70 Fun Facts About New Orleans

In what year was New Orleans founded by French colonists?

The city was laid out on land of the Chitimacha people and served as the capital of French Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase.

New Orleans is named in honour of which French royal?

He was regent of France at the time; the Spanish later renamed the city Nueva Orleans until 1800.

Who founded La Nouvelle-Orléans in 1718?

Born in Montreal, he was appointed governor of French Louisiana four separate times between 1701 and 1743.

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

The name is thought to be a contraction of a phrase meaning 'there are foreign speakers', fitting for a future port city.

What does the nickname 'Crescent City' allude to?

Other nicknames include The Big Easy, NOLA and The City that Care Forgot, used since at least 1938.

Who is thought to have coined the nickname 'The Big Easy' in the early 20th century?

The phrase dates to the early 20th century, when the city's dance halls and clubs kept players in steady employment.

Following the Seven Years' War, France handed New Orleans to which country in 1763?

The city was renamed Nueva Orleans, and most of the surviving French Quarter buildings actually date from the Spanish period after two great fires.

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

As a result, the neighbourhood's signature courtyards and iron balconies are largely Spanish colonial and early American work.

What is the French Quarter's other common name?

It means 'old square', and the city grew outward from this original grid.

The French Quarter's most famous nightlife street is named after what?

Engineer Adrien de Pauger named it in 1721 when he laid out the street grid; the whiskey connection is pure coincidence.

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

Napoleon sold the territory for fifteen million dollars, roughly eighteen dollars a square mile, and the handover ceremony took place at the Cabildo.

On what date was New Orleans formally transferred from France to the United States?

Spain had only handed the territory back to France three weeks earlier, so the city changed flags twice in a month.

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

His statue on horseback now stands in the French Quarter square that bears his name.

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

It had been signed 15 days earlier in Belgium, but the news had not yet crossed the Atlantic and the treaty was not ratified until February.

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

A blacksmith shop bar on Bourbon Street still trades on his name.

Jackson Square in the French Quarter was formerly known by what name?

It is flanked by St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and the Presbytère, and the Louisiana Purchase handover took place there.

In 1840, where did New Orleans rank among the most populous cities in the United States?

It remained the largest city in the American South from before the Civil War until after World War II.

New Orleans sits on the Mississippi River roughly how far upriver from the Gulf of Mexico?

The city lies in the river's delta, just south of Lake Pontchartrain, which is why drainage has always been a struggle.

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

Some parts of Eastern New Orleans now sit seven feet below sea level, while ground at the river levee in Uptown rises to about 20 feet.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway holds a Guinness World Record for what?

The longer of its two parallel spans runs 23.83 miles from Metairie to Mandeville.

Lake Pontchartrain is technically what kind of body of water?

It covers about 630 square miles of brackish water connected to the Gulf.

What percentage of New Orleans flooded when the levees failed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005?

The city lost more than half its population in the aftermath, though it has rebounded substantially since.

On what date did Hurricane Katrina make its Louisiana landfall?

It had peaked as a Category 5 storm the day before and struck as a Category 3, becoming the costliest tropical cyclone in U.S. history.

Roughly how many people sheltered in the Superdome as Katrina came ashore?

It was designated a 'refuge of last resort' along with the Morial Convention Center for residents unable to evacuate.

What distinction does the St. Charles Avenue transit service hold?

It has run since 1835 and its cars are painted the same green used to mark it on transit maps.

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

The city still hosts an annual literary festival in his name each spring.

Which open space in Louis Armstrong Park is where enslaved Africans gathered to play music on Sundays?

New Orleans was the only North American city to permit such gatherings, and the rhythms played there fed directly into jazz.

Louis Armstrong, New Orleans's most famous musical son, was born on which date?

For years he claimed a Fourth of July 1900 birthday; the airport was renamed for him on the centenary of the true date.

The New Orleans airport code MSY comes from what?

Daredevil aviator John Moisant died in a crash on the site in 1910, and the stockyard built there afterwards took his name.

Preservation Hall, the famous French Quarter jazz venue, opened under that name in what year?

It began as an art gallery whose owner let musicians rehearse in the back before it became a full-time music hall.

Between which years was Storyville New Orleans's legal red-light district?

It was named, to his dismay, after alderman Sidney Story, who wrote the ordinance creating it; the Navy forced its closure during World War I.

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

The festival's nonprofit foundation was established in 1970.

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

He stayed home during the storm because his wife was in poor health, and was rescued by helicopter from his flooded house.

What is the New Orleans tradition of a brass band leading a parade with dancers behind?

