Basile, Achilles, Congo and many other enslaved people labored on Étienne de Boré’s plantation within today’s Audubon Park. Alongside planting and harvesting sugar cane, enslaved labor on the Boré Plantation included fishing, masonry, woodworking, blacksmithing, and bringing cypress logs from the swamps to cut and use for building. [3] Though these enslaved people cultivated the land that Audubon Park now resides, it is Boré who continues to receive the credit.

Between 1847 and 1875, Charles-Étienne Arthur Gayarré, the grandson of Étienne de Boré, published five books about antebellum Louisiana. Gayarré, with his connections as the Louisiana Secretary of State and reputation as a historian, produced a lengthy, romanticized publication about Étienne de Boré’s sugar development and industry, named “A Louisiana Sugar Plantation of the Old Regime.” [1] Within this text Gayarre dubbed Boré the master of sugar in New Orleans. And the "savior of Louisiana,” stating that Boré’s sugar industry was a "bourgeois epic.” [2] With Gayarré’s political and social influence, his historical writings shaped the public memory of Boré and slavery in Louisiana.

Unwittingly, Gayarré’s work also highlights the work of enslaved people that labored and lived on the Boré Plantation. Although Gayarré drives romanticism into the stories of those enslaved by Boré, this may be the only time the names of the enslaved are mentioned within the historical record.

Among the stories of enslaved people told in “A Louisiana Sugar Plantation of the Old Regime,” is mention of Basile, a “commander” over those enslaved on the Boré Plantation. Gayarré describes Basile as an enslaved man invested with “limited power” and “armed with an enormous whip, at least twenty feet in length.” [3] Gayarré states, however, that Basile did not command with the whip but with words and songs to the enslaved working the sugarcane fields.

Basile was likely a slave driver for the Boré Plantation. Slave drivers were usually enslaved men who worked as an assistant to the white overseers and enslavers. [4] Typically, slave drivers had some power in directing the work happening within the fields. Though experiences differed among enslaved people, some slave drivers used their power as a “go between” to protect the enslaved from punishment from the overseers. [4]

Like Basile, Achilles also worked on the Boré Plantation. Gayarré states that Boré named this enslaved man Achilles for his fiery attitude, implying that this was not his birth name. [4] His story presents a reminder that enslaved people lived within and outside of slavery, creating their own identies, families, and homes while simultaneously subjugated to the violence of slavery.

The last named enslaved person within “A Louisiana Sugar Plantation of the Old Regime” is Congo. Gayarré tells a story of Congo that represented him as a Sambo character, stating that the overseer tasked Congo to pass a note to Boré, who in turn gave it to a portrait of Boré rather than Boré himself. The Sambo character myth, created by Stanley Elkins in his book Slavery: A problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life (1959) describes enslaved people as “docile, infantile, lazy, and irresponsible.” [6] Like Elkins, Gayarré portrays Congo as unintelligent and reliant on enslavers and overseers for direction. [5]

Other historians, such as Deborah Gray White, combat this stereotype by countering the Sambo character with an actor of resistance. Enslaved people would fake illnesses, “misplace” or destroy tools, work slowly, or act unintelligent to create daily acts of resistance. [6]

Though remembered within a white supremist text, each of these enslaved men labored, lived, resisted and cultivated what is now Audubon Park.

For more (including 3 images) view the original article

Today’s Audubon Park was once the location of the Boré Plantation. In the late eighteenth century, Étienne de Boré converted his plantation crop from indigo to sugar cane due to significant financial struggles. This conversion was only made possible by Antoine Morin, a chemist and a free man of color originally from Saint-Domingue. [3]

On the Boré Plantation, Morin innovated a new process that allowed for sugar granulation. This innovation led not only to the increased wealth and status of Étienne de Boré, but also jump-started the Southern Louisiana sugar industry. While the ability to granulate sugar in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries caused an economic boom for plantation owners and the local economy, it came with the aggressive expansion of the slave trade and deadly working conditions for people enslaved on sugar plantations. The domestic slave trade expanded to meet sugar plantation owners increased demand for enslaved labor. The sugar industry directly contributed to the forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children from the Upper South to the Lower South, disrupting lives and tearing apart families.

After the introduction of the sugar industry to Louisiana in 1795, New Orleans became a hub for the domestic slave trade. [5] Sugar production in eighteenth century Louisiana was labor-intensive and brutal for enslaved people. Sugarcane grows in tropical climates and requires a full eleven or twelve months to reach maturity. Louisiana differs from other sugar-producing regions in the Caribbean belt, such as Saint Domingue or Jamaica, in that Louisiana experiences annual frosts in the winter months. Facing the possibility of losing their crop to frost, Louisiana enslavers and plantation owners forced enslaved people to work day and night during the harvest months between October and December because of sugarcanes’ short window of harvest. [1] Sugar harvesting proceeded at a furious pace, each day enslaved people worked sixteen to eighteen-hour shifts. [2] Nobody was too young or too old to work. Child labor in sugar production was common, leaving children exposed to boiling kettles, hot furnaces, and machetes. [2]

While harvest season was brutal in its breakneck pace, labor on sugar plantations was difficult for the rest of the year as well. The spring and summer months were not restful, as enslaved people tended to other crops and maintained farm equipment and plantation buildings. Combined with the dangers of harvesting, the furnaces, and mills, environmental factors on sugar plantations also made a dangerous life for enslaved people. While the possibility of disease was a risk all year for enslaved people, the hot and swampy summer months created an increased risk for diseases like malaria, cholera, and yellow fever. [2]

Across the United States, Louisiana sugar plantations were the only plantations where the death rate of enslaved people exceeded the birthrate. The dangers of disease, the violence of the slave trade, and the sugar production’s grueling labor for enslaved people were all exasterbated by Boré’s sugar plantation. [4]

For more (including 5 images) view the original article

In 1794, Étienne de Boré (1741-1820) forced enslaved men and women to convert his failing indigo fields into a sugar plantation. [4] This forced labor camp sat across the lower parts of today’s Audubon Park. The plantation history is memorialized through historical markers in the park depicting Étienne de Boré as the man that revolutionized sugar production in Louisiana. These markers leave out historical figures essential to Louisiana's sugar industry.

