james

research by Charlie London
Photo of James Pitot courtesy http://trueknowledge.com

James Pitot was the second Mayor of New Orleans but the first Mayor of incorporated New Orleans. He lived for a short time in the house now located at 1440 Moss Street. It is commonly known as the Pitot House. The house is presently occupied by the Louisiana Landmarks Society. You can learn more about the Louisiana Landmarks Society by visiting their website at http://louisianalandmarks.org or calling (504) 482-0312.

The Lafitte Corridor, as it is known today, is on top of the filled-in Carondelet Canal. As you will learn in the 1957 article by Pie Dufor noted below, James Pitot was instrumental in making the Corondelet Canal (now Lafitte Corridor) a reality.

Want to learn more about James Pitot? Please click on the photo of a painting of James Pitot obtained from http://trueknowledge.com

You may enjoy reading some of the original articles about James Pitot and other interesting historical items in the links at the bottom of this post.

TIMES PICAYUNE | October 13, 1957 | article by Pie Dufour

(referring to never dug Canal Street canal)
It all began in 1805 when a group of wealthy Orleanians, headed by James Pitot and Julien Poydras, obtained a charter from the Orleans Territory Legislature for the Orleans Navigation Company.

The plan was to dig the canal in the city commons – the disputed land outside the city – from the river to a point where it would make a right angle turn and continue to connect with the turning basin of the Carondelet canal, which is now the present parking lot of Municipal Auditorium. The Carondelet canal, dug by Baron de Carondelet in 1794, had become a neglected ditch which needed widening and deepening for navigational use.

But the dispute over the commons had to be settled first. The City of New Orleans claimed the commons and so did the government. Finally, on March 3, 1807, Congress conferred the title to the commons on the city, “provided that the corporation shall reserve for the purpose and covey gratuitously for the public benefit, to the company authorized by the Legislature of the Territory… as much of the said commons as shall be necessary to continue the Canal of Carondelet from the present basin to the Mississippi, and shall not dispose of, for the purpose of building thereon, any lot within 60 feet of the space reserved for a canal, which shall forever remain open as a public highway…”

In May, 1808, the canal company president, James Pitot, wrote a long letter to President Thomas Jefferson. The letter, in part, reads:

“We, the Orleans Navigation Company, with the most profound sentiments of respect, beg leave to approach you, to tender our grateful thanks for the munificent grant made us by government, of the lands necessary to the continuing of the canal Carondelet to the River Mississippi through the city commons; and also for the assurances conveyed to us by the Honorable Daniel Clark, that, when the canal shall be so continued, government will defray the expenses of the lock necessary to unite it with the river… Our capital is limited… to the sum of $200,000 divided into 2000 shares of $100 each… We beg leave to state to you that we have not the smallest hope of filling up the subscription among the immediate inhabitants of this territory. We find the greatest difficulty in procuring payment of the installments called for: and in many instances have been compelled to resort to the force of laws. It is a melancholy truth that nothing but the unwearied exertions of the directors has prevented the whole undertaking from falling to the ground. ”

That’s exactly what it did and the (Canal St.) canal was never dug, but the maps of the day called the space “Route of the Projected Canal.” And as the area built up on both sides of the route of the undug canal, what was more natural for the street with the double roadways to be named Promenade du Canal and then Canal Street?

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TIMES PICAYUNE | March 8, 1925 | article by Stella Lazard
James Pitot was highlighted in the March 8, 1925 issue of the Times Picayune that featured the Mayors of New Orleans.

James Pitot built one of the first cotton presses in New Orleans. It stood at the corner of Toulouse and Burgundy streets. He is spoken of as a gentleman of “respectability and talent.” On June 2, 1804, he was elected second Mayor of New Orleans.

His career is signalized by the incorporation of the city municipal council, and the taking of the first steps toward the substitution of an elective magistry for the appointive one.

Pitot took special interest in the police; he enforced an ordinance subsequently created, with Pierre Achille Rivery at its head, under the title of “commissioner general of police in the city and suburbs of New Orleans.” The wretched pay received by its members attracted only the riff-raff, and this ordinanace provided for the employment of mulattoes to fill the ranks and stipulated the officers must be white men.

The utter inefficiency of this organization occasioned general complaint, and in 1804 was supplemented by a patrol of citizens, drawn from the militia and under the command of Colonel Belle Chasse. It received no pay.

In 1805, Pitot made a further reform by reconstituting the “gendarmes” as a mounted corps. The mayor was made chief of the corps in a resolution of May 6, 1803.

The new system worked fairly well and the militia patrol became popular chiefly because it made considerable demands upon the leisure of the citizens.

During Pitot’s mayoralty Congress divided, March 25, 1804, the province of Louisiana in two parts, the upper being annexed to the Indiana territory, and the lower part, which corresponds in boundaries to what is now the state of Louisiana, was erected into the territory of Orleans. New Orleans was made the port of entry and delivery.

On October 1, 1804, the new government went into operation. Claiborne was retained as governor. He too the oath before Mayor Pitot and then delivered an oration in English, afterward
translated into flowery French. Governor Claiborne in his voluminous correspondence never lets his pen run over hte name of Pitot without a commendation of him.

In early March the territorial council furnished the city with a charter. With the adoption of its nineteen sections, determining the area of municipalities, the real history of New Orleans as distinguished from the remainder of the province is said to have begun. The language used in this comprehensive document is the style incorporated by many officials today in their address and is a type clear and comprehensive.

Pitot resigned his office in July, 1805. In his message of resignation he said:

My own affairs not allowing me to fulfill the functions of mayor, I send the governor my resignation. Appreciating all the marks of kindness and of confidence which I have received at your hands. I beg you to accept my acknowledgment. Give me your esteem and believe me deeply grateful.

Yours,
(Signed) JAMES PITOT

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1804, July 261804july26-CommercialAdvertiser – James Pitot Appointed Mayor

1804, November 71804nov7-NationalIntelligencer- Mayor Pitot swears in Governor Claiborne

1805, April 261805apr26- New York Gazette – James Pitot Appointed Mayor

18051805july24-OrleansGazette- Orleans Navigation Company formed by act

1805, July 241805july24-OrleansGazette – Pitot Resigns As Mayor

1805, July 311805july31-OrleansGazette – James Pitot-City Council Notes Resignation

18061806july19-OrleansGazette – James Pitot Sells Wine

1807, April 201807apr20-OrleansGazette – Apply to James Pitot for passage on the ship SARAH

1807, October 291807oct29-OrleansGazette – James Pitot Sells Slave

1807, November 161807nov16-OrleansGazette-Orleans-Navigation-Company-announces-tolls-on-Bayou-St-John

1810, January 111810jan11-MrPoydras-OrleansNavigationCompany-asks-Congress-for-lighthouse