The 'main line' is the club with the permit and the band; the second line is everyone who joins in behind.

Which secret society, founded by 21 businessmen in 1856, staged the first formal Mardi Gras parade?

Twenty-one businessmen formed the secret society in a French Quarter club room, and Comus still meets Rex at the close of Mardi Gras night.

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

Rex later fixed purple, green and gold as the official Mardi Gras colours in 1892.

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

The first Zulu king in 1909 wore a lard-can crown and carried a banana stalk as a sceptre.

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.

Café du Monde, the oldest coffee shop in New Orleans, opened as a coffee stand in what year?

It sits in the French Market and, aside from Christmas Day and the occasional hurricane, has famously kept round-the-clock hours.

Benny and Clovis Martin invented the po' boy by feeding free sandwiches to strikers from what profession in 1929?

The brothers were former conductors themselves, and the 'poor boys' on the picket line gave the sandwich its name.

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

The round loaf is piled with olive salad, salami, ham, Swiss, provolone and mortadella.

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?

Louis Armstrong loved it so much he signed letters 'Red beans and ricely yours'.

Which drink did the Louisiana Legislature proclaim New Orleans's official cocktail in 2008?

The classic recipe calls for rye or cognac, sugar, Peychaud's Bitters and an absinthe rinse.

What is hidden inside a New Orleans king cake?

Whoever finds it traditionally buys the next cake; the Pelicans even adopted a King Cake Baby mascot in 2009.

The New Orleans Saints won their only Super Bowl, XLIV, against which team?

The 2009 title came four seasons after Katrina had forced the team to play an entire year on the road.

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

Commissioner Pete Rozelle flew in to make the announcement within a week of sealing the NFL-AFL merger.

The Saints' logo is which symbol, shared with the city and the French royal family?

The uniforms pair it with gold helmets and either black or white jerseys.

Saints kicker Tom Dempsey set a record in 1970 with a field goal of how many yards?

It beat the previous mark by seven yards and stood as the NFL record for more than four decades.

Through Super Bowl LIX in February 2025, how many Super Bowls had the Superdome hosted?

The building was designed in 1967 by local modernists Curtis and Davis but political delays meant it did not open until 1975.

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

The old Sugar Bowl venue was demolished in 1980 and Tulane's Green Wave moved into the dome as well.

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

The team spent two post-Katrina seasons in Oklahoma City before adopting the state bird, the brown pelican, as its identity.

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

The 1789 cemetery is also believed to hold Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, and most of its graves are above-ground vaults.

Which famed 19th-century Voodoo priestess was born free in the French Quarter in 1801?

Her reputed tomb in the Glapion family crypt still draws visitors leaving offerings.

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?

It went private in the 1880s thanks to gifts from Paul Tulane and Josephine Louise Newcomb.

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

The first span opened in 1958 as the Greater New Orleans Bridge; the pair are tied as the fifth-longest cantilever bridges in the world.

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

Locals often send visitors there rather than to Bourbon Street when they want to hear the real thing.

Which waterway divides the Ninth Ward, separating the Lower Ninth from the rest?

Its floodwall breaches during Katrina devastated the Lower Ninth Ward.

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

Generous state tax credits pulled productions to the city through the 2000s and 2010s.

What was the population of New Orleans at the 2020 census?

That still makes it the largest city in Louisiana and the second-largest in the Deep South after Atlanta.

Beignets are one of only two official state doughnuts in America; which state has the other?

Massachusetts chose the Boston cream doughnut; Louisiana chose the powdered French Quarter classic.

What was the 1811 uprising of about 500 enslaved Africans who marched toward New Orleans called?

It began in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes and has been called the largest slave rebellion in US history.

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

A Massachusetts lawyer, he earned the nickname for an order aimed at women harassing his troops, and he also abolished French-language instruction in city schools.

Which civil rights organisation was founded in New Orleans?

The city also saw lunch counter sit-ins at Canal Street department stores and tense school desegregation in 1960.

Where does the Port of New Orleans rank among US ports by cargo volume?

Within Louisiana it is only second to the Port of South Louisiana, and it ranks twelfth nationally by cargo value.

How many members sit on the New Orleans City Council?

Five come from single-member districts and two are elected at large under a home rule charter adopted in 1954.

Since what year has New Orleans had continuous ferry service across the Mississippi?

The Canal Street Ferry still links downtown with the historic Algiers Point neighbourhood on the West Bank.

Who was nicknamed the 'Witch Queen of New Orleans', leading the state's first recognised coven?

Her Religious Order of Witchcraft met at Popp Fountain in City Park.