UCSB LIBRARY Picturesque ...NEW ORLEANS... ^^ Photo-Gravures . Copyright, 1900, bv A. WHTEMANN, PuBLI6hER OF AMERICAN VlEWS, 260 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. F. F. HAN6ELL A. Bro., Ltd. New Orleans. La. / • N order to see and appreciate New Orleans, it is necessary to learn sonielliing of her history, much the same as the chief charm of some of Old World cities depends upon their past associations. Three great political changes left their mark upon New Orleans, and each relegated the preceding era into the domain of history. French New Orleans, as founded by the Sicur de Bienville in 1718, was a totally difTerent place from Spanish New Orleans, as moulded by the iron hand of Don Alexander O' Reilly ; and American New Orleans, developed after the cession of Louisiana to the United States in 1803, differs altogether from either. Again the war of the Union threw the wealthy gay ante-bellum New Orleans — the " petit Paris," with its gigantic commerce and aristocratic habits — into the irrevocable past The first French colony was founded by lbei"ville at Biloxi, but Bienville, his successor, selected the present site near the mouth of the Mississippi and left fifty men to clear the grounds and erect the buildings. In 17:2.'! a party of German emmigrants, having abandoned the lands granted to John Law in Arkansas, descended the Mississippi to New Orleans. They hoped to find a passage here back to Europe, but failed in this and settled on what is known as the " German Coast " in St. Charles parish Small tracts of land were apportioned among them, and for a longtime they supplied the city with vegetables. Many of their descendants remain on the lands inherited. In 1T27 came the Jesuits and the Ursulines. The latter's convent is now the Archbishop's palace, near St. Louis Cathedral. The Jesuits, in 17i).'), underwent the edict of expulsion by the King of France, but a few years after the decree was reversed, the Jesuits returned to Louisiana and have ever since been strongly identified with its religious and educational progress. France ceded the colony to Spain in 17(J3, and Don Antonia de Ullca took po.ssession in 1700. The French colonists strongly opposed the cession and rose in arms against the Governor. They gave him three days in which to leave New Orleans, and he embarked for Havana ; but, in 176'J, the Spanish King sent Don Alexander O'Reilly with considerable military force to take possession of the city. Still the residents remained loyal to their mother country, and there existed continual friction between them and the new Governor. The cultivation of sugar cane had been introduced by the Jesuits as far back as ]7ol, but it was not until 171'4 that a planter succeeded in making the syrup granulate and so convert it into sugar. The honor of this belongs to Etienne de Bore, whose portrait hangs in the sugar exchange. The colonial city walls and fortifications enclosed the " vieux carre," or the area between Canal, Rampart, Explanade Streets and the river. The city's growth beyond Canal Street dates within the nineteenth century. In 1800 the colony had been retroceded by Spain to France. After the purchase by the United States in 1803, Claiborne was appointed Governor of the territory, and in 1812 it entered the Union as a state ; in 1814 the British army under Pakenham sailed from Jamaica to attack New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson met the invaders at Chalmette, on January ■*^, l>il-">, and inflicted a severe defeat. The next important event in the history of the city was the .secession of Louisiana from the Union in January in ISGl. by which, for the fourth time it changed masters. In April, 1802, a federal fleet under Farragut forced the passage of Forts St. Philip and Jackson, The citj- surrendered and was held by U. S. troops till the close of hostilities. New Orleans suffered severely during the war, her commerce was virtually destroyed and the population impoverished. The revival began only some twenty years ago, and everj- jear now fast advances prosperity. As far back as 1730 Governor Perier devised a plan for protecting the town by levees, and the first embankments were built. At the present day the levee system has been perfected to a degree that incites the admiration of engineers. The city is also surrounded by large earth walls