Bienville would be proud. Nearly 150 years after the French-Canadian explorer settled on the banks of the Mississippi River, the city is a bustling metropolis of 200,000 people. Its setting is striking. Bayou St. John is a scene of rural, bucolic beauty.
Steamboats chug along the Mississippi River's bustling shoreline.
Industry and commerce fuel the city's economic engine. Cotton mills, brickworks and boiler factories employ thousands throughout the area. Gasworks light the streets at night, and the French and Poydras markets offer an abundance of wholesale and retail goods. The city's residents also enjoy a variety of social services, religious offerings and entertainment venues. Widows' and orphans' asylums, hospitals, fire departments, churches and synagogues are among the city's prominent institutions.