63 Fun Facts About New Orleans

Which town did New Orleans replace as the capital of French Louisiana?

Biloxi: soon after the capital moved in 1722, a hurricane blew down most of New Orleans, and it was rebuilt on the grid that is today's French Quarter.

New Orleans's namesake, the Duke of Orléans, ruled France as regent for which boy king?

Louis XV: his parents and his only surviving brother all died in 1712, which left the two-year-old next in line for the throne.

Who founded New Orleans?

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville chose the site partly because it was high ground on a sharp bend of the river.

Before Europeans arrived, the Choctaw name for the area, Bulbancha, translated as what?

Land of many tongues: the site was a trading hub where many Native peoples with different languages met to trade.

What do New Orleanians call the grassy median running down the middle of a boulevard?

The neutral ground: on Canal Street, the wide median once divided the Creole French Quarter from the new American sector upriver.

Which six-year-old integrated New Orleans's William Frantz Elementary under federal marshals' escort?

Ruby Bridges: nearly all white parents kept their children away, and only one teacher, Barbara Henry, agreed to teach her.

A New Orleans man's arrest in a whites-only train car led to which Supreme Court case?

Plessy v. Ferguson: a civil rights committee staged the 1892 arrest to test the law, but the Court upheld 'separate but equal' in 1896.

Why do so few buildings in the French Quarter date from the French colonial era?

Two great fires destroyed them, in 1788 and 1794, and the city rebuilt in brick, so most of the Quarter's buildings date from after the blazes.

What is the French Quarter's other common name?

Vieux Carré means 'Old Square', and because the district sits on higher ground, it stayed largely dry when Hurricane Katrina flooded most of the city.

Bourbon Street takes its name from what?

France's royal family: engineer Adrien de Pauger named the street for the House of Bourbon in 1721, before bourbon whiskey even existed.

New Orleans became part of the United States through which 1803 deal?

The Louisiana Purchase: US envoys had set out to buy New Orleans, and were stunned when France offered all of Louisiana for $15 million.

Which French Quarter bar is known as the home of the Hurricane cocktail?

Pat O'Brien's: distributors reportedly made bars take cases of rum to get whiskey, so the bar mixed the surplus into its fruity Hurricane.

Who commanded the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815?

Andrew Jackson: his army lost fewer than 100 men against about 2,000 British casualties, and the fame of the victory later helped carry him to the White House.

The Battle of New Orleans was fought 15 days after which peace agreement had already been signed?

The Treaty of Ghent: word of it hadn't crossed the Atlantic, and the US didn't ratify it until February 16, 1815, so the war wasn't officially over.

Which pirate led the privateers who fought alongside the Americans in 1815?

Jean Lafitte traded his smugglers' help for a pardon, and President Madison granted it, but Lafitte soon went back to his illicit trade from Galveston Island.

Before it was renamed for a war hero, what was the French Quarter's main square called?

Place d'Armes was the colonial parade ground, and the Baroness de Pontalba later paid for its makeover with an iron fence and formal gardens.

Which engineer's pump system let New Orleans build on former swampland?

A. Baldwin Wood's giant screw pumps, installed in the 1910s, drained enough swamp for the city to spread, and his pump designs were later used in Egypt, China and India.

As of 2025, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway holds a Guinness World Record for what?

Longest continuous span over water: when China's Jiaozhou Bay Bridge was touted as longer in 2011, the Causeway disputed it, and Guinness now lists a separate 'continuous' title.

Lake Pontchartrain is technically what kind of body of water?

An estuary: it joins the Gulf through the Rigolets and Lake Borgne while rivers pour in fresh water, so its water is brackish.

The day before Hurricane Katrina struck, New Orleans's mayor issued the city's first-ever what?

Mandatory evacuation order: most residents left, but many people without cars or anywhere to go were stuck in the city when the water rose.

Which New Orleans newspaper kept publishing after Katrina forced it from its building, winning a Pulitzer Prize?

The Times-Picayune: it published online only until it could print again, using another newspaper's presses in Houma.

