Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans

by Garvey, John B.

1779-82 After war declared between Spain and England, Galvez, in a series of campaigns, drives the English out of the country.

  1788 March 21. Fire destroys more than eight hundred houses and necessitates rebuilding a great part of the city.

  December 5. Padre Antonio de Sedella, later known as Père Antoine, is appointed Commissary of the Inquisition and sent back to Spain by Governor Miró.

  1792 The Henry brothers from Paris stage the first professional theatrical performances held in New Orleans.

  1794 First regular newspaper, Le Moniteur de la Louisiane, begins publication.

  1795 Carondelet Canal, connecting the city with Bayou St. John, is opened. Étienne de Boré succeeds in refining sugar in commercial quantities. Almonester rebuilds Cathedral, Cabildo, and first floor of Presbytère.

  1803 November 30. France takes formal possession of the colony from Spain in the Place d’Armes. French Commissioner de Laussat arrives.

  December 20. William C. C. Claiborne and General James Wilkinson take possession of the city in the name of the United States.

  1805 February 22. The city of New Orleans is incorporated, and the first municipal officials arrive shortly afterward.

  1812 January 10. The New Orleans, the first steamboat to descend the Mississippi, arrives from Pittsburg.

  April 30. Louisiana is admitted to the Union and New Orleans becomes the capital of the state.

  1815 January 8. The American forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the British in the final decisive action of the Battle of New Orleans.

  1816 Crevasse at McCarty’s plantation; part of the city floods.

  1823 May 9. James H. Caldwell opens the first American Theater on Camp Street, introducing the use of gas lighting.

  1825 April 10. Lafayette arrives in New Orleans for a five-day visit.

  1827 All Catholic funerals held in Mortuary Chapel (Our Lady of Guadalupe Church).

  1830 Esplanade Avenue called Promenade Publique.

  1831 April. The Pontchartrain Railroad, the first railroad west of the Alleghenies, offers freight and passenger service to Milneburg.

  1833 J. H. Caldwell granted exclusive privilege for street illumination by gas. Incorporation of the City of Lafayette.

  1834 The first house in the town of Carrollton is built. The Medical College of Louisiana, which eventually becomes the University of Louisiana (1847) and Tulane University (1844), is established. US Mint is built on Esplanade and the river. It will operate as a mint from 1838 to 1862 and from 1878 to 1910.

  1836 March 8. New charter divides city into three municipalities, each with its own board of aldermen.

  1837 January 25. The Picayune, now the Times-Picayune, begins publication.

  Shrove Tuesday. First Mardi Gras parade held.

  1838 The first house in the Garden District and the first on Esplanade are built. New Basin Canal opened for traffic.

  1853 Ten thousand inhabitants perish in the most severe yellow fever epidemic in the history of New Orleans.

  May 10. The City Hall, now Gallier Hall, designed and built by James Gallier Sr., is dedicated.

  1859 December 1. The French Opera House opens its doors with the production of Guillaume Tell.

  1861 January 26. Louisiana adopts the Ordinance of Secession.

  1862 April 30. The city surrenders to David E. Farragut and his Federal forces.

  May 1. General Benjamin Butler assumes command of the city.

  1864 May 1. Constitution of Louisiana amended to abolish slavery.

  1866 July 30. Riot occurs in Mechanics Institute in which large numbers of blacks and whites are killed and wounded.

  1869 Dillard University opens its doors.

  1872 Shrove Tuesday. Rex parades for Grand Duke Alexis of Russia.

  1874 The St. Louis Hotel is purchased by the State of Louisiana to serve as the state capital until the capital is moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in 1882.

  September 14. The White League forces defeat the Metropolitan Police in a pitched battle at the head of Canal Street

  1880 August. Captain James B. Eads completes the jetties at South Pass, deepening the channels and saving the port.

  1884 With an endowment by Paul Tulane, the University of Louisiana becomes Tulane University.

  December 16. The Cotton Exposition opens in Audubon Park.

  1886 October 11. Newcomb College founded.

  1890 Board of Commissioners of Orleans Lakefront (the Levee Board) organized and put in charge of 129 miles of levee, 27 miles of the river, and 94 miles of inner-city levees.

