The Arrival
They came in chains: some dressed in rags, some not dressed
give them their job descriptions. With one glance at the vast
landscape that lay before them, it was easy to see that this land
was unyielding, wild and rebellious. With pockets of swamps,
lakes and unlivable territory, it was hard for any man, even one
with the wildest of imaginations, to picture a future where this
swampy, hot and diseased land would transform into a
flourishing French province. It was hard for the explorers to
imagine it and even harder for the foreign laborers shackled by
hands and feet to understand. All men, both slave and free,
who dared to conquer this often flooded and undeveloped
territory held the fear of disappointment and failure secretly
within their hearts. Neither overseer nor slave would dare to
express the horror in knowing that the task at hand could prove
to be insurmountable. Yet the free man had the advantage.
With resources in abundance from plantation companies and
slaves imported from as close as the West Indies and as far as
the shores of Africa, the free man could dream longer and
more intense than those belabored with accomplishing the
goals of 18th century developers. And, like many of their
ambitious Navy counterparts, men like Jean Baptiste LeMoyne
Sieur de Bienville dreamed so long and so intense that he
became successor to his brother, Pierre LeMoyne Sieur de
Iberville as one of the greatest midshipman in the Royal Navy.
Iberville and Bienville were masterful seaman who had
conquered and established several territories including Mobile,
Dauphin Island and Biloxi. Bienville established New Orleans in
1718 with the hopes that the City would be a prosperous port
town for shipman en route to other lands via the Gulf of Mexico.
His intuition proved to reap great rewards, but not without
sacrifice and economic hardship. With his founding of New
Orleans, Bienville was granted the west bank portion of the City
separated by the Mississippi River and the property would later
become known as Algiers.
What's in a Name
How Algiers got its name remains a mystery. Some historians
recall accounts documented by explorers who compared the
quaint territory to the capital of the African nation Algeria due to
its large population of slaves, hence the name: Algiers.
Whatever the origin of the name, slaves occupied and worked
on the land for companies like the King’s Plantation, the
Company of the West and the Company of the Indies. Skillful
slave laborers were sold in Algiers and they proved to be
masters in agriculture. Many slaves produced crops such as
rice, corn and indigo. The commodities were said to be in so
much abundance that the surplus was often exported to other
territories including Pensacola, Florida.
The Black Code
Like many colonies in the early years of the United States,
slave populations were growing and in some parts of the
country, slaves outnumbered those of European settlers. To be
overpopulated with slaves produced fear among French rulers
whose plans included assisting settlers with becoming citizens
of a new land. To help dissipate those fears, in 1724, Bienville
developed “Code Noir,” which is translated as the Black Code,
to reassure settlers or “subjects,” as they were sometimes
called, that the French were in control. The prelude to the code’
s 28 articles informed those who lived in remote areas with
large slave populations, that should they encounter conflicts
with their human property, swift and sometimes deadly
consequences awaited the poor servants. The articles
contained in the “Black Code” outlined specific laws for
governing slaves, which included extreme punishments,
lifetime slavery, religious requirements and restricted social
interactions. By decree of the Code, all slaves were required to
be instructed and baptized as Catholics. Slaves could not own
anything and all of his or her possessions belonged to the
master. Moreover, hired overseers were required to be
Catholic and should such a person be found as a non-Catholic,
their slaves could be taken away and the overseer would be
severely punished.
Slaves were allowed to marry, but at the permission of the
master. If a woman was a slave and her husband was free,
then she and all of her children would be slaves belonging to
her master. If a woman was free and her husband was a slave,
then she and her children would be free. Slaves were forbidden
to marry whites nor could they maintain concubine-like
relationships with whites or free persons of color.
Slaves belonging to different masters were forbidden to
congregate and socialize with one another. Slave uprisings
occurred more frequently than most slave owners admitted and
in direct opposition to reality, many slave owners refused to
paint a picture of a slave being anything other than a willing
participant in human degradation. The truth that many feared
would be made known is that slaves were planning uprisings
daily and many slaves often escaped from their masters on a
regular basis.