Beginning in the 1730s, plantations around New Orleans produced mostly tobacco and indigo. [3] But by 1795, sugarcane became an enormous money-making crop around the Caribbean as the demand for sugar escalated in Europe. Beyond its use as a sweetener, people used sugar for food preservation and medicinal purposes. [1]

Because the sugarcane crop grew well in the subtropical environment of Louisiana, Boré aimed to capitalize on what people of the time considered “white gold.” [2] Before 1795, refining sugar cane into granulated sugar on a large scale had not yet been done successfully and was only done in experimentation. [3] To ensure his sugar plantation’s financial success, Boré hired Antoine Morin, a chemist and a free man of color originally from Saint-Domingue. [3] Boré heard of Morin’s engineering success through Antonio Mendez a contemporary of Boré and the owner of the Terreaux-Boeufs Plantation located in St. Bernard Parish. [7] Morin, through his work with the Terreaux-Boeufs Plantation, cultivated a reputation for having the best technical knowledge of sugar production and granulation. [4] According to historian Richard J. Follet, Antoine Morin was “an alumni of distinguished Parisian colleges” and “proved an excellent chemist and botanist who enjoyed considerable fame in New Orleans as the premier sugar maker in the colony.” [4]

Today, historians have little knowledge of Morin’s sugar making process. To begin his sugar industry, Boré purchased sugar cane from Antonio Mendez. In 1795, Boré commissioned Morin as his sugar maker. [5] This commission required Morin to organize the work of enslaved people to build a sugar mill and factory, as well as planting the sugar cane fields. [4] Morin innovated a new sugar-making process and produced the first granulated sugar for commercial sale in Louisiana through the Boré Plantation. [5]

In 1796, Morin and Boré’s first sugar crop yielded twelve-thousand dollars profit, which is worth the equivalent of over three million dollars today. So how did Boré become the memorialized revolutionary of the Southern Louisiana sugar industry? During the nineteenth century, Charles Gayarre, Boré’s grandson, was a writer, historian and the Secretary of State in Louisiana. Gayarre grew up on the Boré plantation and wrote a lengthy, romanticized version of Boré’s sugar development, innovations, and industry. [6] Through Gayarre’s political and social influence and historical writings, Boré’s name lived on as master of sugar in New Orleans, with Gayarre naming Boré as the hero of a "bourgeois epic" and the "savior of Louisiana.” [4]

Gayarre’s works do not include any information on Antoine Morin. It is clear that Antoine Morin and his work as a chemist shaped the Southern Louisiana sugar market. However, popular histories continue to memorialize Étienne de Boré as the sole contributor and maker of the Louisiana sugar boom. Without Antoine Morin or the labor of enslaved people, Boré would not have developed a successful sugar plantation.

For more (including 3 images) view the original article

Today, Audubon Park is a space dedicated to leisure in New Orleans. Every day, hundreds of New Orleans tourists and locals enjoy the public jogging path, lagoons, picnic shelters, golf course, playgrounds, and the Audubon Zoo. However, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the land that is now Audubon Park was the Boré Plantation (lower Audubon Park) and the Foucher Plantation (upper Audubon Park). [1] The Boré and Foucher were “sister” plantations, meaning that the Borés and Fouchers were related by family ties. The Audubon Nature Institute highlights the plantation history of the park with plaques, markers, such as the “de Boré” oak tree, and artifacts like eighteenth-century sugar kettles placed throughout the park. 

From 1776 to 1794, the Boré Plantation produced mostly indigo. [2] After a failed indigo harvest in 1794, Étienne de Boré (1741-1820) ordered enslaved people to convert the fields into a sugarcane plantation in order to avoid financial ruin. [3]

Popular histories often credit Étienne de Boré, an enslaver and the first mayor of New Orleans, with establishing the sugar industry in Southern Louisiana. This historical narrative ignores the grueling and deadly work that the sugar industry required of enslaved people. This tour reframes Boré’s contributions to the sugar industry and centers the work of enslaved and free people of color who made the industry’s growth possible. 

For more (including 5 images) view the original article

In 1819, President James Monroe commissioned Fort Pike’s construction alongside six other forts on the Louisiana coast. [2] Originally known as Fort Petites Coquilles, Monroe commissioned the fort with the intention of protecting the city of New Orleans from a second British invasion after the War of 1812. Fort Pike received a name change to honor General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, a War of 1812 leader and avid explorer of the Louisiana territory.

Originally, Fort Pike served as a barracks for up to 400 men and provided storage for gear and ammunition. While the military that occupied Fort Pike never fired a single cannon, the walls of Fort Pike still hold a violent past. During the Seminole Wars (1817-1858), the US government attempted to push Indigenous peoples from their lands in Florida and Alabama. Because of Fort Pike’s location and accessibility, the US government imprisoned Seminole people and previously enslaved self-emancipated people within Fort Pike’s walls in order to steal the Seminoles’ lands. [3] Prior to imprisonment, the Floridian Seminole people “rejected a dubious treaty signed at Fort Gibson in 1833” between delegates of the US government and Seminole leaders that would exile Seminoles and relinquish their land to the US. [3] Shortly after this rejection, self-emancipated enslaved people sought asylum within the Seminole territory in exchange for an allyship. Unfortunately, the Seminole people interchanged the language of allyship to re-enslavement of the self-emancipated people.

[3 pg.85]

With this exchange in place, the Seminoles would require the enslaved people to serve as military support against the US government if necessary. Soon enough, it was. After multiple attempts from the US government to remove the Seminoles and their Black allies from the land, war broke out. According to historian Daniel H. Usner, Jr., “what would become known as the Second Seminole War began with the assassination of agent Wiley Thompson in December 1835 and lasted until August 1842, costing the United States more than twenty million dollars and the lives of some fifteen hundred soldiers and uncounted militiamen and settlers.” [3] The lives of the Seminole people and previously enslaved were not taken into consideration during this cost count. This devastation allowed General Thomas Jesup to deceive the Seminoles. Under false pretenses of a truce, Jesup captured Seminole leaders and forced them to turn over Seminole land. [4] Jesup arranged for ships to transport the Seminole and Black peoples to northern lands, where he promised security “in their lives and property.” [3] This promise was a deception. Instead, “Thomas S. Jesup captured the popular Anglo attitude toward the Seminoles,” stating that “‘the country can be rid of them only by exterminating them.’” [1] It was in this genocidal notion that Jesup, with the help of the US government, imprisoned and shipped Indigenous and Black people to Fort Pike. [3] Usner states that, “over many months at a time, thousands of Indian and [B]lack prisoners of war were confined to Fort Pike on a narrow split of land at the entrance of Lake Pontchartrain or to US army barracks on the downriver outskirts of New Orleans.” [3] Imprisoned Seminole and Black peoples waited for ships to retrieve them and bring them to the new lands supposedly awaiting them. By March 30, 1838, the ships never came. This act left 1,150 imprisoned people stranded at Fort Pike. Major Issac Clarke, a quartermaster assistant, took note that of these 1,150 people, most were sick and the person who was to look after their “shelter” was nowhere to be found. After being stranded for up to a year, the Seminole people emancipated themselves and left Fort Pike. [3]

For more (including 14 images) view the original article

In the 1920s, the William H. Todd Corporation built Todd Shipyards on the shore of the Mississippi River in an area once known as McClellanville. The shipyard was located near the Algiers Naval Station at the present-day intersection of Merrill and Patterson streets. Since the early days of shipping in New Orleans, the West Bank of the Mississippi River housed industries that supported the area’s shipping traffic. While loading docks and ports were mostly on the East Bank of the river, dry docks and ship repair facilities were on the opposite bank of the river in Algiers and nearby communities.

