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Bayou St. John is the Reason for New Orleans

March 25, 2013 by Charlie London

by Angela Carll
Times Picayune – November 15, 1985
Bayou St. John is the reason New Orleans is located where it is. The bayou provided a connection from the Mississippi River overland via an old Indian path to Lake Ponchartrain.

A number of historic landmarks still stand in this neighborhood to remind visitors of the city’s heritage.

The Old Spanish Custom House, built in 1784 at the corner of Moss Street and Grand Route Saint John, is the oldest structure in this neighborhood.
Another renowned home is the Pitot House, named for James Pitot, the second mayor of New Orleans. Built in 1799 at 1370 Moss Street, the Pitot House was later moved a short distance up the bayou to 1440 Moss in 1970.

The Tivoli amusement park once stood where the Pitot House is now. It featured a pavillion, orange trees, and dances were held there on Sundays.

Much of Bayou St. John remained swampy and unable to be developed while the city was attempting to drain the area, which was called “back of town” as early as 1835.

In 1866, the city started using the bayou as a drainage receptacle, and a community of houseboats grew up along it. In 1936, the State House of Representatives declared the bayou a non-navigable stream.

Fort St. John, where the bayou and lake meet, was originally built as a fortification by the French and later became the most prominent resort area in New Orleans during the 1930s. The Old Spanish Fort still stands on this site.

The fort is a modern-day battleground. The Orleans Levee Board has proposed replacing the Lakeshore Drive bridge that spans the bayou at its entrance to the lake with a grade-level crossing using culverts for water to flow back and forth from the lake to the bayou.

Members of the Bayou St. John Improvement Association have sued the Levee Board to halt construction, arguing that wind moves water currents and that the City Park lagoons which are fed by water from the bayou will soon stagnate. They also contend that closing the mouth of the bayou will damage an important part of the city’s historical heritage. (The “waterfall dam” near the mouth of Bayou St. John was removed in 2013. Please visit the link for more information: https://fsjna.org/2012/08/update-on-dam-removal/)

Although the bayou today lacks even the rowing clubs, which were popular in the last century, a drive along its curving shore shows typical Louisiana country homes. It still exists to remind us of New Orleans’ earliest beginnings, and why the city was built in a place that seems most improbable to us today.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PDF OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE.

Faubourg St. John was a community ten years before the founding of New Orleans in 1718.

Click on the map of Faubourg St. John for a larger view.

For more information, please visit the ABOUT and HISTORY tabs at FSJNA dot ORG

Filed Under: More Great Posts! Tagged With: bayou, bayou st john, best, best neighborhood in New Orleans, choctaw, choupik, city park, commerce, docks, eclectic, faubourg st john, fort st. john, french, history of new orleans, indians, inlet, Mississippi, moss, neighborhood, New Orleans, new orleans best neighborhood, pitot, Ponchartrain, shipping channel, spanish fort

Plan to Party at the Pitot House Friday

March 14, 2012 by Charlie London

photos by Charlie London

Join the Louisiana Landmarks Society for a unique Vino on the Bayou experience!

Friday, March 16, 2011
5:30 – 7:30 PM


1440 Moss Street | New Orleans

March 31
PRC Shotgun House Tour
Headquarters: The Pitot House10 AM – 4 PM

April 20
Vino on the Bayou, 5:30 – 7:30 PM

May 18
Vino on the Bayou, 5:30 – 7:30 PM

June 8
Vino on the Bayou, 5:30 – 7:30 PM

Filed Under: More Great Posts! Tagged With: 1440 moss, bayou, bayou st john, faubourg st john, friday, home tour, New Orleans, party, pitot, pitot house, vino

Pitot House EVENTS

February 21, 2012 by Charlie London

photos by Charlie London

Join the Louisiana Landmarks Society for a unique Vino on the Bayou experience!

June 8
5:30 – 7:30 PM


1440 Moss Street | New Orleans


March 16
March 31
PRC Shotgun House Tour
Headquarters: The Pitot House10 AM – 4 PM

April 20
Vino on the Bayou, 5:30 – 7:30 PM

May 18
Vino on the Bayou, 5:30 – 7:30 PM

June 8
Vino on the Bayou, 5:30 – 7:30 PM

Filed Under: HISTORY, More Great Posts! Tagged With: bayou, event, faubourg, faubourg st john, house, john, moss, New Orleans, pitot, pitot house, st., street, vino

James Pitot and the Lafitte Corridor

December 17, 2011 by Charlie London

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?

***

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

***
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

18101810mar01-JamesPitot-HouseRepsDocument

18131813dec11-OrleansNavigationCompany-asks-for-land-at-mouth-of-BayouStJohn-DAILYNATIONALINTELLIGENCER
Congress granted the land in 1814.