Congregating slaves of different masters could expect to be
whipped and or killed for the simple crime of communing with
one another. Masters were required to feed, clothe and care
for their slaves in the most humanely way possible afforded a
slave during that time. Punishment to a master was of course
far more lenient and included paying fines or having slaves
taken away. No whipping or corporal punishment was outlined
in the Code in regards to masters and their treatment of their
slaves. The Code sent out a clear message to all men, women
and children involved in the development of this wild, unyielding
land with great potential. The message was that all rights and
privileges belonged to the free man and none to the slave
assigned the task of turning the dreams of ambitious settlers
into a reality.
The Battles
As France, Spain and Britain continued in their struggles for
dominance of the new land that would become the United
States, Algiers inevitably became a part of that struggle and
was soon overcome by Spain’s dominance. In 1769, Spain
ruled the colony and mandated that all property belonging to
the Crown be sold. As a result, Louis Bonrepo became the
proprietor of Algiers in 1770 by decree of the Spanish
Government. Algiers and its undeveloped cousins that included
tracts of land now known as McDonoghville, Gretna and Lower
Algiers was bought and sold several times between 1770 and
1805. Barthelemy Duverje bought the property on August 9,
1805 for $18,000 and sold parts of it to other wealthy
developers. Duverje built his family home in 1812 at the site
that is now the Algiers Courthouse. Duverje’s efforts were
clearly a spark for economic growth that resulted in further
development and the subdividing of the property.
From 1814 to 1815 Algiers was involved in a series of battles
known as the Battle of New Orleans. Citizens of all social
classes and ethnic backgrounds combined their resources and
talents to present a united effort in the war. Louisiana was the
only state in the Union to commission African slaves, Indians
(mainly Choctaws) and free men of color to serve in the war as
military personnel. Men of European, Native American and
African descent fought together, protected homes and labored
to widen canals to build defenses along them. The effort was
indeed valiant and deserving of recognition for its cross cultural
unification. However, it existed only under the auspices of war.
The victory at the Battle of New Orleans proved to be
monumental, not only for its multicultural troops, but also
because in Louisiana’s history, it ushered the state into its
political incorporation in the Union.
The Pioneers
After the war, in 1815, several property owners were listed in
Algiers with names that include, but are not limited to, Mossy,
Bienvenu, Dupuy, De la Croix, Dessales and the infamous
McDonogh. John McDonogh was a resident of the French
Quarter before moving to Algiers in 1817. McDonogh’s
property was large enough to have the parcel bear his name as
the town of McDonoghville. His reputation in the community
was that of a wealthy miser who denied himself luxuries that he
could easily afford in order to save money. He later revealed
that his mission in life was to accumulate wealth for the benefit
of the poor and enslaved. In addition to his philanthropy,
McDonogh was known to treat his slaves with reverence and
respect. He empowered many of them in tasks normally
assigned to overseers and he took pride in his decision to
place, “no white man over them, as an overseer.” McDonogh
described his relationships with his slaves as endearing and
compared his interactions with them to that of close friends and
confidants. Slaves who were owned by John McDonogh were
afforded opportunities to work as managers and supervisors of
other slaves. McDonogh reported in his memoirs that he did
not have the time to manage all the work tasks assigned to the
slaves, therefore, he would meet nightly with the slave deemed
as the manager or “commander” to receive a report of all daily
activities. McDonogh called his slaves businessmen who,
“enjoyed my confidence, collected my rents, leased my houses,
took care of my property and effects of every kind, and that with
an honesty and fidelity which was proof against every
temptation.”