the height of which along the river front averages 20 to 25 feet. It is this peculiarity of a city lying on ground lower than the river level that has shaped the cemeteries of New Orleans into objects of the highest interest to strangers. As water collects at a depth of a few feet, the tombs have been built of brick and marble above ground. They extend in solid rows along the avenues of the older cemeteries and consist mostly of two vaults with a crypt below. They are hermetically cemented, and the law forbids the opening of a tomb before a certain time. After a year or two, if a vault is required for another person, the slab is removed, the wooden cofEn is broken up and burned and the remains, if there be any, deposited in the crypt. In this manner a long series of burials may take place in a single tomb Metairie Cemetery is renowned for its beauty of landscape and of sculpture, and should not be missed by any sightseer. Girod is the most characteristic of the old French cemeteries. A visit to St. Roch's Cemeter>-, with its exquisite mortuary chapel, belongs to the indispensable of a knowing tourist. One of the Canal Street electric cars bears the legend " To St. Rochs," and brings you near to the entrance of the cemetery on Derbigny Street. What so attracts the gentler sex to the spot is the firmly-grounded belief that a praj-er for a husband before the shrine never fails of a favorable answer. Otherwise St. Roch is the patron of health. During the dreadful yellow fever and cholera epidemics of 18fi6 and 1867 a devout parish priest vowed to St. Roch that if the members of his flock were .spared from the scourge he would build a chapel in the .saint's honor. Not one of the congregation died, and when the plague ceased, with his own hands, brick by brick, the priest erected the chapel. For this reason it is a favorite shrine with many pilgrims, and thank offerings are to be seen on every hand. Turning from the pious to the most distinct social feature, the Mardi Gras festivities, we trace the first Carnival parade back to 1.S27, when a number of young French gentlemen organized a street proce.ssion of maskers after the fashion of Paris. .\ .second procession, on a grander .scale, took place in 1837. The vicissitudes of crops and commerce brought many lapses and a gradual change from the old Italian carnival of individual ma.squeraders to the Parisian method of tableaux on floats with grand day and night pageants and bal ma.squc — the whole fathered by siuidr>- Carnival associations, but working in mystic unison to make Mardi Ciras attractive to the great concourse of vi.sitors from all parts of the Union. New Orleans, with her Southern homes, her gorgeous blooms, her rose gardens, her French-Spanish quarter, her picturesque localities, her traditions and superstitions, her remnants of Creole grandeur, her generous life and hospitality, is not for the tourist who does a city between the rising and setting of the sun. She does not readily reveal herself to an importunate one. but rather to the idler and patient observer. It is he who will see, be.side her gayetie.s, how sweet and sunny and genial she can be. / 1 • tn.nimtM*m nv*^v\: f^I: General Jackton Statue. ST LOUIS CATHEDRAL AND PONTALBA BUILDINGS. CITY HALL. NEW COURT HOUSE AND JAIL ST. CHARLES ST. AND FORMER ST. CHARLES HOTEL. Henry Clay Statue. CANAL STREET. FRENCH OPERA HOUSE. THE PARISH PRISON, No.v Demolished. OLD COURT BUIL.OING. LOADING COTTON HARMONY CLUB— ST. CHARLES AVENUE. GAYARRE PLACE. LOUISIANA JOCKEY CLUB. c 5 A CREOLE KURSE. A NEGRO WOOD SAWVER tntfsa OLD BANK, TOULOUSE STREET— Now Demolished OLD HOUSE, CHARLES AND URSULINE STREETS. City Hall. FRANKLIN STATUE— LAFAYETTE SQUARE Canal Streei MARDI GRAS. K,c-:r-. .^n .1 TULANE UNIVERSITY .SEEN FROM €ftY PARK. X <--.J Q Z z L„ TULANE UNIVERSITY— MEDICAL COLLEGE— CANAL STREET. ' 'v_> CHRIST CHURCH-ST. CHARLES AVENUE. CONFEDERATE MONUMENT— Army of Northern V.rg.n,a. t ...;-;^^' Aw 'w '. <'s. 1^. Hy^^l Sgf ^ iPiH&^niR^ w^ '.■. - ./^///Oi//'i/i//j(//)f//yo,/ , t Lr ■i'i--'-Tn-T-r-nnn-T-f~ni~'l'^''^"_^ Zvj^ Odksliake Popfcharfrait) SUNSET IN THE MARSH. MISSISSIPPI JETTIES. THE SPANISH FORT. WEST END ^:^.- •■ ,../ Q o o I o o .-^s^- i", /'.■u/mrfP/i a/jii/H'J^ /Hiru/if/t/ ■'Jc CUTTING SUGAR CANf. LOADING CANE CARTS ] GRfcAT LIvt uA^— AUDubON PARK. UCSB KBRARV D 000 2 fi y^A.'. /'"jO B