New Orleans History
Esteban Miro, the longest serving governor of the Louisiana colony, implemented numerous policies during his tenure to make New Orleans a thriving port city.
The 1984 World’s Fair provided cherished memories for a generation of New Orleanians, but it also helped transform our city.
Our story begins with the Casket Girls of Ursuline Convent – a towering building that still stands in the French Quarter where nuns, ghosts and vampires are said to coexist.
It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood summer blockbuster — a vast campaign of espionage and propaganda taking place on U.S. soil that must be stopped before the fabric of America unravels. But this story isn’t fiction. Carried out from a stately St. Charles mansion, Baron Edgar von Spiegel, German Consul to New Orleans, undertook his campaign of intimidation, espionage, and misinformation.
In an attempt to earn the full freedom and equality of the white caste, Captain André Cailloux fought in the Battle at Port Hudson, Louisiana, in 1863 becoming the first widely publicized Black Civil War hero. His funeral was the largest procession the city had seen at the time, and is considered by many to be the predecessor to modern-day jazz funerals and second lines.
Here’s a list of some of the most notable remnants from the 1884 World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition.
#ReadDat: ‘Mr. New Orleans’ tells the story of a grittier city through the eyes of the mafia
Down an alley, just off Jackson Square, is a book lover’s sanctuary, where one can find a curated selection of Southern literature and classics. Located at 624 Pirates Alley, Faulkner House Books is in a townhouse that was built in 1837 that in the 1920s was home to famed writer, William Faulkner.
New Orleans’ schools, our recreation department, state legislature, City Council, public monuments, health care and even Mardi Gras — these are all parts of our hometown that are better, more equitable and fairer thanks in large part to the work of Dorothy Mae Taylor.