During 2013 investigations in City Square 350, archaeologists excavated a large and well-constructed brick-lined privy shaft, producing a rich assemblage of glass containers and ceramic vessels, along with an abundance of personal items, including…

Human history from the 15th-20th centuries is dominated by Europeans’ unrelenting encroachment on and theft of land and natural resources in the “new world” and the “global south”. Though chicanery was deployed from time to time to accomplish these…

In the last years of the 18th century, enslavers feared that the practice of enslavement would soon end. It could have, if not for the advent of the cotton gin, which created immense demand for enslaved labor. America purchased Louisiana, the…

Commander Noel Carriere was decorated for bravery in the American Revolution, a black hero in his own time, forgotten in ours. Carriere was born into slavery at English Turn in 1745 to African parents who came to New Orleans in chains. His…

The Louisiana Slave Revolt of 1811 was the largest slave insurrection in the history of the United States. The revolt was carried out by enslaved men and women, house servants and field hands, some born in Louisiana and others recently arrived from…

The extraordinary life-history of Saint Louis la Nuit reads like a first draft of early New Orleans history. Born in Africa in 1728, he had a name, a family and an ethnic identity which defined his place in the world. Torn from his identity moorings…

 In the nineteenth century, the port of New Orleans grew from a colonial supply depot into the second largest port in the country and the fourth largest in the world during the 1840s. European explorers and traders dispersed the centuries-old…

Since its founding 150 years earlier, New Orleans had never seen anything like it: immense crowds of black residents, including members of thirty-some mutual aid societies, thronging Esplanade Avenue for more than a mile to witness the funeral…

Free people of color were instrumental to the creation of the ironwork and architecture that you see while walking throughout the French Quarter. The 1820 Census lists 1,319 free people of color employed in manufacture, almost equal to the number of…

The Leeds Iron Foundry was owned and operated by Charles Leeds. It was located at Delord and Constance Streets during the Antebellum period of the nineteenth century. The foundry was opened in 1824. Leeds became a partner in 1844 upon his father’s…

Almost 300 years ago, in 1727, the Ursuline nuns arrived in New Orleans at the invitation of Governor Bienville. While awaiting the completion of their convent in 1734, the Ursuline nuns established a school and an orphanage. The Ursuline Order…

In August 1861, Harry Macarthy, also known as "The Arkansas Comedian," arrived in New Orleans to perform a three-month stint of "Personation Concerts" at the Academy of Music, a then popular play house located on St. Charles…

The popularity of sheet music in the United States had reached its peak by the start of the Civil War. Well before the development of recording and broadcasting technology, the commercial music industry centered upon the circulation of sheet music…

Judge Francois-Xavier Martin, a Louisiana Supreme Court judge for thirty-one years, from 1815 until his death in 1846, first acquired 915 Royal Street in 1818 for $7,500. At that time, a two-story brick house with a tile roof was situated on the…

The Historic Garrison section of Jackson Barracks consists of the original post constructed in the 1830s. These 19 buildings, surrounded by a 12 foot wall, served four companies of US Army regulars. By the 1830s, the Army decided it needed a…

The Washington Artillery, now known as the 141st Field Artillery Regiment, is Louisiana's most historic military unit. Jackson Barracks has been its home since 1923. Part of the post-storm construction was a new and improved readiness center.…

In 1974, the Louisiana Military History and State Weapons Museum was established at Jackson Barracks. By the end of the decade it was housed in the old Powder Magazine, a building dating to 1837. Due to the nature of the structure (holding munitions…

In the 1920s and 30s, the large field north of the Historic Garrison, east of Fleming Hall and Post Headquarters, was used as a polo field. Officers in the 108th Cavalry held tournaments and New Orleanians came out to watch. Included in the new…

The current Post Headquarters buildings were built in the early 20th century and are deemed historic structures. They housed various offices over the years. Units headquartered in these buildings have included the 108th Cavalry, the 141st Field…

In the 1920s, Jackson Barracks was transferred from the regular Army to the state's National Guard. From 1936 to 1940, Louisiana adjutant general Raymond H. Fleming utilized the federal Works Progress Administration to provide renovation and…