  1891 March 14. Eleven Italian prisoners, alleged assassins of Police Chief Hennessy, killed in parish prison by outraged mob of citizens. Two are dragged outside and hung.

  1892 September 7. James J. Corbett defeats John L. Sullivan in a twenty-one-round knockout victory in New Orleans.

  1894 Leprosarium at Carville, Louisiana, established.

  1896 Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (the Dock Board) created to have authority over all water frontage in Orleans parish and considerable portions of river and canal frontage in adjacent parishes.

  1898-1917 Storyville thrives.

  1905 Last of Yellow Fever epidemics occur.

  1910 Last coins minted in New Orleans.

  1911 Loyola, founded by the Jesuits, becomes a college.

  1912 July 10. Loyola becomes a university.

  August 12. The commission form of city government adopted.

  1915 Xavier College established at Washington and Pine Streets.

  September 29. Severe tropical hurricane inflicts serious property damage throughout the city.

  1921 Vieux Carré Commission established. The federal government takes over the Leprosarium at Carville, and it becomes the only public health leprosarium on the North American continent.

  1923 Industrial Canal connected to the river by locks. Notre Dame Seminar built.

  1925 Xavier becomes full-fledged university. Orleans Club founded.

  1927 Major flood.

  1928 US Engineers take over responsibility for flood control.

  1930 Municipal Auditorium built to the rear of Old Congo Square facing Rampart.

  1934 Industrial Canal becomes link in newly fashioned Intracoastal Waterway, which now leads from Rio Grande River in Texas to Florida coast.

  1935 September 8. Huey P. Long assassinated in State Capital Building in Baton Rouge, allegedly by Dr. Carl A. Weiss, who was then shot by Long’s bodyguards.

  December 13. Bonnet Carré Spillway dedicated.

  December 16. Huey P. Long Bridge across the Mississippi completed and dedicated.

  1936 Vieux Carré Commission authorized by state legislature to regulate architecture through building permits.

  1945 International House opens.

  1947 May 6. International Free Trade Zone established.

  September 16-19. Hurricane kills hundreds in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida.

  1957 April 15. First span of the Greater New Orleans Mississippi River Bridge completed.

  1958 September. UNO, originally LSUNO, opens on the lakefront as the States’ first racially-integrated public college.

  1963 Mississippi River Gulf Outlet officially opened, cutting forty miles off of the distance to the Gulf.

  1965 September 9. Hurricane Betsy hits New Orleans.

  1967 Second Lake Pontchartrain Causeway built, creating twin spans.

  1969 August 17. Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits New Orleans.

  1973 Theater of Performing Arts completed in what would later be Armstrong Park. Disastrous fire at Howard Johnson’s Motor Hotel.

  1975 August. Superdome opens with a football game at a building cost of $161 million.

  1980 Armstrong Park opens at a building cost of $30 million on a space of 10 acres at the site of the old Congo Square.

  1982 July 9. Pan-Am Jet 759 crashes moments after takeoff from New Orleans International Airport, killing 153.

  1984 May 4-November 1
1. Louisiana World Exposition in New Orleans. Mississippi Aerial River Transit (MART; gondola from World’s Fair) is a part of New Orleans skyline (until 1994).

  1987 September 12. Pope John Paul II visits New Orleans and says Mass on the UNO Arena grounds at the lakefront.

  Fall. The New Orleans Saints, under owner Tom Benson and coach Jim Mora, are in the NFL playoffs for the first time in their twenty-year existence.

  1988 May 11. Seven-alarm fire on the third floor of the Cabildo.

  August. Republican National Convention held in New Orleans.

  September 30. Second span of the GNOMR Bridge opens. Both spans now called the Crescent City Connection.

  1990 Aquarium of the Americas opens.

  1993 December 17. Fair Grounds Club House burns down.

  1995 March 8-9. Greater New Orleans area floods and shuts city down for two days.

  1996 December 14. The bulk cargo ship, MV Bright Field crashed into the Riverwalk.

  2005 August 29. Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans.

  2010 February 7. New Orleans Saints win Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, defeating Indianapolis Colts 31-17.

  April 20. Deepwater Horizon oil well explodes in the Gulf of Mexico.

  Glossary

  Allée: French, alley. A double row of trees leading from the road or river to a plantation home.