18141814june14-OrleansNavigationCompany-gets-BayouStJohn-land-REPUBLICAN_STAR

18141814apr22-JamesPitot-judge-parishcourt-OrleansGazette-bottomrightofpage

18171817july26-WashingtonCityWeeklyGazette-Carondelet Canal Finished

18381838apr27-JamesPitot-judge-HouseDoc351

18391839nov14-SpectatorPaper-Fire-at-OrleansNavigationCompany-property

18401840apr3-TIMES-PICAYUNE-tolls-on-timber-to-OrleansNavigationCompany

18411841aug24-PennsylvaniaNorthAmerican-OrleansNavigationCompany-SOLD

18471847apr17-TimesPicayune-LouisianaLegislature-NewOrleansNavigationCompany

18521852may15-TimesPicayune-OrleansNavigationCompany-up-for-auction

18581858may22-TimesPicayune-story-about-the-history-of-OrleansNavigationCompany

18661866oct28-NewOrleansTimes-On-Change

18691869oct20-TimesPicayune-City Draining Sewage Into Bayou St. John

18701870mar20-TimesPicayune-The Neutral Ground

18711871mar29-MrsPitotDies-TimesPicayune

18901890jan1-JamesPitot-clerk-land-office

18971897apr12-TimesPicayune-NewOrleans70yearsago

19021902jan1-inMay1808-JamesPitot-asks-Congress-help-Carondelet-Canal

1925***1925mar8-TIMES_PICAYUNE-JamesPitot-article retyped by Charlie London for easier reading
1925***1925mar8-TIMES_PICAYUNE-MayorsOfNewOrleans – original article as seen in the March 8, 1925 issue of the Times Picayune

19371937sep12-lost-heroes

19381938aug17-RockfordMorningStar-ManAboutManhattanarticleaboutNewOrleans

19471947mar19-TimesPicayune-1300MossSOLD-auction

19471947apr27-TimesPicayune-NewOrleans-100-years-ago

19521952apr27-TimesPicayune-NewOrleans-100-years-ago

1957***1957oct13-TimesPicayune-article-by-Pie_Dufor- article retyped by Charlie London for easier reading
1957***1957oct13-TIMES_PICAYUNE-CanalStbutNoCanal – original article as seen in the October 13, 1957 issue of the Times Picayune

19691969oct19-TimesPicayune-Pitot-Loses-1812-election

19831983mar11-TimesPicayune-Canal-Street

Filed Under: HISTORY Tagged With: canal, carondelet, company, james, landmarks, louisiana, navigation, New Orleans, orleans, pitot

Dec 3rd: Le Marche des Fetes

November 26, 2011 by Charlie London

Le Marché des Fêtes is a unique holiday boutique benefiting the historic Pitot House, home of the Louisiana Landmarks Society on Bayou St. John.

Benefitting the historic Pitot House, shoppers are invited to a magical market place to find one-of-a-kind handmade art and accessories, tasty local and exotic delicacies, as well as holiday plants and garden accessories. In celebration of the Pitot House grapefruit harvest and Creole holiday tradition, varieties of Plaquemines Parish citrus trees and fruit by the pound, grapefruit marmalade, and citrus cello will all be available for the merry guests!

Photographs with Santa Claus: Noon to 2 pm

Live Jazz Music provided by NOCCA Jazz Musicians and Streetbeat

Appearance by the Louisiane Vintage Dancers

Book-signings throughout the day

Craft demonstrations in the premier etage of the Pitot House
and so much more!

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: bayou st john, faubourg st john, fetes, fsjna, house, landmarks, louisiana, marche, pitot

Vino on the Bayou

September 21, 2011 by Charlie London

photo by Charlie London

Join Landmarks and welcome in the Fall Season with wine and music! As usual, our great friends at Cork & Bottle Wines are contributing 4 wines for your tasting enjoyment, and, with support from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation, the Courtyard Kings return to perform traditional gypsy jazz music. It will surely be a wonderful end to the work week! Invite your friends and come to the banks of Bayou St. John to spend an unique afternoon wrapped in culture and history.

photo by Charlie London

Join your neighbors and friends as we sip into the sunset at the Pitot House this Friday, September 23rd at 5:30 p.m.

Admission – $5 for Landmarks members; $10 general admission

All proceeds are donated to the Louisiana Landmarks Society in support of their mission to promote historic preservation through education, advocacy, and operation of the Pitot House.

Pitot House | 1440 Moss Street | New Orleans, LA

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: bayou, faubourg st john, fsjna, house, louisiana landmarks, pitot, st. john

Desmare Gets Safer for Kids

July 24, 2011 by Charlie London

In just one day the entrance gate to Desmare Playground was rebuilt. The group that met yesterday at Desmare Playground began making phone calls one of which was to Jean Lichtfuss. She graciously donated the fencing and Harry Worley along with his helper Johnny professionally installed the new gate and fence.

Parents can safely bring their small children to Desmare Playground and not worry that they will run out on to Esplanade Avenue.

THIS IS A FANTASTIC START BUT MUCH MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE! Please join the movement to make Desmare Playground a better place to play. Contact Steve Mardon at stevemardon@yahoo.com

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: desmare, esplanade, gate, pitot, play spot, playground, steve mardon, swings

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