Canal Street Under the Americans (1803)

Canal Street Under the Americans (1803). . After the Louisiana Purchase by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 the Americans demolished the stone ramparts and filled in the drainage ditches around the city. Once leveled, they became the major thoroughfares of their day: Rampart Street, Esplanade Avenue, and Canal Street. For the first time, the American and French sectors of the city were physically linked. Magazine, Decatur, Camp, Chartres, and St. Charles, Royal, were all joined with Canal Street serving then as it does now as the transition line. On one side of this line, the French and Spanish architecture dominates the Vieux Carre: while on the other side the American section developed with its more modern buildings denoting later periods of growth. The city's earliest expansion, the Faubourg St. Mary, ceased to be a suburb and quickly became the major source of growth. , , Since the founding of our city, the economic center was located in the Vieux Carre with the focus on Chartres as the grand boulevard for retail. However after the war of 18 12 with the economic growth in the American sector, the focus gradually shifted to Canal Street. What was primarily a residential street for years turned to commercial with the development of the D.H. Holmes building, 1849, and the first truly modern commercial block, the Touro Block, constructed between Bourbon Street and Royal Street. That same year Canal street's first beautification project was undertaken, privately funded by Judah Touro. Just before the Civil War in 1861, the first tracks were laid in the neutral ground for the horsecars. These were replaced in 1893 for the electric trolleys which were in use for over seventy years. , , From that point on the face of Canal Street was changing rapidly. In 1882, electric lights came into use; in 1902, a new centralized method of transportation helped spread the growth of the central city; in 1922, the present Maison Blanche building was built. The second beautification project was launched in the 1930's and this involved twenty blocks of canal street. The most striking changes that were called for were the new ornamental light fixtures that still remain, and the removal of the ironwork verandahs and galleries which graced the facades of the building's since the 1820's. Again, in 1958, another beautification project was proposed by Mayor Morrison calling for better traffic movement and pedestrian safety. Finally in 1964, the trolleys were taken off canal street and the buses were given the right of way on the neutral ground. , , The most recent beautification project, 1977, recalls the legacy left for Canal Street by Judah Touro with "a double row of trees along the neutral ground extending the length of canal street complimented by bollards with chains." , , This project was made possible through the Economic Development Administration, United States Department of Commerce.