  Armoire: A cabinet closing with one or two doors, having rows of shelves, and used for keeping clothes.

  Arpent: A former land measure. A linear arpent is equal to 191.835 feet; a square arpent is approximately 85 percent of an English acre.

  Banquette: French, low bench. A sidewalk, so called because the early wooden sidewalks were elevated, or banked up, above the muddy streets.

  Batture: French, from battre, to beat. The land built up by the silting action of a river.

  Bayou: American Indian, from bayuk, creek or river. A distributary coming out of a river or lake, not contributing to it.

  Blanchisseuse: French, from blancher, to whiten or clean. A washer woman.

  Bouillabaisse: Provençal, from bouis-baisso, boiled down. A stew of red snapper and redfish, with various kinds of vegetables, seasonings and spices.

  Briquette entre poteaux: French, brick between posts. A method of construction in vogue in the eighteenth century in which bricks were filled in between the spaces of a framework of cypress timbers.

  Café au lait: Black coffee with milk. Slang expression indicating presence of black heritage.

  Café noir: Black coffee.

  Cajan/Cajun: Acadian, corruption of Acadien. French immigrant from Acadia, now Nova Scotia, or descendant of one who came to live in Bayou country of Louisiana.

  Charivari: Medieval Latin, from carivarium. A serenade of “rough music” with kettles, pans, and the like, originally given in derision of unpopular marriage. Often spelled chivari.

  Chef Menteur: Big Liar, Chief among liars. River so called because currents deceptive, ran both ways. Governor Kerlerec so called by Indians for obvious reasons.

  Code Noir: Code of behavior governing conduct of slaves and masters.

  Congo: A man from the Congo nation. Slang, very black man.

  Courtbouillon: Redfish cooked with highly seasoned gravy.

  Crawfish bisque: French, bisque, thick soup. A rich soup made with crawfish, whose heads are stuffed and served in the broth.

  Creole: Spanish, from criollo, native born. In New Orleans, referred to, native born of French or Spanish parents. Also used in referring to native grown, e.g. Creole tomatoes.

  Fais-dodo: French, from dormir, to sleep, and fais dodo (children), go to sleep. A country dance.

  Faubourg: French, literal, plantation, suburb.

  F. M. C. or F. W. C.: “Free Man of Color” or “Free Woman of Color.” Initials found in old documents that refer to freed slaves.

  Gallery: French, from galerie, or Latin, from galleria, gallery. A porch or balcony.

  Garçonniere: French, from garçon, boy, bachelor. Bachelor’s quarters, usually separate from the principal part of the house.

  Gris-gris: Amulet, talisman, or charm, worn for luck or used to conjure evil on enemies by Voodoo devotees. Presumably of African origin.

  Gumbo: Louisiana French, from gumbo, or Angolan or Bantu, ki ngombo. A soup thickened with the mucilaginous pods of the okra plant and containing shrimp, crabs, and often chicken, oysters, or other meat varieties.

  Gumbo-filé: A condiment made of powdering leaves of the Red Bay, often containing powdered sassafras root. Used in place of okra for thickening gumbo.

  Gumbo-des-herbes: French, from herbe, herb. Gumbo made of herbs and greens, including spinach, mustard greens, etc. instead of okra.

  Jalousie: French, literal, vertical or Venetian blind. In Louisiana, the common two-battened outdoor blind.

  Jambalaya: A Spanish-Creole dish made with rice and some other core ingredient, such as shrimp, crabs, cowpeas, oysters, or sausage.

  Lagniappe: French, from la nappe, tablecloth (in particular, one that catches remaining grains of rice), or Spanish, from La napa, small gift. A trifling gift presented to a customer by a merchant.

  Levee: French, from lever, to raise. An embankment on the Mississippi or smaller streams to prevent floods. Natural or man-made.

  Make ménage: French, from faire le ménage, to clean the house. Local expression. To clean the house.

  Mamaloi: French, from maman, mother, and roi, king. The Voodoo priestess.

  Mardi Gras: French, literal, Fat Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday, the last day of Carnival.

  Marraine: French, literal, a godmother.

  Mulatto: Spanish, from mulato, a young mule. One of mixed race. In particular, the offspring of a black and a white individual.

  Nainaine: Creole diminutive of marraine.