In 1936, Todd Shipyards merged with nearby Johnson Iron Works. The resulting combined industry brought economic growth to the area with jobs at the docks in addition to other local supporting businesses including food, housing, utilities, and supplies.

During World War II, Todd-Johnson Dry Docks, as it was known for a time, covered 73 acres that included 50 buildings covering 228,000 square feet. There were 6,400 linear feet of wharves along the river and two dry docks that could lift ships weighing up to 20,000 displacement tons. Over 4,000 people worked around the clock to build and repair military craft including submarines.

In 1944, Mel Ott, Gretna born right fielder for the New York Giants, joined Todd-Johnson’s personnel department during baseball’s off season for a “winter war job.”

After the war, Todd Shipyards continued shipbuilding and repair operations in this location for several decades. In 1979, Todd Shipyards lengthened the wharf by 450 feet and constructed new dry dock facilities. In the early 1980s, military defense buildup of the Reagan administration provided more work for the shipyards.

In the 1980s, Todd Shipyards, like many shipyards throughout the nation, fell on economic hard times as demand for domestic commercial shipbuilding waned. On June 3, 1985, 136 Todd Shipyard employees went on strike to combat proposed cuts to pay and benefits. Just six months after the strike began, Todd Shipyard closed. Todd Shipyards (which operated additional shipyards in Houston, Los Angeles, and Seattle) filed for bankruptcy protection. In 1987, the Port of New Orleans acquired the shipyard's 21 acres and remaining equipment for $6.9 million in settlement of the company’s debt.

Todd Shipyards’ docks, wharves, and buildings no longer stand. The site of the shipyard is currently green space. In 2018, the Port of New Orleans asked the city to alter the site’s zoning from green space to maritime use to permit shipping, docking, and industrial activity. As of September 2019, the Port withdrew its application and no changes were planned due to serious community opposition.

For more (including 3 images) view the original article

“Weeds, snakes, and a contaminated lake.”

These were the swimming conditions that New Orleans provided for African Americans prior to the opening of Lincoln Beach. In 1938, Sam Zemurray, president of United Fruit Company, deeded a 2.3-acre tract of land to the city. The following year, the Orleans Parish Levee Board purchased the land. The tract was along the lakefront in the Little Woods section of New Orleans East. The city asserted that Little Woods was a ‘separate but equal’ recreational area, in compliance with the standard established in Plessy v. Ferguson. However, many African-Americans recall a 12-mile trip on an unpaved road that was followed by crossing active railroad tracks, and waste from nearby fishing camps which polluted the swimming water.

African-Americans continued to seek out other options so they could stay cool in the tropical summers. Some visited the nearby Seabrook in spite of police harassment and the city’s refusal to provide lighting or lifeguards. The most impactful tragedy at Seabrook occurred in 1931 when a group of six family members all drowned together due to a sinkhole in the lake. Such drownings became increasingly common as structural improvements were made along the North Shore of the lake. Real estate investments increased the value of homes in burgeoning white communities. Additionally, the white sand that was imported for the newly constructed and segregated Pontchartrain Beach eroded the South Shore.

After 25 years of struggle for recreational equality and environmental racism, the Orleans Levee Board invested $500,000 in building a lakeside amusement park for African-American citizens, who comprised about 200,000 — or 32% — of the city’s population in 1950. More extensively developed than the park designated in 1939, Lincoln Beach was a better-equipped site. Some remember tickets for free admission to Lincoln Beach that came in Sunbeam Bread. There was a Midway with rides, a ferris wheel, rollercoaster, and games of chance. Patrons dined at the Carver House Restaurant, and danced atop its terrace.

There were two swimming pools with a lifeguard corps and a swimming teacher, Edward X. Dunn. One of the pools was named in honor of Capt. Nolan McNeal, a former slave and fighter for black progress. Highlights at Lincoln Beach included bathing beauty contests and diving expositions. It was also the site of the annual Negro State Fairs. Musical artists included Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, Earl King, The Neville Brothers, Nat King Cole, The Ink Spots, Ernie K-Doe, Dr. John, and many others.

Despite marked improvements, most African-Americans recognized that Lincoln Beach was a park of lesser quality than the Whites-only Pontchartrain Beach. Lincoln Beach was a quarter-mile in length in contrast to Pontchartrain Beach’s half-mile, and it was difficult to arrive at, but it was a place where African-Americans produced culture through their bodies. And as many have said, “It was a place where I felt safe.”

Since its closure following the desegregation of public accommodations under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Lincoln Beach has become dilapidated. It barely shows the skeleton of what it once was. As soon as Pontchartrain desegregated, the Orleans Levee Board abandoned caring for the beach. And once Pontchartrain Beach integrated, owner Harry Batt disinvested in his own property. White violence was initially enacted against African-Americans that began to integrate Pontchartrain. Eventually, whites stopped attending the park at all.

Mr. Leon A. Waters [researcher, author, and native of New Orleans] took me [storyteller Danielle Abrams] to Lincoln Beach in the summer of 2018. We stood on the levee looking down into a forest that blanketed the beach. Mr. Waters said to me, “They let that forest grow so we’d forget it [segregation] ever happened.”

For more view the original article

The “Monument to the Immigrant” was erected in March 1995 and stands along the Mississippi River in Woldenberg Park. The monument depicts an immigrant family on one side and the other side a stylized figure shaped like the front of a ship, reminding people that New Orleans is historically a port city and a city of immigrants. “Monument to the Immigrant” is a link to the past sitting on the river’s edge representing how the old and the new are interconnected in New Orleans.

