USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 27
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been transferred to the capitol grounds at Baton Rouge. In the same cemetery is buried Gen. J. B. Hood.
On the Metairie ridge, at the junction of Canal street and the New Orleans shell road, the site of the old Metairie race course, are located the modern cemeteries, the largest of which is the Metairie. Here rise Confederate mausoleums and monuments, prominent among them the tomb of the Army of Northern Vir- ginia, supporting a statue of Stonewall Jackson ; the marble tomb of the Army of Tennessee, with its statue of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston; and the monument of the Washington Artillery, sur- mounted by the statue of their commander, Col. J. B. Walton. Street after street of massive and beautiful tombs, street after street of rose gardens, is the Metairie, a city of the dead in very truth. Near to it are Greenwood and the Firemen's cemetery. In Green- wood also lie numbers of the Confederate dead beneath a handsome monument, and members of several city societies. In the Firemen's cemetery, the inscriptions commemorate many a hero, who gave his life for other imperiled lives. The fire companies have here erected handsome tombs and monuments.
Chalmette, the national cemetery, which derives its name from the owner of the plantation, is situated on the river, a mile below the U. S. barracks, on ground donated for the purpose by the city in 1855, and contains the graves of nearly 30,000 Union soldiers. The old Chalmette plantation includes the entire territory within the lines of the last struggle of the War of 1812, the battle of New Orleans. On every side are memorial marks of that great engage- ment. At one side is the beautiful estate of Dr. Bonzano, in whose house is still shown the room which Gen. Jackson used for his headquarters. (See Chalmette Plantation.) Upon the confines of historic Chalmette, the city is already encroaching. Near by is the trench, which no British soldier was able to cross on the 8th of January, 1815. Below is the Pakenham canal. Beyond lies the former Corinne plantation, the camp of the British troops. Me- morial monuments have been erected to both American and Brit- wish soldiers, who rest in peace on this once hotly contested field.
In addition to the commemorative works of art in the cemeteries. there are statues in the heart of the city familiar to every inhabi- tant. The equestrian statue of Gen. Jackson by Clark Mills, in Jackson Square, was erected by popular subscription in 1851, in memory of the hero of New Orleans. The largest contributor to the fund was the Baroness Pontalba. The Henry Clay statue by Joel T. Hart, represents the distinguished statesman in the act of addressing an audience, and stood in the middle of Canal street at the St. Charles and Royal street crossing from 1856 to 1901, when it was removed to Lafayette Square. The figure of the great compromiser presided over many a public gathering of citizens on Canal street. Lafayette Square between North and South, Camp and St. Charles streets, contains also the Franklin and McDon- ough statues, the former a marble statue designed by Hiram Powers and erected in 1872, the latter a bronze bust on a pedestal support-
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ing climbing children. commemorative of John McDonough, bene- factor of the city public schools. Farther up Camp street, at its junction with Prytania, on Margaret Place stands the white marble Margaret statue in front of the Female Orphan Asylum. Seated, gazing tenderly at the orphan child by her side, this figure of Margaret receives many affectionate glances from the orphans whom she befriended and the little children of the neighborhood who play about the statue on the greensward. In the center of the Lee circle, the crown of a tall shaft is a heroic bronze figure of Gen. Robert E. Lee, surveying the battlefield. Occupying such a prominent place in the residence district, libraries, churches and schools in the immediate vicinity, noble subject and artistic execu- tion are both an inspiration and example.
Lafayette Square and Jackson Square are valuable breathing places in the city's congested districts. Others are Coliseum Place, at the junction of Camp and Coliseum streets ; Beauregard Square, on North Rampart street, between St. Peter and St. Anne; Annun- ciation Square, on Annunciation street, between Race and Orange; Clay Square, bounded by Chippewa, Annunciation, Second and Third streets ; Douglas Square, between Howard and Freret, Third and Washington avenue; Fillmore Square, between Howard and Freret, Third and Fifth : Lawrence Square, between Magazine and Camp, Napoleon avenue and Berlin street ; McCarthy Square, be- tween Burgundy and North Rampart, Pauline and Jeanne. Congo Square, now known as Beauregard Park, was the scene of the strange native dances of Congo and other negroes, and also of bull-fights during the Spanish regime. Audubon park stretches from the river to St. Charles avenue. Etienne de Bore manufac- tured near that place in 1795 the first sugar in the United States. Among the magnificent live oaks is situated the horticultural build- ing, a survivor of the New Orleans Cotton exposition of 1884-5, and the Sugar experiment station. City park on the Metairie road, between Canal and Bayou St. John, includes a tract of land about a mile long and half a mile wide and also has a number of live oaks. 'A few squares southeast of City park are the fair grounds and the Jockey club.
