Traditional New Orleanians are known to hate change. The popular phrase "Ain't dere no more," which refers to long gone restaurants, businesses, and buildings, is actually used to market products to New Orleanians. However, New Orleans is all about change.
Change began almost immediately. Even the first few houses that the French erected in 1718 had to be moved in order to lay out the streets that Adrien de Pauger had planned for the new settlement. Sand deposited by the river created the batture, and added more land for growth. Upriver from the city, new towns formed, and were eventually absorbed by New Orleans. New residents shifted political power, and the municipal structures that went with it. Courts moved around town. Sometimes they even moved into and out of the same buildings. Street names changed. The system of street numbering changed as well.
Tracking the growth and locations of all of New Orleans courts is difficult. Some are lost to time. This LibGuide will show what I have found in my research. If you have information about locations that is new or different, please send it to me, along with its source.