The Italian American Marching Club in New Orleans commissioned Franco Alessandrini to sculpt the monument. Alessandrini, an Italian immigrant, came to the United States in the 1970s, making Louisiana his home. When the monument was dedicated, Judge Anthony J. Russo gave a stirring dedication speech, ending with, “LET US NOT FORGET OUR IMMIGRANTS,” (Italian American Society).

The site of the monument, the riverfront of New Orleans, was one of the first places where generations of immigrants first touched solid ground when they arrived. Alessandrini, who traveled to Carrara, Italy, to select the marble for the monument, used actual photos of immigrants arriving in the city to ensure that he depicted them with accuracy.

The inscription on the monument reads:

“MONUMENT TO THE IMMIGRANT DEDICATED TO THE COURAGEOUS MEN AND WOMEN WHO LEFT THEIR HOMELAND SEEKING FREEDOM, OPPORTUNITY AND A BETTER LIFE IN A NEW COUNTRY MARCH 19, 1995 COMMISSIONED BY THE ITALIAN AMERICAN MARCHING CLUB SPONSORED BY PRIVATE CITIZENS, BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS.”

For more (including 5 images) view the original article

Long ago before there was Lee Circle, the circular park that connected Faubourg Santa Maria (today’s Central Business District) and the Lower Garden District in New Orleans was called Place du Tivoli. Also known also as Tivoli Gardens or Tivoli Circle, the park’s name derives from the legendary beauty of the centuries-old gardens in Lazio, Italy and is usually associated with public garden parks in Europe.

In such settings, the Tivoli name is often used to conjure images of paradise. In New Orleans, famous engineer, architect, and city surveyor, Barthélémy Lafon, incorporated the circle park into his urban plan design in the new faubourgs upriver. Placing the park along the grand avenue leading into the neighborhood, Lafon imagined a place for entertainment and amusement, encircle his garden with canals that interlaced the lower Garden District similar to Venice, Italy. This romantic and European-inspired recreation would become Place du Tivoli. Tivoli Circle would become an area welcome to circuses, social events, and even a carousel during the 19th century.

Lafon’s surrounding street names also reflect the popular vogue of Greek Classical culture and history of the 1810s. Lafon intended Tivoli circle to announce the transition of St. Charles Ave to the Cours des Naiades, after legendary freshwater Greek nymphs, and Cours des Tritons, or Triton’s Walk along present day Howard Avenue, in reference to Poseidon’s powerful triton staff from Greek mythology. Although the city did not keep these two earlier names, Lafon’s plan included “The Harp of the Nine Muses” located near the circle, which geographically creates the shape of a harp with the parallel “strings” named after each of the nine lovely Greek goddesses of the arts.

In 1833, the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad was chartered and opened for business just two years later. Today, these tracks have been updated for use by the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar Line. The railroad served to connect the city of New Orleans with its growing suburbs in areas like Carrollton. The train track cut through Tivoli Circle in an arc, traveling along Triton’s Walk to Baronne Street, where it continued into the city to Poydras.

Tivoli Circle served as the main link between Downtown New Orleans and Uptown neighborhoods and is still a popular location to meet and celebrate for Mardi Gras parades. During the Union occupation of New Orleans during the Civil War, troops camps on Tivoli Circle with their cannons and weaponry.

When Robert E. Lee died in 1870, just five years following the end of the Civil War, the Robert E. Lee Monumental Association formed. After fourteen years of private funding and planning by the Association, the statue of General Robert E. Lee was erected on February 22, 1884. The 7,000lb., 16.5ft. bronze statue stood atop a 90-foot Tennessee marble column at Tivoli Circle, a site donated by the New Orleans City Council. After standing for nearly 133 years, the statue of Robert E. Lee was removed from Lee Circle in 2017. The Tivoli name has come up in other venues within the neighborhood around its former home through restaurants and senior apartment buildings. Tivoli Circle served as a city center in many ways, having been at the focus of many important buildings that have come and gone. While the circle’s title, social, and political purpose has changed over the past two centuries, the area that was originally Place du Tivoli remains an icon of travel, commerce, and social gathering within the city of New Orleans.

For more view the original article

Confetti Park is a whimsical, magical playground for kids.

Landscape architect Christopher Friedrichs and sculptor Steve-Kline designed Confetti Park in 1996 on land that was a legacy of the Duverje family and home of Algiers' first firehouse (1851). The park derives its name from the Kline's sculptural aluminum fence which is decorated with a pierced confetti pattern. According to a Times-Picayune article, Kline "lavished all his craftsmanship on the fence, treating it as seriously as any sculpture. Speaking of the park prior to its 1996 renovation, Friedrich noted that "there was a broken-down fence on the site when we arrived, and our first decision was that it needed replacing. The new fence gives the playground a special signature: it looks like a fun version of a picket fence and relates to the scale of this residential neighborhood.

Today the park is home to playground equipment, suitable for children aged 2-12, picnic tables, cypress trees, and a small chipped area suitable for running and playing.

Confetti Park was not always so kid-friendly. In fact, in her 2002 article, “Playing it Safe,” Juliette Guilbert reports that the park, “like many of New Orleans’ 100-plus playgrounds, was desperately in need of renovation.” Neighborhood parents called one piece of equipment “the Tower of Death . . . a 12-foot-tall cone fashioned from metal bars and covered with several layers of chipping paint . . . no protective surfacing under the Tower – nor under the park’s swings or old metal slide.” (Guilbert) So, as other neighborhoods around the city, Algiers Point residents organized in 2000 and “took matters into their own hands to rescue dilapidated and dangerous playgrounds,” and ultimately, in 2002, they incorporated as Confetti Kids Inc, a nonprofit organization with 70 member families. Kristin Gisleson-Palmer, at that time co-president of Confetti Kids Inc., said the organization was searching for funding to create “a playground that is reflective of our community and inspiring to our children." (Guilbert) And, so they did. Working to fulfill their mission “to preserve, enhance, and protect our parks to enrich the quality of life for present and future generations in a safe and secure environment in Algiers Point,” during the next three years, not only did they do a complete overhaul of Confetti Park, but they also “worked in partnership with the Algiers Point Association, Art Council of New Orleans, Friends of NORD, Old Algiers Mainstreet Corp., and NORD to achieve the renovation of Delcazal Playground,” just a few blocks away. (Confetti Kids Website)

Along with the playground, Confetti Park also hosts lots of fun activities, such as parties, puppet shows, bicycle races, music events. In addition, there are annual events, such as the Krewe of Confetti Kids Mardi Gras Parade, the Friendship Day Parade, the Easter Egg Hunt, the Candy Land Ball, the Spooktacular Halloween Party, and Christmas events.

