The New Paris 1810-1840
The five decades preceding the Civil War are referred to as “the golden years” of New Orleans or “flush times,” “the glamor period” and “la belle epoch”. New Orleans was referred to as a place for prosperity. At this time, New Orleans had already won the title of being a Primate City where business was booming. It lacked in manufacturing businesses but had many commercial businesses in the area and “was pulsating with commerce, business, change, and expansion” (Kemp 1981, 75). After the first bank opened in 1805, four more decided to open in 1827. The city was one of the richest, most dazzling of all places full of Parisian couture, fancy restaurants and shops. Royal Street became the main commercial artery while Bourbon Street was a place for the elite and their residences. Southern cotton was becoming heavy in trade that a new type of transportation needed to become available to transport the bulky materials. Steamboats became the main source of transportation of materials by 1823. There was an astronomical amount of 50 steamboats that aided in the commerce of the city. Hundreds of streetlights were put onto the streets along with the first sycamore trees that were planted in Congo Square. The population of New Orleans doubled in the 1830’s and by the 1840’s the population was approximately 350,000, almost half of which were people of color or slaves, making it the fourth largest city in the United States at the time. If they had kept with these increases in population, New Orleans would have easily become the second largest city.
A Cultural Gumbo
Being that New Orleans was owned by many, including the French, Spanish and now America, "Creole society coalesced as Islanders, West Africans, slaves, free people of color and indentured servants poured into the city along with a mix of French and Spanish aristocrats, merchants, farmers, soldiers, freed prisoners and nuns" (Kemp 1981, 76). The society of New Orleans was unlike any other from its mix of inhabitants including Africans, the French, Spanish, Caribbeans, Germans, Irish Sicilians etc.
The Formation of Canal Street 1820-1850
Between 1820 and 1850, Canal Street became the Central Business District where commercial construction was taking place. The years leading up to the Civil War, commercial building intensified here and original residents began to move further uptown. The opposing forces exerted on the city from the collection of ethnicity within it, have been a major influence in the city’s growth patterns and layout. The Americans never assimilated with the Europeans and likewise with the people who migrated from the Caribbean. This separation of societies was a factor in the layout of streets and neighborhoods that you still see today. After the Louisiana Purchase, the Creole New Orleans (French and Spanish) and the Americans were somewhat hostile towards each other that in turn caused a need for a “neutral ground” in the city that separated the two, later to be known as Canal Street. It originally was going to be constructed as a canal hence the street name, but was never built and later changed to the main thorough street that lines the edge of the French Quarter and the central business district. Even today, the original French street names are used throughout the Vieux Carre (French Quarter) but as they pass through Canal Street and into the American sector of the CBD, they change to an American street name. You can also see history in the street names that are not present such as the absence of a street named after President Lincoln. This was because there was so much value for slaves in the south and Lincoln was against the owning of slaves, New Orleanians saw Lincoln as “a threat to four billion dollars of human property-the total estimated on paper value of slaves in the South” (Sublette 2008, 8). He was not even listed in the ballot for Louisiana and surrounding southern states.
Divisions of Municipality 1880's
The Creoles were starting to spill out of the French Quarter but still did not want to be mixed in with the Americans. Since Uptown and Downtown (both American sectors of community) formed two sides of the Vieux Carre and the river was on the other, the Creoles were forced to either continue packing into the French Quarter or spill over beyond the walls in the back swamp which is now known as Esplanade Ave. This street in time became the main artery of suburban Creole New Orleans. New Orleans had “formally divided into three self-governing municipalities, the first municipality being the French Quarter, the second being the new American sector, and the third the Downtown Creole-immigrant city” (Lewis 1976, 39). The heart of the Creole section is now what is known as the ninth ward.
While the city began booming again, for the first time in New Orleans's history, the city was running out of space for expansion. They were already tightly packed due to the European like city planning, but needed other ways to accommodate more people. The streetcars and ferry services at this point were being used on a regular basis and being improved upon. This made it possible for people to start living further and further away from their work. New foreign immigrants were increasing making the expansion that much more vital. They had three options available to them to help accommodate more people-"to expand the city lakeward from the natural levee, to let settlement crawl farther and farther along the levee, or to crowd more people onto the same land" (Lewis 1976, 57).
New Orleans first Suburb 1830's
Around this time, many chose to leave “Old Square” or French Quarter for New Orleans’s first suburb; the Lower Garden District because it was becoming too crowded. This used to be an old Plantation owned by a millionaire named Bernard de Marigny. Many Creoles moved here but also kept their home in the Vieux Carre. The Garden District was the first place in New Orleans where American architects were introduced and designed with hints of Federal and Greek Revival architecture. The traditional Spanish way of residential planning designed the lots to have the buildings butt up against the sidewalks and be turned inward towards an inner courtyard, but here in the Garden District the mansions were set back from the street to allow space for a front yard.
The Shotgun House
Shotgun houses are the predominant house type in New Orleans. They started to be constructed in 1850 until 1910 and can be found throughout the city. Due to the humid and hot weather conditions of the South, the design of these shotgun style homes were constructed as long and narrow, usually no more than 12 feet wide. They were elevated off the ground with brick piers for floodwater protection and usually have a semi enclosed front patio. These patios were generally covered by a roof and supported by ornamented, Victorian columns.
The Great Scourge 1853
New Orleans continued to grow and prosper despite the lack of economic stability previously witnessed as a result of the constant fear of yellow fever epidemics in the port city. The inevitable happened, and New Orleans was hit with the scourge of yellow fever every summer for many years. The yellow fever took many lives, and caused wealthier residents to flee for the summers. Cholera, typhus, and other plagues came through New Orleans and led to New Orleans being viewed as one of the unhealthiest cities in the world. The year 1853 had the highest deaths in a single year in New Orleans. Records show that about 8,000 people died in New Orleans in 1853 due to the yellow fever. There were so many people who died that “open wagons made the rounds through the city to pick up heat-swollen, rotting bodies” (Kemp 1981, 87). At the time, they had no idea what the cause was until the early 20th century when improved drainage helped with mosquito breeding grounds. The total deaths counted were approximately 41,000 between 1817 and 1905. This epidemic brought on an influx of immigrants from Europe.
The End of the Golden Age 1865
“The Civil War was a lurid episode in New Orleans’ history, and according to local legend, it was the war that put a sudden and cruel end to the city’s lordly dominance over the Mississippi valley” (Lewis 1976, 47). A major influence of the fall was also poor technology of transportation. New Orleans was still using steamboats while Chicago and Saint Louis were using railroads. At this time, both Chicago and Saint Louis exceeded New Orleans in population by 1869. Before the end of the century, cities like Detroit, Cincinnati and Minneapolis had more population and by the 1890’s, New Orleans dropped to thirteenth place in the nation’s metropolitan status.