As of 2025, what distinction does the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line hold?

The world's oldest operating streetcar line: it opened in 1835 with steam locomotives, switched to horse and mule cars, and was electrified in 1893.

Which playwright lived in New Orleans early in his career and set A Streetcar Named Desire there?

Tennessee Williams took the title from a real transit line, Desire, which ran through the French Quarter to Desire Street until 1948.

Which open space in Louis Armstrong Park is famed for the music and dancing once held there?

Congo Square: on Sundays during the colonial and early American periods, enslaved and free people gathered there to buy and sell goods.

After a New Year's Eve arrest, young Louis Armstrong was sent to a boys' home, where he learned which instrument?

The cornet: teacher Peter Davis taught him to play it properly, then chose him to lead the home's brass band.

The New Orleans airport code MSY comes from what?

Moisant Stock Yards: aviator John Moisant died in a 1910 crash on the site, which became a stockyard bearing his name and later Moisant Field.

Which New Orleans jazz venue started out as an art gallery?

Preservation Hall: owner Larry Borenstein began inviting musicians to play sessions in his gallery, and in 1961 it became a music venue.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is held annually at what venue?

The Fair Grounds Race Course: only about 350 people came to the first festival in 1970, about half the number of performers, and it moved to the racetrack in 1972.

Fats Domino lived most of his life in which New Orleans neighbourhood, staying there through Katrina?

The Lower Ninth Ward: he stayed there as Katrina hit partly because his wife was ill, and the Coast Guard rescued him from his flooded home.

Which secret Carnival society was founded in New Orleans in 1856?

The Mistick Krewe of Comus: several founders had come from Mobile, whose Cowbellion de Rakin Society was part of their inspiration.

The Rex Organization staged its first Mardi Gras parade in 1872 in honour of a visit by whom?

Grand Duke Alexei of Russia: businessmen invented Rex, a mock King of Carnival, partly to give the royal visitor a grand daytime parade.

The Zulu krewe is famous for giving out what unusual throw?

Hand-painted coconuts: injury lawsuits cost Zulu its insurance in 1987, until the state passed a 'Coconut Bill' shielding the throws from liability.

Café du Monde's café au lait, served with beignets, is made with coffee and what?

The chicory blend was a Civil War-era workaround for coffee shortages that simply never went away.

The po' boy's name is said to come from free sandwiches for which striking workers in 1929?

Streetcar conductors: the Martin brothers, once conductors themselves, reportedly greeted each striker who came in as 'another poor boy'.

The muffuletta sandwich is said to have been created in 1906 at which French Quarter shop?

Central Grocery: founder Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant, is credited with it, and the sandwich takes its name from the round Sicilian loaf it's built on.

Filé powder, one of the classic gumbo thickeners, is made from the ground leaves of which tree?

The other traditional thickener is okra, and gumbos are often classified by which one the cook uses.

Which dish is traditionally eaten in New Orleans on Mondays?

Red beans and rice: Monday was washday, so a pot of beans could simmer all day while the laundry got done.

Which classic New Orleans cocktail shares its name with a brand of French cognac?

The Sazerac: it was first made with cognac, but American rye whiskey was later substituted as its main spirit.

What is hidden inside a New Orleans king cake?

A tiny plastic baby: whoever finds it in their slice is traditionally on the hook for buying the next king cake or hosting the next party.

As of 2025, the Saints' only Super Bowl win, Super Bowl XLIV, came against which team?

Indianapolis Colts: the Saints opened the second half with a surprise onside kick, recovered it and soon took their first lead of the game.

On which appropriate date in 1966 was New Orleans awarded its NFL franchise?

November 1, All Saints' Day: Commissioner Pete Rozelle announced the franchise that day, and a few months later the team was named the Saints.

The Saints' logo is which symbol, also an emblem of New Orleans?

A fleur-de-lis: after Hurricane Katrina, it spread across New Orleans as a symbol of support for the city's recovery.

Which Saints kicker's 63-yard field goal in 1970 set an NFL record that stood for 43 years?