For more (including 5 images) view the original article

Saint Anthony’s Garden is located just behind the landmark St. Louis Cathedral in the heart of the French Quarter. The space is easily identifiable by the large iron fence and the statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched that casts a remarkable shadow against the back wall of the Cathedral.

The history of St. Anthony’s Garden is complex. The garden did not begin to take own its present form till 1845. Originally, Orleans Street went all the way to the back of what became St. Louis Cathedral, meaning that the upriver and downriver sides of today’s garden have different developmental histories in the 18th century. The downriver side of the garden, for instance, was the location of a garden maintained by Capuchin monks in the early years of the city. Later, Spanish curate Antonio de Sedella, also known as Pere Antoine, is said to have maintained a residence in the area behind the church. Pere Antoine is also said to have allowed the church grounds to be used for temporary housing after the Good Friday fire of 1788. This practice was later institutionalized in a series of residences fronting on Royal Street, none of which remain today. During the early 19th century, the open square behind the church was a popular meeting place and an informal market for residents of the French Quarter.

St. Anthony’s Garden was badly damaged during Hurricane Katrina, and the Getty Foundation supported an effort to restore it afterward. Archaeological investigations were conducted in order to provide insight into how the space functioned historically and to inform plantings in the restored garden. The wealth of materials from well-defined proveniences and stratigraphic contexts will make the St. Anthony’s Garden excavations an invaluable source for future research in New Orleans. Among the noteworthy aspects of the excavations was an abundance of Native American wares in Colonial-era contexts, including materials associated by Dawdy and her team with trade and reciprocal relationships between French and Indians in the early years of the city. The dig produced a substantial assemblage of hand-formed wares, with some 225 sherds of hand-built earthenwares of likely Native manufacture, including many red-filmed shell-tempered varieties, one of the largest such samples from urban New Orleans. Dawdy interprets many of the Colonial-era features as indicative of an informal marketplace that would have contributed to the formation of creole or hybrid practices through trade and co-labor. Later deposits demonstrate the degree to which this formerly public space is closed to access and regulated in later periods, with the neighboring Cathedral coming to dominate the space’s use.

For more (including 9 images) view the original article

During 1977 and 1978, the University of New Orleans conducted an archaeological project within what is now Armstrong Park. It focused on two areas, the Jazz Complex, a small area around what had been Perseverance Hall, and Congo Square, the commons area known as a gathering site for the city’s African-American population in the antebellum period. The site of Congo Square was once also the site of Fort St. Ferdinand, a colonial-era fortification on what had been the outskirts of the city. Until 1970, much of the area that became Armstrong Park was a densely developed portion of the Treme neighborhood; at that time, 9 blocks were razed to make way for the proposed cultural center intended to be at the center of the park. As these blocks were cleared and landscaped, bottle and relic hunters had almost unfettered access to the area, and presumably, most of the intact archaeological deposits in the park area were destroyed as a result. The excavation done in 1977 and 1978 had little success in finding intact materials associated with the use of the area as Congo Square, though it was able to identify some intact urban features like privies and wells, the foundation of a spring house, and remains from Fort St. Ferdinand.

Fort St. Ferdinand and the Colonial Fortifications of New Orleans

Although some maps from the French era depict elaborate fortifications surrounding New Orleans, these actually consisted of only a simple moat until about 1760. Fear of a British attack prompted the French to improve this system, adding palisades and bastions, including one in the vicinity of Congo Square. These were in a state of constant decay and disrepair until the 1790s, when Spanish governor Baron de Carondelet, this time fearing attack by the Americans, had a series of five more permanent bastions, surrounded by a moat and connected by a rampart and banquette (or sidewalk), constructed. The remains of the 1794 bastion uncovered beneath Congo Square fit well with some of the contemporary descriptions, including remnants from an arched brick walkway that extended over the moat.

Congo Square

The ‘Place Publique’ at the edge of the city became known as Congo Square soon after New Orleans became part of American territory, and the dances and gatherings that took place there was a frequent source of fascination for visitors to the city in the antebellum period. In the 1890s, its name was changed to Beauregard Square in recognition of Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard—part of a large-scale campaign to enforce racial hierarchy in the Jim Crow era city by valorizing those who fought for slavery. The name was only officially changed to Congo Square in 2011, a reminder that racist and white supremacist memorials are remarkably persistent in New Orleans and the South, even when their historical intents are starkly apparent. Unfortunately, because of the degree of landscaping in the park area, archaeologists found few deposits that could be associated directly with the public gatherings at Congo Square. A layer lined with ballast stone cobbles, only sporadically present across the site, may represent the old surface of the common area.

For more (including 14 images) view the original article

Known as Shakespeare Park until 1979, this park served as a starting point of revolution and change during the Civil Rights Movement. During The 1960 Dryades Street Boycott, Black New Orleanians protested local businesses that accepted their money as customers but refused to employ them. Protestors boycotted stores on Dryades Street and marched in protest. The 1960 Dryades Street Boycott march started at this park and ended at City Hall.

In the 19th century, John McDonogh, a controversial historic figured remembered for his exploitation of enslaved people and late-in-life philanthropy, owned the land now occupied by A. L. Davis Park. In 1979, the city renamed the park in honor of New Orleans' first African-American city council member, Reverend A. L. Davis. The park is located close to the New Zion Baptist Church, where Reverend Davis often preached.

This site continues to serve the community a space for collaboration, recreation, and celebration.

For more (including 1 video) view the original article

Louis Armstrong Park is a 30 acre park featuring several sites and sculptures related to New Orleans music history. The main pedestrian entrance is on N. Rampart at St. Anne Streets.

The shady landscaped space to the west (towards Canal St.) is historic Congo Square, where enslaved persons, free persons and color and Native Americans gathered on Sundays during the colonial and early American periods to trade, perform music and dance . Elements of improvisation, African rhythm patterns, and use of string instruments became incorporated into early jazz.

On the edge of the lagoons to the east (towards Esplanade Ave) are sculptures of New Orleans music icons. Buddy Bolden who reigned as the first "King" of cornet from 1900-1907 is portrayed as three persona in motion, possibly reflecting his unstable mental state. Louis Armstrong' larger than life statue created by esteemed artist Elizabeth Catlett, pays tribute to the King of Jazz in the twentieth century. Further to the north is the bust of Sidney Bechet, the great creole of color clarinetist and peer of Armstrong in New Orleans during the 1910s. Beyond this grove Mahalia Jackson, considered the greatest gospel singer of the twentieth Century, is honored in a modern sculpture and the adjacent Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts.

