A little NOLA history (1 Viewer)

[Zack Lee]

just curious how many history buffs know this one

There is a church on Rampart St "Our Lady of Guadalupe" It was opened as Chapel of St. Anthony of Benedict. Anyway, according to the history books this church was built so that the folks of New Orleans would stop dropping their dead off at the St Louis Cathedral. This was in the time of yellow fever and they had no idea what was killing people and believed they could catch it from the dead bodys dropped at the church. I believe this was at the time that the New Basin Canal and the Canal that ran from the Lake to roughly where the Dome is. This canal came up Pontchartrain Blvd and connect to the end of O'keefe, near the Dome. The I-10 took over the path of the canal. Slave were considered too valuable so immigrants were used, mostly Irish IIRC. They died by the thousands from Yellow Fever.

Introduction. Records show that 7,849 people died in New Orleans in 1853 due to yellow fever. The total between 1817 and 1905 was in excess of 41,000. ... Over 150 years since it transpired, and in spite of the wrath of Katrina, evidence of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1853 can still be found in New Orleans' cemeteries.

anyway, thought it was interesting time to reflect on this. As we are all aware, this city has known darkness. I walk by that church every morning I go to work and I'll be beginning my work week in the morning. This too shall pass

The church was built in 1862 as the "Chapel of St. Anthony of Benedict (a.k.a. the Mortuary Chapel) to serve as a burial church for victims of yellow fever. It was erected close to St. Louis Cemeteries #1 and #2, the primary Catholic cemeteries at the time (St. Louis Cemetery #1 is located directly behind the church, right across Basin Street).

 

[Zack Lee]

The Basin Canal took what is now a bike path from Bayou St John to Basin St (it ended there because they did not yet have the technology to connect the canal to the river but that is what Canal Street was originally saved for. The River would have flooded the lake had they connected them because it is higher)

The New Basin Canal was the one the Yankees (New Americans in the area) built to compete with the Creoles of the Quarter. This is the one that followed the interstate.

anyway, I didn't create this to cause further fear. I just find it fascinating.