thyme,
i can tomatoes (small) and bay leaf (finely chopped)
Salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.
Wash rice thoroughly. Brown the ham, cut in small pieces, and fry the
chorices in a little lard. Drain off the lard which accumulates from frying
the meat, leaving only a tablespoonful. Brown onion and other season
ings; add tomatoes. Let cook a few minutes. Pour over the rice and mix
thoroughly. Place in a heavy pot, cover, and cook until gravy is absorbed
and rice is soft and dry.
The meat may be omitted, and the Jambalaya made with shrimp or
oysters, the basic recipe being the same.
Oyster Rockefeller
(Galatoire s Recipe)
For serving six people, one-half dozen oysters each. One bunch of
parsley and one bunch of green lettuce. Chop all together with one pound
of butter and one handful of fine bread crumbs. To thicken add to mix
ture three tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, one spoonful anchovy
sauce, season to taste with salt and pepper, also a few drops of tabasco
sauce. To this add two ounces of absinthe. Mix all together. Pour this
sauce over oysters that are on the half shell and are set on a bed of rock
salt in a pie pan (this is to keep the oysters hot) . Sprinkle with grated
Parmesan cheese and fine bread crumbs. Bake until brown. Serve hot.
Pecan Pralines
2 cups sugar 2 cups milk or cream
i cup molasses i tablespoon butter
2 cups pecans
Combine above ingredients, except nuts, and cook, stirring constantly
until a soft ball forms when dropped in cold water. Remove from fire,
Creole Cuisine 171
beat until creamy, add pecans, and drop by spoonful on a greased marble
slab or greased porcelain-top table.
Pralines can also be made of equal portions of brown sugar, pecans,
and a lump of butter. Moisten the sugar with a little water; cook until
sugar melts to a thick syrup, add pecans; remove from fire and beat until
creamy. Proceed as above.
Pompano En Papillotes
(La Louisiane Recipe)
Pompano is considered one of the best fish, since it is peculiar to the
waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi Sound, and the Louisiana Grand
Isle. The flounder is another fine fish. It is sometimes called sole.
Cut the pompano in filet five ounces each, parboil or saute about five
minutes. Sauce; saute in one spoonful of butter, four chopped green
onions, chopped mushrooms, two truffles, two ounces of white wine, add
one spoon of flour, and one pint of fish stock, and boil ten minutes. Season
to taste. Add to the above sauce three ounces of crabmeat, saute with a
dash of white wine and a yolk of an egg. Pour the crabmeat in the fold
of the filet and pour sauce over it. Fold it in a heart-shaped paper bag
and bake in a hot oven ten minutes. Serve in the bag.
Red Beans
Red beans are to New Orleans what the white bean is to Boston and
the cowpea is to South Carolina.
This is a very nutritious and economical dish and is one of the most
popular of all Creole cuisine. Red beans are always served with a dish of
boiled rice. Until a few years ago, when New Orleans was not so com
mercialized, you could purchase a * quartee beans, qnartee rice and a little
lagniappe to make it nice. Quartee means a half a nickel and lagniappe
was a gift given with a purchase, seasoning of some sort, for instance.
The red beans are soaked in water until the skins shrivel. Pour off the
water and put in a deep pot. Cover with water, add chopped parsley, an
onion and green onions, a tablespoon of lard, salt and pepper, a slice of
meat, ham or several strips of bacon. Cook for several hours on a slow
fire until thick and creamy.
Rice
When wood stoves were in use the old Creole method for cooking rice
was to use an iron pot and a very low fire, adding just enough salted
water to cover the rice. This was cooked for several hours, untfl the rice
was done and every grain separate.
The modern way is as follows: Wash rice thoroughly and cook in
rapidly boiling salted water until tender. Do not stir. Drain in colander,
letting cold water run through it thoroughly. Place the colander with
the rice over boiling water, cover, and steam until every grain flakes or
stands apart.
172 Economic and Social Development
Shrimp Salad with Arnaud s Shrimp Salad Dressing
The ingredients, mixed well, chilled and served on cold boiled shrimp;
about twelve to a portion, enthroned on crisp chopped lettuce, will satisfy
four persons who know how to begin a luncheon or supper.