Across the lagoon to the east (towards Esplanade Ave.) the Perserverance Hall/Masonic Lodge #4 (Society Hall) is typical of many society halls rented out for dances in the 1910s. During this period, jazz musicians including clarinetist/saxophonist Sidney Bechet and bassist George "Pops" Foster played dances there. The first floor would be rented out for public events to produce income for the lodge, and the upper floor was used for lodge rites and dances. Captain Verne Strekfus, who owned a line of excursion riverboats, recruited talented musicians such as Pops Foster from the dance bands.

Built in 1820, this Scottish Rite masonic lodge is one of the oldest in the United States. French-speaking white immigrants from San Domingue who moved to New Orleans following the Haitian Revolt founded the lodge in 1810.

The lodge was situated at the corner of St. Claude Avenue and Dumaine Street, an intersection made famous in Professor Longhair's 1949 hit "Go to the Mardi Gras" as the location where one can "see the Zulu King."

The city developed Louis Armstrong Park in the 1960s and 1970s in an urban renewal project that destroyed a section of the Treme community, considered to be one of the oldest African American neighborhoods in the United States based on the large number of free person of color land owners in the early 1800s. Like the French Quarter, the Treme was largely an Italian and African American community by 1900, and produced the great New Orleans trumpeter/singer Louis Prima, who modeled his style on Louis Armstrong.

Nearby, Lil Dizzy's restaurant (1500 Esplanade Ave.) serves authentic creole gumbo, fried chicken, and ice tea. In a small display, owner Wayne Baquet celebrates his family' rich jazz history, as he is a descendant of clarinetists George Baquet of the Original Creole Orchestra and Achille Baquet of the Original New Orleans Jazz Band,

For more view the original article

The site of Audubon Park today was once a twelve and one-half arpent plantation bought and owned by Pierre Foucher. Foucher abandoned his plantation before the Civil War and fled to France, never returning to Louisiana. The abandoned plantation was used by both the Confederate and Union sides during the war. It was used as a campground for Confederate troops and as a site for a Union military hospital that existed for five years. For almost a decade following, the eye sore of a plot was sold back and forth between wealthy citizens, legislators, and park commission boards. The city of New Orleans purchased the park in 1871. Originally dubbed Upper City Park, a commission was established in 1879 to maintain the land, however the only financial assistance given for operating a park on the site came in the form of revenue from leasing the grounds for grazing. [1] The early history of the park’s development begins with the site being chose for the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition of 1884-85. To learn more about the exposition see visit our other tour “Audubon Park: Site of the 1884 Cotton Centennial Exposition.” Following the exposition, New Orleans City Council created a new park commission to operate the park in May 1886. In 1900 John Charles Olmsted was hired as the park’s designer. His master plan took twenty years to implement, mainly due to a lack of funds. Plans were further delayed and altered by the board’s decisions to lease the park’s riverfront to the Corps of Engineers, and allow the constructing of railroad tracks along the river and the operation of a sugar experimentation station. [1, 2] Much of the original Olmsted design was compromised to evolve the neighborhood park into a place where “people from varied backgrounds wanted to come for recreational pursuits.” Such compromises included the addition of various structures for active recreation such as swimming, tennis, and softball. Most of these were financed by private donors as memorials. Numerous memorials erected during this time (1916-1920s) still stand in the park today. These include Moise Goldstein’s neoclassical St. Charles Avenue entrance, the numerous gazebos, Emile Weil’s Newman Band Stand, the Gumbel Fountain, the Hyams wading pool, and the Popp floral gardens. [3] In the year 1924, the park’s visitors numbered over a million each year. New Orleans native Mary Lou Widmer recalled her childhood outings to the park during the depression years: “A day was set aside, the family was collected, and the long ride began. Our old car wove in and out of those unfamiliar uptown streets, loaded with kids, a picnic lunch and our cooler full of root beer…What a pool Audubon Park had! […] The bathhouse was a wonder in itself. I remember the endless row of lockers, the changing booths, and the huge, mirrored room with hairdryers in the wall. I loved the various facilities. I enjoyed changing my clothes in a private booth, wearing my jingling locker key pinned to the belt of my bathing suit, and running through the hallway of shower jets that sprayed me just before entering the revolving door-way to the pool. These were all spiffy new things we did not have at the City Park pool.” [1] Today, the park continues to thrive, as it has for over a century, as a mecca for outdoor recreation of every kind. People continue to visit the Park to take full advantage of “the alleys of ancient live oaks, the tranquil 1.8 mile jogging path, the lagoon, picnic shelters, playgrounds, tennis courts, and soccer fields.” [4] The park has been the site of numerous cancer walks, charity events, golf tournaments, and various fundraisers. [5]

For more (including 3 images) view the original article

Lafayette Square is located in what is now known as the Central Business District. Previously home Bertrand Gravier's plantation, the land was divided in 1788 to create Faubourg Ste. Marie, New Orleans’ first suburb. Lafayette Square is the second oldest park in New Orleans, after Jackson Square. Lafayette Square was originally named Ville Gravier after the plantation owner Bertrand Gravier until Lafayette’s visit to the city in 1825. [1]

When city hall moved in 1852 to Gallier Hall, across the street from Lafayette Square, major hotels, banks, and business followed suit. It became the central hub for newspaper headquarters in the 1850’s with 16 newspaper offices in the area by 1910. [2] However, when city hall moved its operations to Poydras Street in 1959, the area experienced a decline. Adjacent to Lafayette Square, on South Maestri Place, was the former site of the First Presbyterian Church built in 1857; however, a 1915 hurricane destroyed the church. The grounds are now the site of the US Appeals Court offices.

Lafayette Square was designed by Charles Laveau Trudeau, also known as Don Calos Trudeau. [3] An iron fence, taken down to be reused for World War I machinery, originally enclosed the space. The pathways follow their original design.

There are three statues in Lafayette Square: visages of Henry Clay, John McDonogh, and Benjamin Franklin.