It is said that McDonogh did not sell his slaves, but rather
assisted many of them in obtaining their freedom. Once free,
he helped them to return to the African nation of Liberia. Slaves
who labored for McDonogh for fourteen and one half years
would be freed with money, clothes and other provisions
needed for independent living. The New Orleans Commercial
Bulletin featured a complimentary editorial report on the
intentions of McDonogh’s liberated slaves as they sailed to
Liberia. The article described the newly freed men and women
as “educated and intelligent subjects.” The writer pointed out
that the majority of the slaves liberated by McDonogh had built
houses, participated in business transactions, rented homes
and collected rents. Readers were encouraged to imagine,
“what sort of a colony these people will constitute in their own
original country.” The free people were said to be highly skilled
and qualified to establish a great future for themselves in a land
where they would no longer be bound by “The Black Code,” but
be free to live as men and women worthy of the dignity and
respect afforded the Eurpean settlers. The last of McDonogh’s
slaves received their freedom in 1859 almost nine years after
his death.
With detailed provisions outlined in his will, McDonogh had
impressively planned for his wealth to live on well beyond his
lifetime. He was a well-versed advocate for social change who
had more than enough money to fund his vision. McDonogh
believed that all children should receive a free education. In his
will, he reported that the revenue generated from his
abundance of property could finance the education of all the
poor in two states: Louisiana and Maryland. McDonogh owned
property on both sides of the Mississippi River in New Orleans
with the town of McDonogh being listed as his suburban
property. In 1861, ten years after McDonogh’s death, schools
were being built to educate the City’s poor. Close to 40
schools were built between 1861 and 1951 with funds from the
McDonogh Fund, an effort that McDonogh lived and worked to
be accomplished after his death.
Growing Up
Another pioneering property owner who purchased property
from Duverje was Andre Seguin who bought land in 1819 to
establish Algiers’ first dry dock. Seguin’s ingenuity led to
Algiers’ transformation from a community solely dependent
upon its plantations to a community with a growing industrial
empire. In 1837, the first dry dock was constructed in Kentucky
and transported to Algiers. The New Orleans Floating Dry
Dock Company owned and managed the enterprise which was
valued at $200,000. The beginning of the dry dock industry
ushered in a stream of docks owned, operated and managed
by men like Francois Vallette and O.I. McLellan whose names
still remain a part of the Algiers community (Vallette Street and
McLellanville also “McCliney-ville and/or McClendon-ville”). In
the 1800s, there were more than 15 docks in the Algiers
community that provided gainful and steady employment for its
residents and revenue for maritime business owners.
With the growth of the maritime industry was also the
expansion of transportation. In 1827, the Algiers Ferry was
established and began transporting passengers between
Algiers, or the “right bank of the river” to “New Orleans Proper.”
In addition to the maritime industry that began to flourish in
Algiers, was the railroad industry that developed into an
enterprise that would employ thousands of Algiers residents in
its years of development. The Railroad was established in the
early 1850s and in 1853, commissioners of Algiers approved
the construction of a railroad extending from Louisiana to
Texas. Those commissioners included noted men whose
names appear on many streets in Algiers including J. Thayer
and R.B. Sumner. Thayer, Sumner and six other prominent
commissioners were instrumental in establishing the New
Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad. December
3, 1853, marked the first excursion of the railroad which took
passengers from Algiers to a point known at the time as St.
Charles. In the years following the establishment of the railroad,
rail lines were expanded and more stops were added.
As the railroad expanded, so did the railroad yards that
serviced and maintained the trains. The yards spanned from
Algiers to Gretna and other parts of Jefferson Parish. Citizens
who possessed skills often provided services in foundries,
lumber yards, offices, carpentry shops, black-smith operations
and paint shops. In addition, the massive infrastructure
required to operate the railroad, caused Algiers to be divided
in half which resulted in “Upper Algiers” or “Old Algiers” and the
“Lower Coast Algiers.” Viaducts, or small bridges, were built
over the yards to allow horse-drawn traffic and pedestrians to
cross the yards without interruption. Later, the viaducts were
expanded to allow streetcars, vehicles and buses to travel the
spans. The viaducts were located at Newton, Patterson and
Eliza Streets.
