NOLA. The Big Easy. The Birthplace of Jazz, The Paris of the South. Nawlins. Whatever nickname you choose, New Orleans has a reputation for partying and pageantry. This unique city is home to Mardi Gras, Bourbon Street, jazz music, and jambalaya. As this colorized photograph shows, the party in the streets of New Orleans started long ago, when the French, Spanish, and United States traded ownership of this key port city.
The Clay Monument Canal Street 1890.-Colorized-Enhanced
This history of New Orleans differs greatly from that of other cities in the southern United States. That’s what makes New Orleans a rich, vibrant city full of resilient people who can bounce back after war and natural disasters.
An Ideal Location
Milk wagon on Decatur Street in New Orleans LA in the 1800s - Source - state library of Louisiana-Colorized-Enhanced
New Orleans is located about one hundred miles from the mouth of the mighty Mississippi River, along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In the early 1700s, the French founded the city as an important port town. From New Orleans, products and goods could be shipped via the Mississippi to places as far north as Chicago and the Great Lakes. Ships from New Orleans could also carry products to the East Coast cities, throughout the Caribbean and Central American, and across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. The French influence in the city can still be seen and felt, from the architecture to the delicious beignets.
The French Quarter
A group of workers in Lane Cotton Mill 1913. Source Wikimedia-Colorized
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, the French governor of Louisiana, placed the city he called Nouvelle-Orleans on a section of high ground away from the Mississippi delta. He officially moved the capital city of French Louisiana from Biloxi to New Orleans in 1722. Shortly afterwards, however, a hurricane destroyed much of the city. The rebuilding effort included using a grid pattern that is still seen in the French Quarter today.
Spanish Rule
The French Quarter. (pontchartrain.net)
The French signed two treaties, in 1762 and 1763, that gave control of Louisiana to Spain. For the next 40 years, New Orleans operated as a Spanish city. Trade between Mexico and Cuba was thriving, and the people were adopting Spanish and Mexican customs into their French ones.
New Orleans and the Louisiana Purchase
Canal Street 1917. Wikimedia-Colorized-Enhanced
Control of New Orleans reverted back to the French in 1803, but they didn’t hold on to the city for long. Just 20 days later, New Orleans was included in the Louisiana Purchase. The city was now part of the United States, although it would always retain its French and Spanish roots.
The Paris of the South
A John Norris Teunisson photograph of Canal Street in New Orleans 1903 Source-Wikipedia-Colorized-Enhanced
In the first half of the 1800s, New Orleans had grown into a prosperous city. In fact, it was the wealthiest city in the United States, even though it was not the largest. It was the third largest. Crops, like cotton and tobacco, that were grown on the vast Southern plantations, passed through New Orleans on their way to Europe, the Caribbean, and South America. Sadly, thousands of captured Africans also passed through New Orleans on their way to the slave markets. Despite this, the city had a large and thriving free Black community.
New Orleans in the Civil War
Mardi Gras Parade 1930s Source wikimedia-Colorized
The largest city in the Confederacy, New Orleans wasn’t able to hold off Union soldiers for long. Just one year into the Civil War, the city fell into the hands of the Union troops. Following the war, New Orleans regained its position of being a significant port city. The Big Easy entered the modern era, with electric street lights and streetcars. The birth of jazz music, the first uniquely American musical genre, caused a boom in nightclubs, dance halls, and concert venues.
A Risky Location
Charity Hospital ambulance 1906. source Wikimedia-Colorized-Enhanced
The small, crescent-shaped rise on which New Orleans was built is still too low to hold off surges of water. In the early 1900s, civil engineers installed levees and pumps to keep the Guld of Mexico, Lake Pontchartrain, and the Mississippi River from encroaching into the city. It worked well enough in good weather, but not so much during hurricane season. In 1909, 1915, 1947, and 1964, New Orleans was hit by devastating hurricanes that damaged parts of the historic city. In 2005, however, Hurricane Katrina struck. The storm surges caused four of the city’s levees to fail. Roughly 80-percent of New Orleans was flooded. In the devastation, hundreds of people were killed. The resilient city, however, rebuilt itself and once again, plays host to year-round revelers and Mardi Gras festivities.
