Spanish Fort , New Orleans Spanish Fort , also known as Old Spanish Fort , Fort St . Jean , and Fort St . John , is a historic place in New Orleans , Louisiana , formerly the site of a fort and later an amusement park . Prehistory . Archaeological investigations have discovered that the fort location was a site of the Pre - Columbian Marksville culture dating back to circa 300 CE , with continued occupation afterwards . A large shell midden was used as the base under the early Colonial fort . The fort . The Colonial era fort protected the Lake Pontchartrain entrance of Bayou St . John . The first small fort here was erected by the French in 1701 , before the founding of the city of New Orleans , to protect the important trade route along Bayou St . John . After Louisiana passed to Spanish control , a larger brick fort was constructed at the site of the neglected old French fortification ; this was known as San Juan del Bayou . Louisiana passed back to France and then to the hands of the United States . The fort was decommissioned in 1823 . From fort to amusement park . The land was bought by private developers , and became a popular amusement park , known as " Spanish Fort " or " Old Spanish Fort " . It featured restaurants , a casino , a resort hotel , dancing pavilions , an alligator pond , and in its later decades amusement rides such as the " Scenic railway " , a roller coaster . A steam railway , and later an electric streetcar system , connected the lakeside resort with the center of the city . It was especially popular during the summer for the cooling breezes of the Lake . It was billed as the " Coney Island of the South " . From about 1880 to 1908 the small iron submarine now in the collection of the Louisiana State Museum was on display here , identified as the Confederate war submarine " Pioneer " . ( Recent investigations have called the traditional identification into question , making the curious early submarine even more of a mystery ; " see : " Bayou St . John Confederate Submarine . ) " Over the Rhine " , a German restaurant and beer garden was a popular attraction , as were dances by Paoletti ' s Orchestra . Tranchina ' s Restaurant and Brown ' s Ice Cream Parlor often featured live bands . The park had two cabaret s , " Tokyo Gardens " and " The Frolics " . In the park ' s later decades , a number of early jazz bands played here . Armand J . Piron ' s New Orleans Orchestra was a regular ; Papa Celestin ' s band filled in while Piron was in New York . Pianist Steve Lewis performed not only with Piron ' s band , but also did solos and duets with singer New Orleans Willie Jackson . Johnny Bayersdorffer ' s Jazzola Novelty Orchestra and Johnny Miller ' s New Orleans Frolicers were also regulars . End of the amusement park . Starting in the late 1920s , a project reclaimed land from Lake Pontchartrain , extending the shoreline out away from the old fort . The city ' s main amusement park became Pontchartrain Beach . The site of Spanish Fort , mostly a brick ruin , can still be seen along the upper side of the Bayou just back from Robert E . Lee Boulevard , adjacent to what is now the " Floral Park " section of the Lake Vista neighborhood .