They came in chains: some dressed in rags, some not dressed
give them their job descriptions. With one glance at the vast
landscape that lay before them, it was easy to see that this land
was unyielding, wild and rebellious. With pockets of swamps,
lakes and unlivable territory, it was hard for any man, even one
with the wildest of imaginations, to picture a future where this
swampy, hot and diseased land would transform into a
flourishing French province. It was hard for the explorers to
imagine it and even harder for the foreign laborers shackled by
hands and feet to understand. All men, both slave and free,
who dared to conquer this often flooded and undeveloped
territory held the fear of disappointment and failure secretly
within their hearts. Neither overseer nor slave would dare to
express the horror in knowing that the task at hand could prove
to be insurmountable. Yet the free man had the advantage.
With resources in abundance from plantation companies and
slaves imported from as close as the West Indies and as far as
the shores of Africa, the free man could dream longer and
more intense than those belabored with accomplishing the
goals of 18th century developers. And, like many of their
ambitious Navy counterparts, men like Jean Baptiste LeMoyne
Sieur de Bienville dreamed so long and so intense that he
became successor to his brother, Pierre LeMoyne Sieur de
Iberville as one of the greatest midshipman in the Royal Navy.
Iberville and Bienville were masterful seaman who had
conquered and established several territories including Mobile,
Dauphin Island and Biloxi. Bienville established New Orleans in
1718 with the hopes that the City would be a prosperous port
town for shipman en route to other lands via the Gulf of Mexico.
His intuition proved to reap great rewards, but not without
sacrifice and economic hardship. With his founding of New
Orleans, Bienville was granted the west bank portion of the City
separated by the Mississippi River and the property would later
become known as Algiers.
What's in a Name
How Algiers got its name remains a mystery. Some historians
recall accounts documented by explorers who compared the
quaint territory to the capital of the African nation Algeria due to
its large population of slaves, hence the name: Algiers.
Whatever the origin of the name, slaves occupied and worked
on the land for companies like the King’s Plantation, the
Company of the West and the Company of the Indies. Skillful
slave laborers were sold in Algiers and they proved to be
masters in agriculture. Many slaves produced crops such as
rice, corn and indigo. The commodities were said to be in so
much abundance that the surplus was often exported to other
territories including Pensacola, Florida.
The Black Code
Like many colonies in the early years of the United States,
slave populations were growing and in some parts of the
country, slaves outnumbered those of European settlers. To be
overpopulated with slaves produced fear among French rulers
whose plans included assisting settlers with becoming citizens
of a new land. To help dissipate those fears, in 1724, Bienville
developed “Code Noir,” which is translated as the Black Code,
to reassure settlers or “subjects,” as they were sometimes
called, that the French were in control. The prelude to the code’
s 28 articles informed those who lived in remote areas with
large slave populations, that should they encounter conflicts
with their human property, swift and sometimes deadly
consequences awaited the poor servants. The articles
contained in the “Black Code” outlined specific laws for
governing slaves, which included extreme punishments,
lifetime slavery, religious requirements and restricted social
interactions. By decree of the Code, all slaves were required to
be instructed and baptized as Catholics. Slaves could not own
anything and all of his or her possessions belonged to the
master. Moreover, hired overseers were required to be
Catholic and should such a person be found as a non-Catholic,
their slaves could be taken away and the overseer would be
severely punished.
Slaves were allowed to marry, but at the permission of the
master. If a woman was a slave and her husband was free,
then she and all of her children would be slaves belonging to
her master. If a woman was free and her husband was a slave,
then she and her children would be free. Slaves were forbidden
to marry whites nor could they maintain concubine-like
relationships with whites or free persons of color.
Slaves belonging to different masters were forbidden to
congregate and socialize with one another. Slave uprisings
occurred more frequently than most slave owners admitted and
in direct opposition to reality, many slave owners refused to
paint a picture of a slave being anything other than a willing
participant in human degradation. The truth that many feared
would be made known is that slaves were planning uprisings
daily and many slaves often escaped from their masters on a
regular basis.
