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NOLA Six Word Writing Challenge – Exercise your imagination!
A Little History… The Butcher’s Market, 1864
The Butcher’s Market, 1864. Marshall Dunham Collection, courtesy LSU Libraries Special Collections.
View of the Butcher’s Market section of the French Market, 1864. This photo is part of the Marshall Dunham Collection, courtesy LSU Library, Special Collections. This is one of the earliest photographs of the French Market. The photographer stands directly across from Jackson Square, looking downriver. For reference, this is the current location of Oscar Dunn Park.
The Market
The French Market originated with the indigenous tribes of the area. The French and Spanish constructed permanent buildings, and the structures in this photo date from 1813.
Butchers
The front set of buildings were the Halles de Boucheries, the Butchers’ Market. Farmers raised cattle and hogs away from the city, on open land along Bayou St. John, as well as down in St. Bernard Parish. The butchers bought whole sides of beef from the farmers, then cut them to order in stalls here in the market. The Butcher’s market opened before dawn. Shoppers came out early to get the best cuts of the day. By 11am or so, the heat of the day reached the point where the butchers closed their stalls. After buying meat, shoppers continued down the market to the produce vendors, then across the street to the bakers and dry grocery stores.
Construction
The lumber in the foreground is likely for one of the railroad buildings that went up here as the riverfront returned to its pre-war levels. Railroads operated in New Orleans since 1831 (the Pontchartrain Railroad). Tracks did not connect train stations and rail yards between Uptown and the Marigny until after the Civil War. We’re seeing the beginning of that process here.
Coffee
A Twentieth century photo of this building would show us the world-famous Cafe du Monde coffee shop. Coffee stands operated in the market in the 1860s, but they were not classic sit-down cafes. Workers in the market and along the riverfront walked up to windows (“stands”) to buy their coffee. Women pushed carts up and down Decatur Street, also selling coffee.
After the war, the city desired to “gentrify” the area around Jackson Square. They pushed the butcher’s stalls back from St. Ann Street. Cafe du Monde leased the front of the Butcher’s Market. This added to the appeal of living near the square.
Marshall Dunham
This photo is part of the personal collection of Marshall Dunham, a Union soldier from New York. He came down to New Orleans during the war, eventually being promoted to the rank of Sergeant-Major. He then received a commission as a First Lieutenant in the 77th Regiment, USCT. He collected many photos of the city, particularly from the photographer S. T. Blessing.
Next week, Thursday 17-September-2026, Derby and I will present The Forgotten Front – How New Orleans and the Gulf South Shaped the American Revolution. This is part of our Third Thursday Lecture Series at the Jefferson Parish Library, East Bank Regional Branch, 4747 W. Napoleon Avenue, Metairie. We’ll start at 7pm, and it’s free and open to the public.
We have so much fun with our tag-team talks!
Talk at the Deutsches Haus on 20-September!
Vintage Ad of the Week
“Pompano Pontchartrain Amandine” at Brennan’s French Restaurant, 417 Royal Street. Ad in the Times-Picayune, 10-September-1957. Note the branding the restaurant used at the time, “French Restaurant.” Brennan’s is, of course, Still There More!
How You Can Help NOLA History Guy
Things you can do RIGHT NOW to help us out!
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.
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Napoleon’s Elite Cavalry – Chasseurs a Cheval at the depot
Another painting of Napoleon’s Elite Cavalry by Lucien Rousselot. We see Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard, at their regimental depot. It’s typical morning. Rousselot presents four Chasseurs in the scene, two officers, a sous-officier, and a trooper in the background. One of the officers speaks to the sous-officier, a Maréchal des logis (sergeant), who takes down his commander’s orders in his notebook. The NCO will then carry on with the day’s routine. The men in the front (we’ll get to the trooper in the rear in a moment) wear the redingote, a long, double-breasted coat with a full skirt. It’s likely not a cold day, because they’re not wearing uniform coats under the redingotes. Since they work this morning in the depot, not “walking out,” all four wear the same headgear, the bonnet de police, the regiment’s fatigue cap.
The NCO’s displays more color. His aiguillettes have red woven in, and his sword belt is red leather. The chevron of his rank is on the sleeve of his redingote. Note that he wears his aiguillettes on the left shoulder. The officers both wear theirs on the right.
Legion d’Honneur
The officer on the left waits patiently. He wears the ribbon of the Legion d’Honneur on his left breast. Unlike the sous-officier, his sword hangs from a leather “frog” attached to his belt. It’s tighter on his side than the NCO, whose belt is designed to carry his sword while riding.
The chasseur in the rear wears “stable dress,” which consists of a short jacket and canvas duck trousers. While officers of the regiment employed civilian servants, this man is indeed a chasseur. It’s possible he is simply a regular trooper, tending to his horse. He may be an orderly, as the British would say, a “batman,” who is caring for an officer’s horse.
Writing Ideas
So, what happens from here? Once the day’s orders are communicated, where are the officers off to? Perhaps a staff meeting, or back to their offices. Clearly the officer on the left isn’t involved with either the NCO or the chasseur. There’s all sorts of possibilities here. They’re off to the same meeting. Maybe the officer needs a private word with his colleague, once the assignments are issued. Is it business-related? Personal? Is their relationship more involved than just members of the same regiment?
The more Canal Street 1935 evolved, the more it remained iconic.
Canal Street 1935
Franck Studios of Canal Street at St. Charles Avenue, 1935. The photographer stands in the neutral ground, on the river side of the outside streetcar track. The fiw on the left is of the 700 block of Canal, the Uptown side of the street.
