The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-19
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Indiana
ERNIE PYLE
NEW ORLEANS. March 1s.-we

IL
IN must begin this story with
gether later on.
The first thread is the Vieux
Care of New Orleans. The second
is James j. A. Fortier.
Vieux Care means "old square"
AS used today it means "old quar-
ter" the whole area Of about a
dozen blocks that comprised the
original New Orleans laid out by
Bienville in 1720.
1t is one of Americas most his
toric and romantic spots. And al
though the new New Orleans has
grown up sprawlingly around, the
Vieux Carre is remarkably free from
change.
In the Vieux Care are hundreds
of historic houses. The streets are
narrow, balconies overhang them,
iron lace" is everywhere.
FRANCOIS FORTIER came to
Il New Orleans in 1870, the year
Bienville laid out the city. He was
the Kings "armorer" and he un-
doubtedly had hand in shaping
the Vieux Care.
Francois arrival in 172o made
the Fortiers the cream of the Gre
oles. They have upheld the tradi-
ton right down to today.
The second generation became
merchants. and very rich. The
fourth generation put their money
into sugar plantations, and became
even richer. They were always a
power in New Orleans.
James Fortier, the seventh and
present generation, was born Just
at the edge of the Vieux Care. His
blood was almost pure French. He
was brought up in the strict Creole
tradition. His father was q his
torian, author of many volumes,
head of the Romance language de-
partment at Tulane.
VOUNG JAMES was reared in
Il the atmosphere of research
and the classroom. He was sent to
museums abroad. He became a
scholarly F'renchman.
He studied for the law, was
state representative at Is, went
from law into finance, from there
into banking. He was a respectable
business man. He made money.
But when the 1929 crash came, it
caught him right between the eyes.
He went back to the law, and not
too successfully. He was in his
early 40's, with a family.
Now, many of the Creole families
(and this seems immensely strange
to mel were strong for Huey Long.
James Fortier was one of them.
NNE day Huey stomped into For
" tiers law office and shouted:
Jimmy, want you to go up there
and run that museum" BY the
museum he meant the Cabildo, the
historic hall on Jackson Square.
why, there's nothing to do up
there" Fortier said. I've got to
have activity. I've got to have
something energetic, especially at
this time. I'd go crazy up there"
NAV, there's plenty to do. And
you know all about history. I want
you to go up there and run that
place." 1t was an order, and
Huey simply walked out and left it
| there.
So the threads have come to-
gether. The 200-year-old Vieux
Care, badly in need of preserving,
and the seventh generation of the
Creole Fortiers, whose span of life
had run through the VieuX Carre
like life artery.
II SAT across the desk from James
4 Fortier in the Cabildo, and lis
tened to him talk. He does have
tremendous energy. He knows New
Orleans as few men do, and he has
great love for it.
He has the authority and the
money drom WPA and the state) to
preserve the part around Jackson
Square-the Cabildo, the old jail
cells, the Pontalba Apartments, the
square itself. And he can gather,
and is gathering, a remarkable COL
lection of Louisiana historical pieces.
Already, in Is months, he has trans
formed the Cabildo from a musty
old warehouse into one of the finest
museums in the South.
James Fortier often is down at
the Cabildo at in the morning.
His whole life has become the pre-
serving of New Orleans. But he is
still young. When he has done all
he can do with the Vieux Care,
what then?
II don't know" he says. Maybe
I'll feel the urge to make money
again. I couldn't just sit mere and
become a museum curator. But
there's so much to do. 1t may