6 tablespoons oil y teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vinegar 4 tablespoons Creole mustard
i tablespoon paprika j heart of celery, chopped fine
y 2 teaspoon white pepper >^ white onion chopped fine
A little chopped parsley
Trout Marguery
(Galatoire s Recipe)
Clean the trout of skin and bone. Cut into filets tenderloin and roll
them. Put three tablespoons of butter in the pan with the fish and season
with salt and pepper. Add one-half glass of water and bake in a hot oven.
When cooked dress on platter. Serve Hollandaise sauce supreme over
the fish. (See above.)
FAMOUS DRINKS
Absinthe
(Dripped)
Chill a tumbler, then fill one-third with finely cracked (not crushed)
ice. Drip one ounce of absinthe from absinthe dripper or from a spoon,
stirring rapidly. When the absinthe and melting ice have produced a
heavily clouded mixture, remove spoon and serve; or the absinthe may be
strained off into a chilled cocktail glass.
Cafe Brulot
1 cup French brandy (cognac) 2 handfuls cloves
2 lumps sugar per cup of coffee 2 sticks cinnamon
% orange rind sliced thin broken to bits
% lemon rind sliced thin i quart coffee
alcohol
Into the brulot bowl (which is a metal bowl with a tray) put the spices,
peel, brandy, and sugar. Pour some alcohol in the tray under the bowl
and ignite it. Stir the contents of the bowl and it will ignite. Let it burn
a few minutes, so it will not destroy the alcohol. Pour in the coffee. Serve
in coffee cup.
This is very effective if the lights are turned out and the shadows al
lowed to play on the faces of the guests.
Creole Cuisine 173
Creole Co/ee
Creole coffee is a mixture of pure coffee and about twenty per cent
chicory.
Use a heaping tablespoon of coffee to every cup. The water should be
boiling, as the Negroes say, at a rollin jumpin boil. Drip a very little
at a time, about an after-dinner coffee cup, over the coffee. Creoles do
not like cream in their coffee, preferring hot milk; cafe au lait is about half
coffee and half hot milk.
Petit Bride
Take an ordinary size thick-skinned orange; cut through the peel en
tirely around the orange like the line of the equator, then force off the
peel by passing the handle of the spoon between it and the pulp. Into the
cup thus formed put two lumps of sugar and some cinnamon, and fill with
fine French brandy (cognac) and ignite for a few minutes. The brule will
be found to have a pleasant flavor given it by the orange. This recipe is
from La Cuisine Creole, compiled by Lafcadio Hearn.
Planters Punch
Juice y lemon Equal parts Jamaica rum
A dash grenadine syrup and rye whisky
Cracked ice Sugar
The finest granulated sugar (almost powdered) must be used for this
drink. Mix the above ingredients and stir thoroughly do not shake.
Garnish with a slice of orange and a cherry. Put a float of red wine on top
and serve.
Ramos Gin Fizz
i teaspoon powdered sugar i egg white
i jigger gin 5 or 6 dashes orange
Juice ]/2 lemon and }/?. lime flower water
i ounce sweet cream
Shake vigorously with cracked ice until mixture is foamy and ice cold.
Strain and serve in eight-ounce glass. Fill up with soda water.
Sazerac Cocktail
The formula for this drink is privately owned. It is bottled in New
Orleans, and sold throughout the country. The ingredients are as follows:
i jigger Bourbon whisky i lump sugar
^2 jigger vermouth i dash bitters
i dash orange bitters absinthe
Put a small amount of absinthe in a cocktail glass used for old-fash
ioned cocktail, stir until it touches all parts of the glass, then throw the
absinthe out. In another glass mix the other ingredients with cracked ice.
Pour into first glass, stir well, rub rim of glass with lemon peel, and serve.