Tom Dempsey: the kick beat Detroit 19–17 on the game's final play, and Matt Prater only topped it by a yard in 2013.

Which New Orleans restaurant created Bananas Foster, the flaming banana dessert?

Brennan's: chef Paul Blangé created it there, and it was named for Richard Foster, a friend of owner Owen Brennan.

Where did the Saints play their home games before the Superdome opened in 1975?

Tulane Stadium: it also hosted three of the first nine Super Bowls, the last in January 1975, because construction delays kept the Superdome from opening in time.

Under what name did the Pelicans NBA franchise arrive in the city in 2002?

The Hornets: they moved from Charlotte, spent two seasons in Oklahoma City after Katrina, and renamed themselves the Pelicans in 2013.

Which Hollywood actor bought a pyramid-shaped tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in 2010 as his resting place?

Nicolas Cage: he had also bought the French Quarter's LaLaurie Mansion in 2007, but lost it in a 2009 foreclosure auction.

Which famed 19th-century Voodoo priestess was born free in New Orleans in 1801?

Marie Laveau: she was known for ministering to prisoners in the city's jail, including those who had been sentenced to death.

The great church on Jackson Square is the oldest what in the United States?

It shares that distinction with the Royal Presidio Chapel in Monterey, California, and was elevated to cathedral status in 1793.

The Garden District was annexed by New Orleans in 1852 after being part of which separate city?

Its mansions later attracted novelist Anne Rice, who bought one of the district's grand houses in 1989.

Tulane University was founded in 1834 under what original name?

The Medical College of Louisiana: founded by a group of young doctors, it became a public university before merchant Paul Tulane's gifts turned it private in 1884.

The Crescent City Connection carries traffic over the Mississippi on twin bridges of what type?

Cantilever: the first span opened in 1958 as the Greater New Orleans Bridge, and the pair was renamed after a 1989 public naming contest.

Frenchmen Street's live-music hub is in which neighbourhood just downriver from the French Quarter?

Faubourg Marigny: Creole landowner Bernard de Marigny carved his plantation into lots in 1806, and Frenchmen Street's music clubs took off there in the 1980s.

Which navigation canal connects the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans?

The Industrial Canal: wharves and docks were built along its banks, making it an industrial port as well as a shipping route.

Because of its busy film industry, New Orleans has picked up which nickname?

Hollywood South: after the state passed film tax credits in 2002, so many productions arrived that the city and state earned the nickname.

New Orleans was once the state capital; which city holds that role today?

Baton Rouge: lawmakers moved the seat of government there in the 1840s, and the city donated a plot for a castle-style capitol.

The beignet is an official state doughnut; which other state has named an official doughnut?

Massachusetts: it named the Boston cream its state doughnut in 2003, borrowing from Boston cream pie, which is really a sponge cake.

Which 1811 uprising saw up to 500 enslaved people march toward New Orleans?

The German Coast rebellion: troops and militia crushed the two-day march, and captured rebels were executed and their heads put on display to scare others.

Which Union general, nicknamed 'Beast', became military governor of New Orleans in 1862?

Benjamin F. Butler: his order that any woman insulting Union troops be treated as a prostitute led Confederate general Beauregard to brand him 'Butler the Beast'.

Which civil rights group took shape at 1957 meetings in Atlanta, New Orleans and Montgomery?

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference: with Martin Luther King Jr. as president, it went on to coordinate the 1963 Birmingham protests.

Which New Orleans mayor had four Confederate monuments taken down in 2017?

Mitch Landrieu: threats drove contractors off the job, and one contractor even had his car set on fire.

In 2010, the NFL fought T-shirt shops over which Saints chant?

Who dat: after Senator David Vitter demanded the league drop its claim, the NFL backed off and said it did not claim the phrase by itself.

Which rapper grew up in New Orleans's Hollygrove neighbourhood?

Lil Wayne: as a boy he recorded rhymes on the answering machine of a Cash Money Records co-founder, who took him under his wing.