A BRIEF HISTORY

Adjacent to and below the Duralde tract, between modem Independence and Alvar streets, stood the property of Louis Chevalier Macarty, acquired in 1794. Inherited by Louis Barthelemy Macarty and his sister Marie Delphine Macarty, the residence and its formal gardens are depicted on the Zimpel Map of 1833.

Marie Delphine Macarty became the subject of perhaps more folklore and legend than any woman of her day. The townhouse of her husband, Dr. Leonard Lalaurie, at 1140 Royal St., became the site of her alleged brutal mistreatment of slaves which led to her flight from the city. She ranks with Marie Laveau as one of the most notorious figures in nineteenth century New Orleans.

For her brother, between 1838 and 1841, the alignment of Good Children (now St. Claude) Avenue, and similarly, Greatmen (now Dauphine) Street had apparently been opened across the Macarty tract. Macarty retained three large unsubdivided tracts, bounded above by a line bisecting the squares between modem Independence and Pauline streets, and bounded below by a line bisecting the squares between modem Alvar and Bartholomew streets, as shown on the Pinistri map (1841).

Following Macarty's death in 1846, the plantation was acquired by wealthy philanthropist John McDonogh. Shortly thereafter, McDonogh died leaving his property in equal shares to the cities of New Orleans and Baltimore to be used expressly for the purposes of public education. His will was contested and finally resolved in 1858-59 when the city took possession of the plantation, dividing it into 795 lots sold at public auction. However, by resolution of the City Council, the mansion was reserved for public education and the gardens surrounding it became Macarty Square.
 

MACARTY SQUARE

For nearly ninety years after, Macarty Square was the neighborhood gathering spot. A much reduced open green space is now what remains of what was once the largest and shadiest public square in the city is a story of progress, of compromise and politics that lead to the eventual demise of the city's most splendid neighborhood park.

In the early 1900s, Macarty Square was the hub of leisure activities for the 100-square block neighborhood in the Ninth Ward now known as Bywater. Two blocks long from Burgundy Street to St. Claude Avenue, and one block wide between Alvar and Pauline Streets, the square was dotted with young oak trees, benches and urns. It represented the ideal of a new community only twenty blocks from the French Quarter. Sixteen sidewalks radiated from two central spots in the square. On sunny afternoons the grounds were festive; the setting was lush and beautiful, much like the beginnings from whence it came.

Several fine homes were built around the square. Among them are the Frey Mansion, once owned by the L.A. Frey Meatpacking family, and a former Schwegmann family residence. The square nurtured the sense of neighborhood shared by the citizens of the Ninth Ward. In 1947, the New Orleans city government was looking for land on which to build a new City Hall. In a bizarre twist of McDonogh's philanthropy, the city quietly swapped Macarty Square for property owned by the School Board on Perdido St. where City Hall now stands. Upon Macarty Square, the Francis T. Nicholls School gymnasium and athletic field were built.