Congregating slaves of different masters could expect to be
whipped and or killed for the simple crime of communing with
one another. Masters were required to feed, clothe and care
for their slaves in the most humanely way possible afforded a
slave during that time. Punishment to a master was of course
far more lenient and included paying fines or having slaves
taken away. No whipping or corporal punishment was outlined
in the Code in regards to masters and their treatment of their
slaves. The Code sent out a clear message to all men, women
and children involved in the development of this wild, unyielding
land with great potential. The message was that all rights and
privileges belonged to the free man and none to the slave
assigned the task of turning the dreams of ambitious settlers
into a reality.
The Battles
As France, Spain and Britain continued in their struggles for
dominance of the new land that would become the United
States, Algiers inevitably became a part of that struggle and
was soon overcome by Spain’s dominance. In 1769, Spain
ruled the colony and mandated that all property belonging to
the Crown be sold. As a result, Louis Bonrepo became the
proprietor of Algiers in 1770 by decree of the Spanish
Government. Algiers and its undeveloped cousins that included
tracts of land now known as McDonoghville, Gretna and Lower
Algiers was bought and sold several times between 1770 and
1805. Barthelemy Duverje bought the property on August 9,
1805 for $18,000 and sold parts of it to other wealthy
developers. Duverje built his family home in 1812 at the site
that is now the Algiers Courthouse. Duverje’s efforts were
clearly a spark for economic growth that resulted in further
development and the subdividing of the property.
From 1814 to 1815 Algiers was involved in a series of battles
known as the Battle of New Orleans. Citizens of all social
classes and ethnic backgrounds combined their resources and
talents to present a united effort in the war. Louisiana was the
only state in the Union to commission African slaves, Indians
(mainly Choctaws) and free men of color to serve in the war as
military personnel. Men of European, Native American and
African descent fought together, protected homes and labored
to widen canals to build defenses along them. The effort was
indeed valiant and deserving of recognition for its cross cultural
unification. However, it existed only under the auspices of war.
The victory at the Battle of New Orleans proved to be
monumental, not only for its multicultural troops, but also
because in Louisiana’s history, it ushered the state into its
political incorporation in the Union.
The Pioneers
After the war, in 1815, several property owners were listed in
Algiers with names that include, but are not limited to, Mossy,
Bienvenu, Dupuy, De la Croix, Dessales and the infamous
McDonogh. John McDonogh was a resident of the French
Quarter before moving to Algiers in 1817. McDonogh’s
property was large enough to have the parcel bear his name as
the town of McDonoghville. His reputation in the community
was that of a wealthy miser who denied himself luxuries that he
could easily afford in order to save money. He later revealed
that his mission in life was to accumulate wealth for the benefit
of the poor and enslaved. In addition to his philanthropy,
McDonogh was known to treat his slaves with reverence and
respect. He empowered many of them in tasks normally
assigned to overseers and he took pride in his decision to
place, “no white man over them, as an overseer.” McDonogh
described his relationships with his slaves as endearing and
compared his interactions with them to that of close friends and
confidants. Slaves who were owned by John McDonogh were
afforded opportunities to work as managers and supervisors of
other slaves. McDonogh reported in his memoirs that he did
not have the time to manage all the work tasks assigned to the
slaves, therefore, he would meet nightly with the slave deemed
as the manager or “commander” to receive a report of all daily
activities. McDonogh called his slaves businessmen who,
“enjoyed my confidence, collected my rents, leased my houses,
took care of my property and effects of every kind, and that with
an honesty and fidelity which was proof against every
temptation.”