The Jockey club, the grounds of which connect with the fair grounds, is situated at the end of Esplanade avenue and its race course, formerly known as the Union course, is the only one of the famous old courses of the city which survives. The club owns an estate of 30 acres, and the old farmhouse which originally stood upon the ground, has been converted into a commodious clubhouse. Half a century ago the Metairie race course was the most cele- brated in the United States, the regulations adopted for the races there being the standard racing rules throughout the country. Says a writer familiar with the old days: "The brightest episodes of the history of the turf in New Orleans occurred before 1855, previous to which there were five courses, upon all of which the music of flying feet was regularly heard with each succeeding year. There was the Eclipse course at Carrollton, which has not been
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used since 1845; the Metairie, famed as the scene of Lexington's great victory ; the Bingaman course over in Algiers ; the Louisiana course on the llopkins plantation, about 12 miles below the city ; and the Union course, now the Louisiana Jockey club course, and the only one now in existence as a course. Each year, just previous to the spring and fall meetings, people from all parts of the South and West flocked to New Orleans to participate in the excitement of the races and the gaveties and festivities which were incident thereto. In those days the rotunda on the ground floor of the old St. Charles hotel was the general rendezvous where gentlemen met to discuss the merits of the different horses and to make their bets-pool-selling not having been invented. Among the throng who nightly gathered there were Col. William Johnson, the Napo- leon of the turf ; Col. A. L. Bingaman,. Col. Jeff. Wells, Dr. Merritt, Y. N. Oliver, Duncan F. Kenner, Capt. W. J. Minor, the brothers Lecompte (Boldsby and Kirkman), Col. McWhorter, Col. West- more, Jim Valentine, Dr. J. W. Weldon, John L. Cassidy, Alex- ander Porter, James Cage. H. P. McGrath, Capt. T. G. Moore, old Dr. Burke, John G. Cox. Dick Ten Broeck, Bondy Poindexter, Scruggs, and a host of others, most of whom are lying under the green turf. As may be imagined, there was a delightful babel in the rotunda every evening, and what with anecdotes, horse talk. bets and coruscations of wit-for some of the gentlemen named above were fine scholars and brilliant conversationalists-the hours wore pleasantly away. In these good old antebellum days, when horse-racing was pursued purely as an amusement, and not as a means of accumulating fortunes, turfmen, unlike the proprietors of equine heroes of today, took a personal interest in rearing blooded stock, and were thorough judges of horse-flesh and accomplished riders."
The Metairie course was the scene of the wonderful races be- tween the famous thoroughbreds Lexington and Lecompte in 1854. Both horses were foaled in Kentukcy. the former was raised and trained near Lexington. the latter in the South. Lexington won their first contest. the great post stake state race in which Lex- ington represented Kentucky and Lecompte Mississippi. In the next race which they ran a week later Lecompte was the winner. Excitement ran high and when, upon the challenge of Lexington's owner, another race was arranged, nothing else was talked of. The final race between the two champions took place on April 14, 1855. Lexington was an easy winner, but after the race Lecompte showed signs of illness. Rumors of poison were soon afloat but were never substantiated. Crowds filled the city for the races, and in the hotel lobbies was held many a heated discussion.