THE CARNIVAL
Social Calendar
BEGINNING late in December and interspersed with the customary
breakfast-dances, luncheon-dances, supper-dances, cocktail parties, and
receptions, the following special events of the Carnival season exclusive
of operas, ballets, concerts, etc., ended with Mardi Gras Day, February
9, 1937. The calendar is typical of all carnival seasons. For the current
year see the daily papers.
December
29, Tuesday. Ball of Harlequins.
30, Wednesday. Ball of Les Pierrettes.
January
2, Saturday. Ball of Olympians.
6, Wednesday. Ball of Twelfth Night Revelers.
8, Friday. Ball of Caliph of Cairo.
9, Saturday. Ball of Bards of Bohemia.
13, Wednesday. Ball of the Krewe of Hypathians.
14, Thursday. Ball of the Krewe of Nereus.
15, Friday. Ball of the Krewe of Eros.
1 6, Saturday. Ball of Osiris.
22, Friday. Ball of the Krewe of Aparomest.
23, Saturday. Ball of Athenians.
27, Wednesday. Ball of the Krewe of Iridis.
28, Thursday. Ball of Mithras.
29, Friday. Ball of Marionettes.
30, Saturday. Ball of Prophets of Persia.
February
1, Monday. Ball of Oberon.
2, Tuesday. Ball of Atlanteans.
3, Wednesday. Ball of the Krewe of Mystery.
4, Thursday. Parade and Ball of the Krewe of Momus.
5, Friday. Parade and Ball of the Krewe of Hermes; Ball of the Krewe
of Apollo; Ball of the New Orleans Country Club.
6, Saturday. Children s Parade (Krewe of Nor) ; Ball of the Mystic
Club.
The Carnival 175
7, Sunday. Parade and Ball of the Mid-City Carnival Club.
8, Monday. Algiers Water Pageant (Krewe of Alia) ; Parade and Ball
of the Krewe of Proteus.
9, Tuesday. Mardi Gras street masking; parades of Zulu King,
Rex, and Krewe of Orleans; neighborhood parades largest in Car-
rollton Section; night parade of the Mystic Krewe of Comus; balls
of Comus, Rex, Druids, and Zulu.
The Carnival
Derived from Latin and medieval Latin forms meaning the putting
away of flesh (meat), Carnival is an offspring of the Lupercalian, Satur-
nalian, and Bacchanalian festivals of Rome in pre-Christian times. To
determine the day of Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday) one must
first know the date of Easter Sunday for the year; then count back forty
days, omitting Sundays, to the day before the beginning of Lent.
Mardi Gras has been known to Louisiana since the year 1699, when
Iberville took possession of the country. He remembered, as he made
his way up the Mississippi on Shrove Tuesday of that year, that Mardi
Gras was being celebrated in France, and he appropriately bestowed
the name to a spot twelve miles from the river s mouth. The first Carnival
demonstrations in the South were held in Mobile. The Cowbellian de
Rakin Society, who paraded on New Year s Eve, developed the method
of a parade of floats depicting some given theme.
Masked balls and street masking of a sort became features of the
Mardi Gras celebration early in Colonial times. They were continued
under the Spanish until the governors felt called upon to suppress street
masking because of the rowdyism which the flatboatmen and the free
people of color began to inject into it. Masked balls continued until
1805-06, when the City Council suppressed them because of the Burr
plot and the resulting general unrest. As times improved masquerade
balls were resumed in 1823 and authorized by law in 1827. Street mask
ing again came into vogue about 1835, and the newspapers describe a
Mardi Gras parade for the first time in 1838. There may have been
parades earlier, but after that date the celebrations became regular
events. In 1866 Mobile gave her first demonstration on Mardi Gras
day, thus adopting the New Orleans date of celebration, as New Orleans
had adopted her style of parades.
Features of the various Carnivals of Europe may be seen in the season in
New Orleans. In Paris there are six gay weeks of masked and fancy balls.
In Rome, for eleven days, from two o clock in the afternoon until dark
of each day, happy maskers throng the streets, and throw bouquets and
1 76 Economic and Social Development
sugar plums to the watchers on the balconies. The balconies are decorated
in brilliantly colored cotton cloth, and if a house has no balc