It is said that McDonogh did not sell his slaves, but rather
assisted many of them in obtaining their freedom. Once free,
he helped them to return to the African nation of Liberia. Slaves
who labored for McDonogh for fourteen and one half years
would be freed with money, clothes and other provisions
needed for independent living. The New Orleans Commercial
Bulletin featured a complimentary editorial report on the
intentions of McDonogh’s liberated slaves as they sailed to
Liberia. The article described the newly freed men and women
as “educated and intelligent subjects.” The writer pointed out
that the majority of the slaves liberated by McDonogh had built
houses, participated in business transactions, rented homes
and collected rents. Readers were encouraged to imagine,
“what sort of a colony these people will constitute in their own
original country.” The free people were said to be highly skilled
and qualified to establish a great future for themselves in a land
where they would no longer be bound by “The Black Code,” but
be free to live as men and women worthy of the dignity and
respect afforded the Eurpean settlers. The last of McDonogh’s
slaves received their freedom in 1859 almost nine years after
his death.
With detailed provisions outlined in his will, McDonogh had
impressively planned for his wealth to live on well beyond his
lifetime. He was a well-versed advocate for social change who
had more than enough money to fund his vision. McDonogh
believed that all children should receive a free education. In his
will, he reported that the revenue generated from his
abundance of property could finance the education of all the
poor in two states: Louisiana and Maryland. McDonogh owned
property on both sides of the Mississippi River in New Orleans
with the town of McDonogh being listed as his suburban
property. In 1861, ten years after McDonogh’s death, schools
were being built to educate the City’s poor. Close to 40
schools were built between 1861 and 1951 with funds from the
McDonogh Fund, an effort that McDonogh lived and worked to
be accomplished after his death.
Growing Up
Another pioneering property owner who purchased property
from Duverje was Andre Seguin who bought land in 1819 to
establish Algiers’ first dry dock. Seguin’s ingenuity led to
Algiers’ transformation from a community solely dependent
upon its plantations to a community with a growing industrial
empire. In 1837, the first dry dock was constructed in Kentucky
and transported to Algiers. The New Orleans Floating Dry
Dock Company owned and managed the enterprise which was
valued at $200,000. The beginning of the dry dock industry
ushered in a stream of docks owned, operated and managed
by men like Francois Vallette and O.I. McLellan whose names
still remain a part of the Algiers community (Vallette Street and
McLellanville also “McCliney-ville and/or McClendon-ville”). In
the 1800s, there were more than 15 docks in the Algiers
community that provided gainful and steady employment for its
residents and revenue for maritime business owners.
With the growth of the maritime industry was also the
expansion of transportation. In 1827, the Algiers Ferry was
established and began transporting passengers between
Algiers, or the “right bank of the river” to “New Orleans Proper.”
In addition to the maritime industry that began to flourish in
Algiers, was the railroad industry that developed into an
enterprise that would employ thousands of Algiers residents in
its years of development. The Railroad was established in the
early 1850s and in 1853, commissioners of Algiers approved
the construction of a railroad extending from Louisiana to
Texas. Those commissioners included noted men whose
names appear on many streets in Algiers including J. Thayer
and R.B. Sumner. Thayer, Sumner and six other prominent
commissioners were instrumental in establishing the New
Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad. December
3, 1853, marked the first excursion of the railroad which took
passengers from Algiers to a point known at the time as St.
Charles. In the years following the establishment of the railroad,
rail lines were expanded and more stops were added.
As the railroad expanded, so did the railroad yards that
serviced and maintained the trains. The yards spanned from
Algiers to Gretna and other parts of Jefferson Parish. Citizens
who possessed skills often provided services in foundries,
lumber yards, offices, carpentry shops, black-smith operations
and paint shops. In addition, the massive infrastructure
required to operate the railroad, caused Algiers to be divided
in half which resulted in “Upper Algiers” or “Old Algiers” and the
“Lower Coast Algiers.” Viaducts, or small bridges, were built
over the yards to allow horse-drawn traffic and pedestrians to
cross the yards without interruption. Later, the viaducts were
expanded to allow streetcars, vehicles and buses to travel the
spans. The viaducts were located at Newton, Patterson and
Eliza Streets.
Algiers: The Untold Story
A New Orleans Neighborhood
A New Orleans Neighborhood
Minerva Simmons
circa 1940
circa 1940
circa 1940
Shirley Scovell
circa 1940
circa 1940
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