The Royal or St. Louis hotel, built in 1840 at a cost of $1.500.000. was the rendezvous of southern planters from the time of its opening. It stands on the corner of Royal and St. Louis streets and was for some years the most magnificent building in the South. Its grandeur is now but a memory and the little care needed to preserve the building as an historic monument is lacking. All the
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leading names of the old southern aristocracy, and many another of historic importance in other lands, have been written upon its registers. Before the war the great bar-room under the rotunda was a slave market, and the pens for the slaves and the auctioneer's block are still to be seen. The hotels of those days were commer- cial centers as well as social and political meeting places and were known as exchanges, the St. Louis exchange, St. Charles exchange, etc. When the St. Louis and St. Charles hotels were erected, New Orleans had only 2 hotels of any size or importance, the Strangers and the Orleans, both on Chartres street. Judah Touro's store then occupied the ground floor of the Orleans hotel. The St. Louis hotel was commenced in 1836, and several years were re- quired for its completion. Frescoes by Canova adorned the ro- tunda, and the building throughout was of remarkable archi- tectural beauty. In 1841 it was entirely destroyed by fire and the present large hotel was erected. In the Royal hotel "the celebrated annual 'Bals de Société,' or subscription balls were inaugurated, bringing together the wealth, beauty and refinement of the Cres- cent City in the magnificent ball-room of the hotel. Among the splendid entertainments of which this ball-room was the theater 40 years ago, was the magnificent 'Bal Travesti,' given in the winter of 1842-43, and the entertainment gotten up in the same winter in honor of Henry Clay's visit, by his New Orleans friends and admirers. There were 200 subscribers to the Clay fête, each paying the subscription price of $100, the ball and supper costing the enormous sum of $20.000. At the feast of regal magnificence,. to which 600 ladies and gentlemen sat down in the spacious dining- hall of the hotel, the famous orchestra of the French Opera dis- coursed sweet music, and the illustrious statesman, in whose honor the fete was given, delivered the only public speech he ever made in Louisiana, in which he gallantly took occasion to pay a glowing tribute to the beautiful women of New Orleans." In 1874 the building was leased for use as the state house, and in. 1875 the State of Louisiana purchased it for $250,000. The hotel was used as the capitol building until the removal of the capital and state officers to Baton Rouge. During the political troubles of 1877 the capitol was used as a fortress and for over 2 months was in a state of siege. Here were enacted the closing scenes of the drama of reconstruction, and when the Packard government vacated the. building it was in a most deplorable condition. It remained empty until 1884, when it was leased by the state to Robert Rivers, pro- prietor of the St. Charles hotel, who repaired it and reopened the hotel under the name of Hotel Royal. The words St. Louis on the iron gallery railing may still be seen, and an interesting old stairway and some famous frescoes remain.
The St. Charles hotel, which dates from the same period as the Roval, like the latter. has been rebuilt several times. It is situated on St. Charles street, one square from Canal street. The original building possessed a Greek portico with pillars and was surmounted by a large white dome from which a magnificent view of the city
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might be obtained, and which was visible many miles distant. The St. Charles, which was the largest hotel in the United States at that time, was commenced in 1835 and cost $800,000. Nearly 2 years were required for its construction and the hotel was popular from the time when its hospitable doors were opened to the public. In 1851, the hotel was burned to the ground, but the work of rebuild- ing was commenced almost immediately and in about a year it was once more ready for guests. The hotel was a political rendezvous and "Parlor P" was the scene of discussion upon whose results hung the affairs of the commonwealth. It was also a favorite gathering place of merchants and was even known as "The Ex- change." Hotel life was a peculiar feature of the social circles of New Orleans. The population of the city contained a large pro- portion of families who made the city their home in winter, and lived at country places or northern resorts in summer. These formed a gay coterie, with whom parties and balls at the hotels were the order of the day. Soon after the St. Charles, the Verandah hotel was built, which was more of a family hotel and at times served as an annex to the St. Charles, diagonally opposite which it stood. This hotel fell a victim to fire in 1853 and was never rebuilt. At that time, as at the present, the city was full of cafés and boarding houses to take care of the overflow from the hotels. The new St. Charles, as it is sometimes called, is the third of the name, a sur- vival of the old, which after rebuilding, refitting and refurnishing. preserves its place among the foremost hotels of the city. New Orleans has also large modern hotels, which take their place among the best in the country. Among them are the Grunewald, the New Denechaud, the Cosmopolitan, and the Commercial. The following eating houses are also famous: Madame Bezaudun's hotel de la Louisane, on Iberville street, near the corner of Royal; Antoine's, 713 St. Louis : Galatoire's, Bourbon street, near Iberville : Fabach- er's, on Royal street: Lamothe's, on Gravier street, between St. Charles and Carondelet: J. A. Fabacher's, 117 St. Charles street : the "Old Hickory," up stairs at the corner of Carondelet and Grav- ier streets, and Madame Begue's famous breakfast house near the French market, corner of Decatur and Madison streets.
