The Maspero Exchange is Still There More, as a restaurant on St. Louis and Chartres.
The Maspero Exchange
Photograph of the Maspero Exchange, from a 1919 publication, The Romance of New Orleans. It was published by Lybcus Publishing Company, with a New Orleans postal box address. The book lists no author. The seal of the city is prominent on the cover, but that doesn’t necessarily imply an endorsement from City Hall. The first building on the corner Uptown/river corner of St. Louis and Chartres Streets burned down in the 1794 fire. This building, like the Girod (Napoleon) House across the street, dates from 1795-96.
Coffee and Human Trafficking
The building originally held a coffee shop on the first floor. Since such an establishment made for a good place to do business, the location rapidly became an “exchange,” a place where goods were regularly bought and sold. “Goods” included enslaved people. Even though the United States signed onto a ban on the international slave trade in 1808, domestic human trafficking was legal until the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. So, New Orleans served as a nexus for that trade. Maspero’s Exchange
As the volume of goods coming through New Orleans increased, so did the need for larger exchanges. Pierre Maspero passed in 1822. John Hewlett took over the exchange in 1826. Hewlett moved the exchange across the street. That exchange was demolished and replaced by the St. Louis Hotel Exchange in 1838. The St. Louis Exchange operated at a pace too swift for buyers to properly examine the enslaved on the block. So, the coffee shop displayed the enslaved prior to sale.
Battle of New Orleans
The “romantic” aspect of the Maspero Exchange stems from 1814. Maspero’s claims to be the location of a meeting between Major General Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte. While the Old Absinthe House also claims the meeting happened there, there is no firm documentation indicating exactly where the two met.
Four Ways to Support NOLA History Guy
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
The West End was an escape from the city and heat from the 1850s.
The West End
This was originally presented to the West End Kiwanis Club. So much fun talking to hard-working volunteer groups! This one was fun, so it’s part two of our series on the Lakefront.
West End Park, 1940s. The entertainment district had been cleared in favor of green space. The Southern Yacht Club marina and Municipal Yacht Harbor aren’t there yet.
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
In Podcast 50 we discuss the other double-truck streetcars that ran in New Orleans.
Brill semi-convertible streetcar, 1916
“Other” Double-Truck Streetcars
Part 4 of our 4-part series on early electric streetcars in New Orleans presents the other double-truck models. This includes the Pullman Company, “1899” Americans, Brill Semi-convertibles, Barney & Smith, and Morris cars.
The St. Charles Street Railroad Company purchased Pullman double-trucks. They operated them on the Clio line, when that line crossed Canal. The line originated at the St. Charles Hotel and ran to the Pontchartrain Railroad terminal on Elysian Fields Avenue. Note this company is not the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad Company that ran the Carrollton/St. Charles line.
“1899” Americans
The “1899” streetcars by American Car Company were operated by the New Orleans City Railroad Comany (NOCRR – second incarnation).
Blueprints
Brill Semi-Convertibles
Morris Cars, named for Master Mechanic E. J. Morris at the Canal Shops.
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
In Podcast 49 we talk about some of the coolest – the Palace Streetcars.
Double-Truck Palace Streetcars
Part 3 of our 4-part series on early streetcars in New Orleans presents the Palace streetcars from the turn of the 20th century. Manufactured by the St. Louis Car Company, the semi-convertible, double-truck, Palace cars picked up their name because of their smooth ride. The local transit company, New Orleans City Railway Company, had a relationship with the St. Louis Car Company. NOCRR purchased their first electric streetcars from them. By 1901, NOCRR needed larger streetcars. So, they turned again to St. Louis. The company sold them their semi-convertible. The city took delivery on the Palace cars starting in 1902.
New Orleans City RR Company 043, one of the first Palace streetcars delivered in 1902. These cars were originally open-vestibule. You can see the motorman standing at the controls outside of the cabin. The Palace cars had wood frames with a steel underframe. The grates over the lower part of the windows blocked passengers from putting their hands outside.
New Orleans Railway & Light Company (NORwy&Lt) 025 was one of the original Palace cars. This John Tibule Mendes photo shows 025 running on the Dauphine line on Mardi Gras, 1918. The company re-built the Palace cars later that year, closing in the end vestibules and making other modifications.
Blueprints
Blueprint of the “1918 Remodeling” of the Palace cars by NORwy&Lt. At this time, the company also re-numbered the cars. They assigned these cars 600- and 700-series numbers.
St. Louis World’s Fair 1904
St. Louis Car Company designed the Palace cars for use at the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition in 1904. The exposition grounds featured a 10-mile streetcar route around the perimeter. Palace cars brought visitors around the exhibits and pavillions.
Zoom-in of the exhibition map showing the “Intramural Railway.”
Canal/Esplanade Belts
The first Palace cars ran on the Canal Line. When more cars arrived in 1903, they went to work on the Esplanade line. The two lines began “belt” service. We outline the route in Podcast Episode 10, “Riding the Belt.”
This 1918 image shows NORwy&Lt 630, running on the Canal Belt. The streetcar heads down City Park Avenue, towards Bayou St. John. It turns left at the bayou, onto Wisner, then a quick right, onto the Esplanade Avenue bridge. From there, the line continued down Esplanade to N. Rampart.
This Franck Studios photo shows a Palace streetcar on Esplanade Avenue. The company ran this streetcar to document the clearances on the neutral ground, in response to a lawsuit. The car’s roll sign is set for “WEST END.” Date: 8-October-1921.