  Octoroon: Latin, from octo, eight. The child of a quadroon and a white person. A person having one-eighth African blood.

  Papillotes: French, from papillon, butterfly, or literal, curl paper or foil parcel. Curl papers (for the hair). Also, buttered or oiled paper in which fish, especially pompano, is broiled to retain flavor.

  Parish: In Louisiana, the equivalent of county. Parishes here were originally ecclesiastical, not civil divisions.

  Parrain: French, literal, a godfather.

  Perique: Local term. A unique kind of tobacco grown only in St. James Parish. Said to have been the nickname of Pierre Chenet, an Acadian who first produced the variety of tobacco.

  Picayune: Formerly the Spanish half-real, worth about 6¼ cents. Now out of use, except to refer to something small and unimportant.

  Ponchatoula: Choctaw, from pasha, hair, and itula (itola), to fall or hang. A term used to describe the Spanish moss that hangs or falls off trees.

  Porte-cochère: French, from porte, gate or door, and carosse, carriage or coach. The gateway that allows vehicles to drive into a courtyard.

  Praline: A bonbon made of pecans browned in sugar. It is said to have been invented by Marechal du Plessis Praslin’s cook.

  Quadroon: Spanish, from cuarteron, a quadroon. The child of a mulatto and a white person. A person having one-fourth African blood.

  Quartee: Local. Half of a five-cent piece.

  Soirée: French, from soir, evening. An evening party.

  Sugar-house: Local. A sugar mill or factory.

  Tignon: Middle French, from tignon or chignon, nape of the neck. Bandana-like headdress required for free women of color after 1786.

  Vamoose: Spanish, from vamos, let’s go. Get out!

  Vieux Carré: French, literal, old square. The original walled city of New Orleans, bounded by Canal Street, North Rampart Street, Esplanade Avenue, and the Mississippi River.

  Voodoo: Fon, vôdu, a deity. An African religion, commonly perceived as a cult of witchcraft imported into America by slaves from the present-day Republic of Benin, Haiti, and the Caribbean.

  Selected Bibliography

  Andersen, Christine F., and Hurricane Katrina Externa
l Review Panel. 2007. “The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why,” American Society of Civil Engineers. ASCE Publications.

  Basso, Etolia, S. 1948. The World from Jackson Square. New York: Farrar, Straus & Co.

  Blackstone, William. 1769. Commentaries on the Law of England. Book I. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. E-book.

  Butler, Benjamin Franklin. 1892. Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major General Benjamin Butler. Boston: A. M. Thayer & Co. E-book.

  Capers, Gerald Mortimer.1965. Occupied City, New Orleans under the Federals, 1862-65. Lexington: University of Kentucky.

  Chase, John C. 1960. Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children . . . Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company.

  Chase, John C., Herman B. Deutsche, Charles L. Dufour, and Leonard V. Huber. 1964. Citoyens, progrès et politique de la Nouvelle Orléans. New Orleans: E.S. Upton Printing Co.

  Christovich, Mary Louise, and Foulhac Toledano. 1972. New Orleans Architecture, Volume II: The American Sector. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company.

  Claiborne, William Charles Cole. Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801-1816. Volume 7. Edited by Dunbar Rowland. Jackson, MS: State Department of Archives and History. E-book.

  Cooke, John. 1979. Perspectives on Ethnicity in New Orleans. New Orleans: Committee on Ethnicity in New Orleans.

  Davis, Edwin Adams. 1971. Louisiana: A Narrative History. Baton Rouge: Claitor’s Law Books and Publishing.

  Davis, William C. 2005. The Pirates Laffitte: The Treacherous Corsairs of the World of the Corsairs of the Gulf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

  Delier, John Hanno. 1909. The Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana and the Creoles of German Descent. Philadelphia: American Germanica Press.

  Derbes, Robin Von Breton. 1976. “The WPA Saved New Orleans and Destroyed It Too,” New Orleans Magazine, July (10).

  Evans, Clement Anselm. 1899. Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History. Volume 10. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company.

  Federal Writers’ Project of Louisiana of the WPA, comp. and ed. 1938. New Orleans City Guide. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press.

  Freiberg, Edna. 1980. Bayou St. John in Colonial Louisiana (1699-1803). New Orleans: Harvey Press.