French cafes preserved their foreign character through all the vicissitudes of city life. Sanded floors, French menus, French cooks, and French wines held their sway. Any visitor to New Orleans who has failed to partake of a fish dinner at Antoine's has missed a rare epicurean delight. Some years ago, at a French pension on St. Louis street, just around the corner from Royal, at the long table on the sanded floor. there gathered at 10 o'clock breakfast and at 5 o'clock dinner, Frenchmen, Hungarians, Mex- ican creoles and Americans. The interchange of daily greetings, and the general conversation were all in French, but courteous translations were offered to the Americans present. The pension and its hospitality were typical, from the iron-railed galleries to the court-yard in the rear. Whether joining in a friendly game of piquet in the parlor, or assisting in the glorious "send-off" in honor
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of some gentleman about to depart for France, the American guests could scarcely realize that they had not been spirited to a foreign land in their dreams.
Within late years New Orleans has yielded in some degree to the spirit of modernism and the homes and other buildings of historic interest are rapidly disappearing. In the French quarter, in front of the Royal hotel, a square of old buildings has been recently torn down to make a place for the new courthouse, which will cost $1,000,000. The design of this beautiful structure was prepared by the firm of Fred A. Brown & Son and Mr. Marye, of Atlanta, Ga. The frame, roof and floors are constructed of reinforced con- crete, the basement of granite, the 1st and 2nd stories of Georgia. marble, and the remainder of the building of white semi-glazed terra cotta. In addition to the court rooms the building will con- tain rooms for the law library and law association, the recorders of mortgages, deeds and wills, the state assessor, the levee and dock commissioners, the board of health, and other officials. The old courthouse or cabildo, erected by Don Almonester, stands beside the cathedral, on the corner of Chartres and St. Peter streets. The new Federal building, which will contain the post- office and customhouse, has been designed by the firm of Hale and Rogers, of New York, and is soon to be erected at a cost of $2,500,- 000, will be the most notable public building in the South.
On Royal and Hospital streets stood the so-called "haunted house," a noted dwelling in its day, where Lafayette, Marechal Ney and Louis Philippe were entertained. The Cafe des Réfugiés was on the corner of Roval and St. Ann. The red brick Pontalba buildings erected by the Baroness Pontalba still face Jackson Square. In the Absinthe House, built in 1798 on the corner of Bourbon and Bienville, the seductive liqueur may yet be obtained. The home of Gov. Bienville was torn down some years ago. The home of Paul Morphy, the famous chess player, was at 47 Royal street on Annunciation square, at the corner of Orange street, is a comfortable dwelling, which was once the home of Henry M. Stan- ley, a cotton merchant of wealth and benevolent disposition, who adopted a destitute waif named John Rowlands and gave him his own name. That boy afterward became a newspaper reporter and correspondent, and an intrepid explorer, was made a British sub- ject, created a baronet and buried in Westminster Abbey. At the corner of Elysian Fields and the levee stood the mansion of Phil- ippe Mandeville de Marigny, who retained his relations with France until his death and gave a home to Louis Philippe and his brothers during their exile in New Orleans. On the corner of Chartres and St. Louis is the house said to have been built by Nicolas Girod in 1820 for the use of Napoleon when a proposed rescue from St. Helena was planned. The U. S. mint is located on the square bounded by the levee. Decatur street, Esplanade avenue and Barracks street, on the site originally occupied by old Fort St. Charles, where Gen. Jackson reviewed his troops after the battle of New Orleans. Other public buildings are the city hall on St.
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Charles street, opposite Lafayette Square, the cotton exchange, a handsome structure on the corner of Carondelet and Gravier streets, the chamber of commerce, the sugar exchange, the Tulane univer- sity buildings, the U. S. barracks, the customhouse on Canal street, the parish prison, the Howard memorial library, the Public Library, the Charity hospital, the Touro infirmary and the board of trade.
The famous old Burnside estate on Fourth street is the site of the H. Sophie Newcomb memorial college for women. On the American side of Canal street, in what is known as the Garden district, are many handsome residences. Annunciation street was a beautiful residence street in the old days, where stood old planta- tion houses which the city has surrounded, and the homes of the first American inhabitants of New Orleans. The faubourgs Ste. Marie and Annunciation were the original American quarter. Pry- tania is also a fine old residence street, but at the present time St. Charles avenue and the neighborhood of Tulane university contain the handsomest mansions. Fine old residences bordered the Es- planade in the brilliant days before the war.