700 Canal Street is the Pickwick Club building. At this time, it’s still the Crescent City Billiard Hall. The corner shop is Loft’s Candy. Here’s a comment from our friend Derby Gisclair on the corner:
This 1935 photograph by Charles Franck shows the corner of Canal Street and St. Charles Avenue. The Crescent City Billiard Hall on the corner looks rather dingy and dark compared to past images. A large sign directing drivers to the St. Charles Hotel juts out over the second floor on the corner above the Loft’s Candy Store. Loft’s at one time was owned by City Stores Company, parent company of Maison Blanche, and became the largest candy manufacturer in the world in the 1920s.
I remember when Derby said this, thinking, this explains why the Candy Department at MB was always so good.
The corner got a facelift when it was sold to the Pickwick Club. The sign for the St. Charles Hotel is typical for Canal Street throughout the Twentieth century. The big hotels were all off-Canal. So, to get you to the St. Charles, or the Monteleone, or even to the Holiday Inn on Royal Street, drivers could follow signs for where to turn.
Up the street. Next to the billiard hall is Steven’s, a store for men. You can see the secondary signs advertising Hart, Schaffner and Marx clothing. Additionally, there’s a wall sign saying “Steven’s” on the side.
Continuing down the block, these buildings remain today. The clock at Adler’s is visible towards the end of the 700 block.
Up to the 800 block, the onion spire on the edge of 800 Canal, the original Pickwick Hotel, is visible. In 1935, this was Stein’s Department Store. Leon Fellman’s/Feibleman’s moved up to Baronne and Common in 1931. Gus Mayer purchased 800 Canal after WWII. They demolished the building in 1947 and built a new store there.
Streetcars
The city completed their most recent street improvement program on Canal in 1930. That’s when the Union Sheet Metal light poles, with their fleur-de-lis lighting, appeared. So, this is just five years into their life. There are several arch roof streetcars up Canal. Our venerable 800- and 900-series streetcars dominated the routes at this time.
Radio
Not much of the French Quarter side of the street is visible in this photo. The Maison Blanche building towers over the Audubon Building in the 901 block. The large antenna on top of the MB building is the transmitter for WSMB Radio. WSMB broadcasted from the 13th floor of Maison Blanche’s office wing.
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!
This Morning Call postcard from the 1940s brings back memories.
Morning Call Postcard
Color postcard of the Morning Call Coffee Stand, in its original French Market location. The owners of Morning Call dispute the claim that Cafe du Monde is the first French Market coffee place. I’ve looked into this, and buy their argument. Most of the newspaper articles and advertisements for CDM are for the coffee, not the coffee stand. CDM sold coffee years before they opened a retail location.
Of course, neither company can claim being the first to sell coffee in the French Market. That distinction goes to the women operating coffee carts in the neighborhood. This is the Rose Nicaud story. It’s generally accepted that “Rose Nicaud” is a composite characterization of the women of color (free and enslaved) who pushed carts up and down the market, selling to the vendors in their stalls. At some point in the 1860s, both CDM and Morning Call opened “stands” in the French Market. These were not the sit-down cafe-style places we know today. The entire stand operated like CDM’s side window. Walk up, place your order, move along.
The Pod
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The Postcard
Unlike the mdern replacements for Morning Call at this location, the coffee stand operated drive-up, car-hop service. You pulled up, angle-parked, like these big sedans, and placed your order. A waiter brought it out to you. You could sit in the car and eat your donuts (they were just “donuts” for decades. “Beignets” comes later, to distinguish them from, say Tastee or McKenzie’s. The iconic coffee-cup sign/logo moved with Morning Call, from here to Metairie, to City Park. When they lost the lease on the casino building in City Park, Morning Call went dark temporarily. The re-opened in a new building at City Park Avenue and Canal Blvd., across from the Cemeteries Transit Terminal.
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 second Christ Episcopal Church was at Canal and Bourbon Streets.
Christ Episcopal Church
We’ve written about Christ Episcopal Church in the past. Norman’s New Orleans and Environs (1845) mentions the church, including a great illustration. Since our last post on this church building, our Good Friend of the Pod, Ryan Bordenave, shared a photo of Christ Episcopal at the corner of Canal and Bourbon. This photo is a fantastic view of what the block looked like before Judah Touro bought it up, demolished everything, and constructed the 4-sory townhouses which essentially remain to this day.
Podcast P03 is available to our Premium Supporters on Patreon. We’re psyched that y’all are joining us at the $5 level to hear the premium pods! These old-school photo unpacks are a lot of fun.
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!
Introducing a Premium Level for Patreon Supporters
We’re rolling out a Premium Level for NOLA History Guy, beginning in June. We offer a $1 “basic” supporter level on Patreon for a while now. The way we get our news and communicate in general on the Internet has changed so much in recent years, it’s time to make changes here.
Simply put: I’m retired now. I no longer offer the computer training services that paid the rent for me since the 1990s. It’s time, for a number of reasons. If you’re curious, ask me next time you see me at the coffee shop. So, that means a lot of my personal Internet expenses can’t be written off as learning curve, extended education, etc. Some of these expenses include:
“Business” Internet service
Website hosting
Podcast hosting
Social Media management services
Research expenses
Among other things. The bottom line is, no teaching, no revenue stream for these things. So, any help I can get to keep this all going helps.
Of course, retirement means more time for history content. We offer more for Premium Level supporters: more blog articles, and a second weekly podcast.
Changes to $1 level
The basic, $1 month level remains essentially the same. We’ll add another post or two a week for supporters-only. Anyone who has supported the site, past or present, will see these articles. Supporters also receive more “riff” posts, where we take something initially posted by another creator, say, on the Book of Zucker, and expand on their stuff.
$5 Premium
The big change! For $5 per month, supporters receive:
One or more Premium articles per week.
Second podcast episode each week, exclusively for Premium supporters.
Discord
NOLA History Guy now has a Discord server, available to supporters at all levels.
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!
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