Lafayette Square is currently maintained by both the New Orleans Parks and Recreation Department, and the more location-specific Lafayette Square Conservancy. The Lafayette Square Conservancy is a non-profit group of volunteers founded after Hurricane Katrina to rebuild the park. [4] Currently, Lafayette Square is the site of numerous food and music festivals. [5] [6]

For more (including 4 images) view the original article

The 1980s saw a notable decline in the park's prestige. Numerous residents wrote letters to the editor in the Times Picayune complaining about litter in the park; one letter was titled “Palmer Park Dump.” The most common complaints were about broken bottles throughout the park, especially in the sand areas where children played, and vagrancy; one article labeled the park as a “hotel for winos” and another describing the park as a place where the homeless slept every night. In September 1980 Nancy Shepard adopted the park through the Parks and Parkways Commission’s “Adopt an Area” Program; she noted her plan was to collect money to hire youth to clean up the park. City Councilman Bryan Wagner also became involved and organized park clean-ups and was able to secure the hiring of a full-time groundskeeper. He also passed through a city ordinance banning the drinking of alcohol in the park in 1984. In 1982 the Palmer Park Neighborhood Association was formed and listed as their top priority eliminating litter and crime in the park.

Crime had become a larger problem in the park in the 80s. Numerous Times Picayune articles described armed robberies and violent assaults in Palmer. The park did continue to be the site of community gatherings like the annual Carrollton caroling, the inauguration ceremony for two state officials in 1988, and a 1988 “World Peace Through Race Unity” rally, but the area was more often described as a site of litter and crime than as a community space as it had been in earlier decades.

For more (including 1 audio file) view the original article

In 1947, the Seventh District Carnival Club, originally formed in 1924, returned to parading after a hiatus during World War II. The club changed its name to the Krewe of Carrollton and also changed its Mardi Gras parade route to include Carrollton Avenue, ending with a review stand at Palmer Park. The 1947 theme was a “Fantasy of Fairytales.” That same year the Krewe also held an Easter parade, culminating in an Easter egg hunt in Palmer Park for local White children and orphans from throughout the city. Members of the Krewe dressed up as Easter bunnies and hid the eggs throughout the park. The Krewe is now one of the oldest existing Mardi Gras parade organizations.

In 1979, the Spontaneous Krewe of Platefaces made their debut at Palmer Park. The organization was founded by John Smith, a New Orleans resident that decided to form a Krewe that anyone could afford to join; the only requirement was a paper plate with holes cut for the eyes and mouth. The Krewe assembled at Palmer Park and then boarded the streetcar to toss out handmade doubloons to passersby. The Krewe has continued to participate in Mardi Gras festivities, even having an annual ball at Joey K's Restaurant on Magazine Street.

For more (including 3 images & 1 audio file) view the original article

The 1970s was a period of contention over the future of Palmer Park as local residents opposed efforts by the city to incorporate the park and convert it to a playground. Residents, labeling themselves “Concerned Citizens of Carrollton,” ran an advertisement in the Times-Picayune in 1972 in opposition to the park take over by the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD). They argued that the park would turn into a playground and suffer the same fate as other NORD parks: disrepair, declining property values for nearby homes, and warning it would become a “public disgrace.”

In May 1972, a lawyer whose home was across the street from Palmer Park sued the City Parkway and Parks Commission over proposed playground equipment. He argued that the equipment, intended for small children, would instead provide a hangout for teenagers and “nuisances.” He asked for the proposed equipment's relocation and the commission complied, placing it in the center of the park instead of the periphery, stating they never had any plan to turn the park into a major recreation area. The city erected several small pieces of equipment in the park. One resident complained that teenagers "intimidated" younger children on the slide NORD built.

The "Concerned Citizens” group, led by the local attorney, continued the fight against the conversion to NORD. He argued the commission intended to use public funds to convert Palmer Park into a playground when nearby playgrounds already existed; he threatened to report the misuse of the funds to federal authorities. The group was adamant about the space's preservation as a strictly “promenade park.” The battle was waged both at meetings of NORD and in the Times-Picayune where both sides published letters to the editors. The dispute between the city and local residents became even more agitated when rumor spread that the park was the new location of the Second District Police Station; the City’s Planning Commission denied the report.

In 1975, the Parkway and Parks Commission announced they had approved a $240,000 dollar “facelift” for the park. They argued the plan was a compromise with nearby residents. Plans deemed that one half of the park preserved a “passive area emphasizing quiet recreation such as walking, reading and jogging," the other half a “low-key play equipment” that “would blend into surrounding neighborhood.” The play equipment would be made of wood and the idea was for “children to use their imagination.” They also announced one spot of the park would be marked as an area for a small football game. The commission promised general improvements for the park including better drainage, raised sidewalks, improved lighting, more water fountains, and more trash cans. Residents were not pleased with the compromise; one letter to the editor argued the equipment that had already been placed had turned the park into a “howling, noisy place” made even worse by the fact that the children using the equipment were not from the neighborhood but rather “brought by automobile and dropped off and later picked up.”

The commission’s proposed plans became even more ambitious later that year. As part of an overall plan to green and beautify the city, they intended major improvements for thirty parks and squares in the city and the addition of new small neighborhood parks. In addition to the afore-mentioned playground equipment, several projects envisioned for Palmer Park were planned, including new berms with pedestrian bridges, plants and small trees, large trees along the perimeter; repainting the archway in bright colors, a new walkway from the arch to the center of the park covered by a canopy of trees, and new paths throughout the park. The commission argued that public spaces in the city had been “allowed to deteriorate to become something less than inviting for people.” The changes would “enhance quality of city life, to make it a more pleasant experience for the city dweller.” They also stated that the people of the city had their say in the matter and were in favor of the new changes. In particular, neighbors of Palmer Park, they noted, wanted the park changed to make it more amenable to small children and adults; also, the berms would help cancel noise emanating from the park.

The issue was far from decided, however. The Times-Picayune noted a “Battle a Brewin’” over the matter. City Councilman Frank Friedler, Jr., warned he would oppose the changes unless the commission also provided someone with daily maintenance and security. Similarly, during the August 1975 final meeting on the matter, local residents urged the city to use the money for improvement on security. They argued the park had been “invaded” by “winos” and other “undesirable characters.” They stated they were afraid of assault in the park. The commission urged the residents to address the issue with the police and countered the proposed improvements would attract more “desirable” users. They approved the city’s proposed changes. Over several years, improvements occurred gradually.

In 1977, Palmer Park officially became part of the Park and Parkways Commission. A 1978 dedication ceremony, co-sponsored by the Carrollton Business Men’s Association, featured speeches by Mayor Moon Landrieu, Parkway and Parks Commission

Superintendent Charles Nutter, and the “honorary” mayor of Carrollton J. C. Meynier, Jr., as well as a performance by the Tulane University Concert Band.

For more (including 2 images & 1 audio file) view the original article

Palmer Park was a site for several of the city's World War II neighborhood bond shows. A show in June 1944 featuring speeches by wounded veterans, a parade, and music raised over $123,000 dollars. Residents throughout the city bought over 20 million dollars worth of war bonds.