1929 Strike
This photo shows the remains of a Palace car burned on Canal Street 7-July-1929. The company brought out a single streetcar operated by management employees. Motormen, conductors, and supporters turned it over and set it afire.
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
A photo of St. Charles Avenue converted to a digital pastel drawing makes for an interesting un-pack.
Digital Pastel Drawing
Interesting artwork/enhancement. From the Internet Archive:
Public domain photo of St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans in the early twentieth century that was altered with the Topaz DeJPEG plug-in, then the Topaz DeNoise plug-in, then the Topaz Clarity plug-in (cityscape effect), then JixiPix Artoon (vectoon effect), then the Topaz Clean plug-in (edge boost effect), then the Topaz ReStyle plug-in (rolling hills at dawn effect), then the Alien Skin Exposure X2 plug-in (clarity, contrast, and vibrance adjustments), then the Topaz Clarity plug-in (flower effect), then the Topaz ReStyle plug-in (brilliant sea shore effect), then the Topaz Detail plug-in (spring landscape effect), then the Alien Skin Exposure X2 plug-in (saturation and tone adjustments), then the ON1 Photo 10 plug-in (vibrancy brush), then the Topaz Impression plug-in on the base image (pastel 2 type 12 set to solid), and then the Photoshop paintbrush. Public domain image courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
If someone familiar with these artistic tools, feel free to explain them to me, like I’m a kid with my box of 64 Crayola Crayons (includes sharpener).
Unpack
The third incarnation of the St. Charles Hotel, in the background, opened in 1896. The New Orleans & Carrollton Railroad electrified in 1894, so early 20th century fits. On the left, Imperial Shoes stands at 120 St. Chatrles. Meyer, the Hatter, is just out of the shot, at 112 St. Charles. Pokorny’s Shoes is just up from Imperial. On the right, the Hotel Crescent, at 121 St. Charles, includes Fox The Hatter on the ground floor. Kolb’s Restaurant opened in 1899 in the next building up, 125 St. Charles. The iconic neon sign for Kolb’s appears later. After Kolb’s comes the City Hotel, which took over the corner from the Louisiana Club.
Streetcars
The New Orleans & Carrollton Railroad Company electrified the Carrollton line (now the St. Charles line) in 1894. By 1899, streetcar operators merged into the New Orleans Traction Company,, then the second incarnation of the New Orleans City Railroad Company. The St. Charles line operates on its current route here, coming inbound on Carondelet, looping on Canal, then outbound on St. Charles. The city had yet to rip up the second and third tracks in the 100 block of St. Charles. They’re just visible at the bottom of the photo. Compare this with the unpack of a 1890 photo.
The colorization of this photo is quite the treat!
There’s often confusion over passenger station locations on S. Rampart Street.
Passenger Station Locations
Prior to the opening of Union Passenger Terminal (the current Amtrak station) on Loyola Avenue, five passenger depots operated in New Orleans. Two of those stood on S. Rampart Street. When passenger stations locations are in close proximity, it’s natural for confusion to develop. Union Station (Illinois Central and Southern Pacific) stood on the west side of the New Basin Canal, and the Louisiana and Arkansas station stood on the eastern side of the canal. Since the city demolished both stations in the 1950s, let’s pinpoint both with Sanborn Insurance Maps (courtesy of the Library of Congress).
Union Station
The Illinois Central Railroad re-located to S. Rampart Street in the 1890s. So, this was the first depot near the canal. Southern Pacific, originally operating at Esplanade and the river, later joined IC in Union Station. The map section above (Sanborn, 1908) shows the station (also shown at the top of this post), between Euphrosine Street and Howard Avenue on S. Rampart. The water on the other side of Howard is the tuning basin for the New Canal. (Note: the only part of the canal that remains is out at Lake Pontchartrain. If you go up West End or down Pontchartrain Boulevards in Lakeview, that wide grassy area separating the streets where the canal flowed.
So, building a train depot next to a navigation canal made perfect sense. Therefore, when the city filled in the canal in the 1940s, the location was a logical choice for the unified station.
Louisiana and Arkansas
Zoom-in on the L&A Terminal, Sanborn Maps, 1940 (via LOC)
The Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad built a passenger terminal on the eastern side of the New Canal in 1923. This map section (Sanborn, 1940) shows S. Rampart passenger station locations. This terminal stood at 705 S. Rampart Street. L&A merged/acquired Kansas City Southern in 1938. Since KCS was the better-known brand, the station changed to their name and signage. While the map still says “Louisiana and Arkansas,” the depot morphed into KCS until it closed in 1954.
What happened to the canal?
Zoom-in on Union Station, Sanborn Maps, 1940
The New Canal’s turning basin vanishes in the 1940 map. Sanborn labels the area there as “WPA Offices and Storage Yard.” One of the many Works Progress Administration’s projects in New Orleans was filling in the New Canal. The Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (Industrial Canal) rendered the New Canal redundant. WPA identified potential construction projects and threw federal funds at them. So, the canal basin morphed into storage area immediately after closure.
Buy my books!
I don’t normally mention this on every post, but I do appreciate it when y’all buy my books. My “author” page on the ‘Zon is the quickest way to see them all. Of course, supporting your local bookstore, or even picking up my books at Walgreens, or places like Radosta’s in Old Metairie is wonderful. Also, please consider supporting us here via Patreon. One of the ways I show my appreciation for your support is you’re most welcome to ping me (edward@ebranley.com) with questions about this stuff. As a former History teacher, I’m always willing to lend a hand.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
Recent Comments