The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-01

New Orleans was founded In q
curiousiy accidental way. When the
French under Bienxille- crossed
Pontchartrain and landed on the bank
Of Bayou st. John, they found there
q little Indian village. The wigwarns
Of these ..frst families stood where
to-day the white marble tombs of the
New st. Louie Cemetery glitter in the
warm southern sunshine. Beginning
here, there ran through the tangled
underbrush q footpath TO the Missis-
sippt river, along the line of the
street now called Grand Route st.
John. This portage" was the short
French fell into III habit of using 1t.
Soon one o two OF them built crude
little cabins near by. BY degrees
the settlement grew, until In liz
there was sufficient semblance of n
town scattered along this path to
Justify Bienviile in locating the capi-
tai of his colony there.
The Indian village disappeared In
1870. The forest which once sur
rounded. 1t has been cleared away. and
one of the most thickly populated
parts Of New Orleans now spreads
over this entire vicinity. The site Of
Bienville's country house, which stood
just beyond the walls Of his little
city, is covered to-day by a huge
granite Customs House, erected In
1S48. In fact, there Is nothing left
in New Orleans which Bienville would
recognize. If he were TO revisit II, save
Jackson Square, the old Plaee d,Arms
and the present Archepiscopal Palace
The former, bright with flowers, and
with the bronze horse of General Jack
son ramping In the middle, has also
changed somewhat since
day, but the venerable ediice which
he constructed in 1877 for the use
Of the Ursuline nuns survives to tbs
present time. practically unaitered.
Bienville induced the good Sisters
to come to the colony from France e
take care of the military hospita
which he founded. and for their ac'
c~ommodation reared the statelies1
mansion in his power, 1t remained
the home of the order until 1874
when the Sisters ." " Meas
anter location on the banks OF tn,
Mississippi, some three miles away
w~hereupon the building became TIT
residence of the Archbishops OF New
! ariea4asrThess rretatesl actuai4y|Hr
there no longer, but 1t continues tn,
place where the business OF the dioces'
is transacted AS the Oldest building
in the Louisiana Purchase. and one o
the oldest in the United States. 1t :
OF the deepest interest. especially a
it is in a remarkably good state o
preservation. The huge sQuare cypreS
umbers, the deep-sunk windows will
their loaded glass, III wrought-iroi
railings and the worn oak ttoor ar
those which were put In her tn
building was erected.
When Louisiana was q To tins
United States in 1903 the transfe
of the purchased territory was con
summated in the Cabildo, a fine Ole
bit of Spanish colonial architecture
originally used as-a meeting
of the council which governed TIN
city In Spanish times, and row uset
by the Supreme Court of Ieaisiaffa
The BOZ In which the ceremony tool
place Is still pointed out. nor ha'
the structure changed In any essen
ttal particular in its existence OF near
ly $50 years.
After the victory that resulted from
the memorable battle Of Chalmette
Creole and American combined u
rear a monument on the spot m
.Iackson's standard had been plante'
during the conflict. This
WAS abandoned, incomplete. even
rrior TO the Civil War. Only a fev
months ago the United States gov
eminent finished the shaft-accordlnl
to the original design It2stansls 10
day in a pretty psrk--a mere frag
ment. of the battlefield. A
around 1t are the freight sheds. eie
xators and switch tracks OF a rail-
road terminal. The soil which Jack
SON so gailantly defended was &C
autred by the railroad company som
years ago, after the national govern
ment had been vainly importnned I
purchase # for a military park. an
under the stern compulston OF Tn
demands of m man. or II
most interesting features have bee
Io~bliterated.
Relatively few remai
OF the Reconstruction epoch. The oil
Tulane Hail., scene of more than on
fierce battle between the governmen
de facto and the insurgent people. wa
torn down some years. ago to max
room for the new Tulane Theatr'
ST. Patrick's Hall. where Genera q
Trobiand dispersed the Wilt iegisla
t,ra Of tho po{ut If the ayoUet-0n