New Orleans is one of the oldest cities in this country. Its history is found in its architecture, culture, and people. New Orleans offers the academic, amateur, or professional historian an opportunity for learning, research, enjoyment and enlightenment.

Site of the Louisiana Purchase, New Orleans counts among its buildings the oldest existing U.S. Mint building, the oldest, functioning Catholic cathedral, and the oldest convent in the United States. Jackson Square is home to the 1850 House, the Presbytre, and the Cabildo, all part of the Lousiana History Museum. Most of the city’s 40,000 buildings entered in the National Registry of Historical Places are in the French Quarter. Even the city’s streetcars are the only surviving streetcar system still working in the United States. The 35 electric streetcars were built between 1922 and 1924. You can ride one down St. Charles Avenue.

People and Locations

Over the centuries, Jean Lafitte, William Faulker, and Tennessee Williams had homes in New Orleans. New Orleans is a cradle of jazz and the birthplace of some of the world’s most influential jazz musicians, such as Louis Armstrong and Pete Fountain. The antebellum mansions and monuments that line St. Charles Avenue in the old uptown district of the city are reminders of the city’s past.

Architecture

Outside of the significant buildings, monuments, and mansions, New Orleans is also known for its shotgun houses. These houses are called "shotgun" because the houses are only one room wide with rooms lined up one behind the other; thus, a shot could be fired from outside the front door and go out the back door without hitting anything.

20th Century

A new museum in New Orleans, the D-Day Museum built by the now-deceased historian, Stephen Ambrose, offers the history of World War II on two fronts. On a lighter note, entertainment history can be found at Mardi Gras World, with floats and larger-than-life characters that date from early Mardi Gras days.