That religious matters are and always have been a vital part of the every day life of the citizens of New Orleans is shown in sev- eral ways, such as names of streets, numerous churches and char- itable institutions. Annunciation, Amen, Ascension, Assumption, Conception, Church. Nuns, Religious, Piety, Ursuline and Virtue streets, and streets bearing the names of 22 different saints show the common trend of thought.
Churches are many and beautiful. St. Roch's mortuary chapel, situated in the corner of the Campo Santo Catholic cemetery be- longing to the Church of Holy Trinity, in the square bounded by Washington avenue, Solidelle, Prosper and Music streets, is a beautiful example of the Gothic style. The chapel is dedicated to St. Roch, the patron saint of health, whose shrine above the altar holds the effigy of the benevolent saint with his faithful dog at his heels. To St. Roch, the deliverer. rise the prayers of the sick, and the beautiful little chapel is said to have been built by the priest of the parish as a thank-offering for the escape of his beloved people from a ravaging epidemic. The earliest Catholic churches after the St. Louis cathedral. were St. Mary's, the archiepiscopal residence, St. Patrick's, St. Anthony's mortuary chapel and St. Vincent de Paul's. St. Anthony's obituary chapel on Rampart street, now the Italian church, was commenced in 1826 to relieve the overcrowded cathedral, and was for many years used for the celebration of the office for the dead. It contains a famous image of St. Bartolomeo and an altar before which countless thank-offerings-artificial eyes and limbs, crutches, etc .- for restored health have been laid. St. Patrick's on Camp street. between Julia and Girod. is one of tlie best examples of Gothic architecture in the United States and was patterned after the great Minster cathedral at York. St. John's church on Dryades street, of which the corner stone was laid in 1869, is an example of pure renaissance. St. Alphonsus church on Constance street, commenced in 1859, is also in the renaissance style
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and is recognized by its imposing facade with its 2 tall towers. It contains famous Belgian wood carvings, fine mural paintings by Canova, some noted pictures brought from Rome, and remarkable stained glass. The Jesuits' church, on Baronne, near Canal, was designed by a Jesuit priest. It is a moresque style of architecture and the interior of the church is most beautiful. The altar cost $14,000 and over it, in a niche under the dome, stands a marble statue of the Virgin Mary, made at the order of Queen Marie Amélie of France and intended for the royal chapel in the Tuilleries. It was bought by New Orleans ladies for this church.
The first Protestant church was Christ Episcopal church, at the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets, afterward at Dauphine and Canal, and now represented by Christ cathedral, a beautiful gray stone edifice on St. Charles avenue and Sixth street. The Sunday School chapel, a miniature model of the cathedral, and the epis- copal residence were presented as a memorial by one of the ladies of the parish.
Trinity Episcopal church on Jackson street is called the Bishop's church, because of the elevation to bishoprics of so many of its clergymen. Bishops Polk, Beckwith, Galleher, Thompson and Harris, have all been in charge at some time of Trinity parish. The Bishop Polk memorial window in Trinity is one of the handsomest in the world. The first Presbyteran church was erected on Lafay- ette Square in 1835. It was destroyed by fire in 1854 and in 1857 the present church was completed. In 1842 another Presbyterian church was erected on Fulton street. It was burned on Nov. 18, 1860, and replaced in 1867 by a new structure on Magazine street. The original Methodist Episcopal church South was erected on Carondelet and Poydras and caught fire from sparks drifted by the wind from the burning St. Charles hotel. The ground was then sold for city lots and a new church was erected on the present site. Lack of space forbids mention of the many other important Cath- olic churches in the city, as well as those of the following denom- inations : Baptist, Congregational, Evangelical Protestant, Greek, Lutheran, Methodist, Unitarian, etc. The first Jewish synagogue was erected by the bounty of Judah Touro on Bourbon and Canal streets, which property was afterwards sold and the Touro syna- gogue was erected on Carondelet. between Julia and St. Joseph. The Temple Sinai, a handsome edifice on Carondelet near Delford, was established in 1871 by a reform party who seceded from the orthodox church. The music offered here at the Saturday's serv- ices is well worth hearing. A beautiful synagogue has lately been built on St. Charles avenue near Napoleon avenue. Separate churches are maintained by the colored population of the city, the religious fervor and zeal of the race being attested by the well attended services and generous contributions.
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