March 11, 1945 was a notable day of commemoration and remembrance in Palmer Park. The day marked the beginning of a week-long celebration of the centennial of the incorporation of Carrollton. The Carrollton Men’s Business Association organized the event which featured speeches by Archbishop Joseph Rummel, Lt. Governor Emile Verrer, and Edward Alexander Parsons, president of the Louisiana Historical Society. The New Orleans Police Band performed. The main event was the dedication of a monument in the center of the park. The monument bore inscriptions commemorating the centennial and included a dedication to the residents of Carrollton who had fought in World War, still ongoing at the time; names of those who had been killed during the war were also inscribed.

Palmer Park was the site of yearly Memorial Day services after WWII. The commemorations in the immediate years after the war were large events in which wreathes were laid at the monument, Gold Star mothers were honored, speeches and prayers delivered, bands performed music and songs were presented by groups like the New Orleans Opera Association, and review parades of military and civilian units were held. A flagpole was dedicated by the Carrollton Post No. 228 of the American Legion at the 1949 Memorial Day commemoration. The flag was donated by Mrs. Frederick Shell, whose nephew had been killed at the Battle of the Bulge. The flag had originally draped his casket.

A parade and rally was held in Palmer Park for Veteran’s Day in November 1948. The rally's purpose was to advocate for the hiring of disabled veterans. The event featured military personnel, a speech by the mayor, and a screening of the navy film "Operation Crossroads," which showed an atomic bomb being detonated on the Bikini atoll in the Pacific.

Palmer Park was also the site of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the annexation of Carrollton by New Orleans in April 1949. A parade featuring turn of the century vehicles started at St. Charles Avenue and ended at Palmer Park, where a program of speeches, high school marching bands, and community songs followed.

For more (including 21 images & 1 audio file) view the original article

The Arts Market, held the last Saturday of every month in Palmer Park, has a become a popular event. The market, sponsored by the non-profit Arts Council of New Orleans and held in Palmer Park since 2007, features over one hundred local artists, craft people, food vendors, and musicians. The November and December markets are holiday-themed and last both Saturday and Sunday. The park is also the site of the annual Carrollton caroling, an event originally began in 1979-when it also featured a live nativity scene-and revived in 2007.

Holiday celebrations in the park go back over eighty years. In 1930 the city for the first time decorated trees with colored lighting, including the oak trees in Palmer Park. On December 25, 1933, the Old Regular Democratic Organization distributed toys to children while a 60 person band played Christmas songs. In 1946, Palmer Park was the site of “Yule Fest” on Christmas Eve. The event featured the Loyola University male choir singing carols; speeches by the mayor, the president of Loyola, and the pastor of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church; and the “Carrollton Tree of Life,” a Christmas tree that had electric lights fit by the city engineer.

In 2011, new playground equipment was installed. The project, spearheaded by the Friends of Palmer Park, was a partnership with Kaboom!, a national non-profit dedicated to building playgrounds, Disney, and local volunteers. Children can often be seen in the new playground, marking a striking contrast to efforts for decades to keep playground equipment and sports out of the park.

For more (including 5 images & 1 audio file) view the original article

Palmer Park in the first half of the 20th century was used primarily as an official public space, with an emphasis on formal and public gatherings. The park was the site of events like a 1911 “patriotic” Mother’s Day program, featuring speeches by the mayor and an army general, and a performance by a navy band; a formal review of Boy Scout troops as part of the national committee meeting in the city in 1918; meetings of the 17th Ward Civic League; and performances of classical music and marching bands. Proposed changes and use of the park for non-formal activities, especially sports, were opposed by many local residents, led by Tinette Lichtenstein. Born in 1884, Lichtenstein was an active participant in various civic organizations; she became the first woman in the city to run for elected office when she ran for the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1923. Lichtenstein was also a frequent contributor to the Times Picayune, having her own column entitled “Sunshine News and Notes” in the 1910’s.

Despite the refined "sunshine" in her column, Lichtenstein was usually the voice of opposition to change in Palmer Park, writing numerous letters to the editor in the Times Picayune over several decades. She wrote against the proposed wading pool in 1937 because the park was “used mostly by nurses attending babies or accompanied by small children, by recuperating invalids, pupils, by adults, and by persons waiting for buses. Encouraging children to gather in Palmer Park would endanger their lives, because of traffic hazards,” a refrain used repeatedly in her written responses to new measures for the park. In 1938, she opposed a proposed bus shelter and community house in the park, arguing there was already plenty of seating in the park with the iron benches. She also argued that the primary purpose of the park was light recreation, and that the house would obstruct views and thus be a safety issue. In 1941, she opposed the addition of an auditorium because it would “deprive the underprivileged children of the breathtaking space” for which Palmer Park was dedicated. In 1943, she argued against a proposed public toilet, calling it an “indecent outrage” to add the toilet to a park located in a neighborhood that was “well built with far better than average homes.” She noted a bus waiting room recently built nearby had been plagued by “unsanitary conditions, wrong usage, immorality, and danger to neighborhood and passersby.” She signed the letter:

“Yours in Constructive, not destructive measures,

Tinette Lichtenstein

Zoning Consultant and Authoritative Representative of Property Owners in Vicinity of Palmer Park”

Her efforts were largely successful as nearly all changes she opposed were defeated. Her string of success ended in one of her last efforts, her opposition to the World War II Monument. Lichtenstein argued it was “little short of criminal, in my opinion, to make a memorial park of Palmer Park." She argued the funding and the material needed for the monument should have gone to support the war effort; after it was built, but before its dedication, she argued the funding should have been used to support living veterans and it should be installed in the Carrollton Cemetery instead. She believed the monument would turn the space into a memorial park, which would “sadden little children and adults, expectant mothers, shell-shocked veterans, etc.” Despite her efforts, the memorial was installed in May 1945.

Lichtenstein died in 1955, after again defeating an effort to have swimming pools placed in Palmer Park, but her legacy lived on. A 1963 article entitled “A History of ‘Those Things’ in Palmer Park Is Cited” argued that Lichtenstein was responsible for the concrete blocks, installed in the 1910’s throughout the park in an effort to prevent football and baseball from being played in the park. An article five years later revealed the blocks had been created to beautify the park; urns with flowers were supposed to be placed on top but the urn maker died before the project was completed. The blocks, without any inscription to indicate their purpose, were attributed to the efforts of Lichtenstein to prevent sports in the park. Her status as the defender of the status quo in Palmer Park was firmly entrenched.

For more (including 3 images & 1 audio file) view the original article