Cultural Touchstones
Quick History of Congo Square
Previously named Place Publique then later Beauregard Square – located in Louis Armstrong Park in the Treme neighborhood between the Municipal Auditorium and Rampart Street. This location is where enslaved people and free people of color gathered on Sunday afternoons for music and dance but also was one of the city’s public markets. Enslaved people sold goods in the market as early as the 1730s/40s. The music gatherings are responsible for preserving aspects of African culture and initiating the sounds of jazz that later developed in New Orleans many years later.
Civic Spaces + Congo Square
During the early years of the city, Congo Square was one of several locations where enslaved Africans and some free people of color congregated on Sunday afternoons. After an 1817 city ordinance, it became the only official gathering place for those who were enslaved, establishing a tradition that continues through today. On those Sunday afternoons, Africans and their descendants spoke and sang in their native languages, practiced their religious beliefs, danced according to their traditions and played African-derived rhythmic patterns on instruments modeled after African prototypes. They also bought and sold goods they made, gathered, hunted and cultivated much in the style of West African marketplaces.
As a public gathering place, Congo Square is the epicenter of the city’s African American culture, which forms the foundation for the soul of New Orleans as well as the point of reference for indigenous practices. UNESCO (United Nations Educational and Scientific Cultural Organization) came to Congo Square to launch International Jazz Day because of the significance of the location to the beginning of jazz, America’s gift to the world. Locally, Congo Square also influenced second line dancing and brass band parades, jazz funerals, the Mardi Gras Indians and African drumming and dancing, as well as foodways and marketing practices. These traditions help brand New Orleans and makes it a worldwide tourist destination.
The History of Municipal Auditorium
The Municipal Auditorium is a five-story Italian Renaissance-style building located in Armstrong Park in Tremé that was designed by Favrot and Livaudais in 1930. The construction of the auditorium was partially fueled by the City Beautiful movement in the 1920s along with the loss of the French Quarter landmark the French Opera House, in 1919. A $2mil budget was put together by the city to create a cultural center that included a new auditorium, plaza, parkway, etc. The 75,000sf auditorium held up to 10,000 seats and was able to be split into two sections by dividing walls. A 35,000sf exhibition space was added in 1931 that accommodated space for the function of a convention center.
The Municipal Auditorium’s ballroom was a prominent site for Mardi Gras balls until Hurricane Katrina with about 60 balls held there per year. In addition to the ball events the auditorium hosted graduations, school dances, was home to the New Orleans Buccaneers basketball team (1969-70), boxing, wrestling, circuses, etc.
An ice rink was installed in 1991 in efforts to bring ice shows and a hockey team to the city but was paused when Harrah’s converted the auditorium to a casino in 1994. Harrah’s filed for bankruptcy a few years later and a $39mill renovation restored the auditorium to be able to host the Eastern Coastal Hockey League team, the New Orleans Brass (1997-99), before the space was used for Mardi Gras balls again until 2005.
As a result of Hurricane Katrina, the auditorium received about five feet of flooding and the building was left abandoned as the city awaited FEMA funding to repair it. In 2016 the City estimated full repairs of the building to cost $80mill, which is much more than what FEMA wanted to offer and what the city has been able to secure for repairs.
The History of Louis Armstrong Park
Louis Armstrong Park opened in 1980 during the administration of Ernest “Dutch” Morial. “Performing at a jam session to commemorate the event were a who’s who of musical greats: Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Al Hirt, Allen Toussaint, Lionel Hampton, Kid Thomas, the Olympia Brass Band and more,” the Times-Picayune wrote at the time.
Armstrong Park has always had an uneasy relationship with the neighborhood surrounding it. The fence constructed around the park made clear that the facility did not belong to the neighborhood that sacrificed to make it possible. The Treme Community Center and Joseph A. Craig Elementary School, both of which sit adjacent to the park, have no real connection to it. While the park often hosted important gatherings, it never seemed to develop a real identity or focus.
In the late 1990s, the city of New Orleans granted the National Park Service a free, 99-year lease in the hope that the federal agency could make better use of the park space and the buildings within it. The federal government invested $3 million in the park’s buildings, but was never able to develop compelling program to attract visitors. In 2018, the park service returned Armstrong Park to city control.
The park and its facilities were badly damaged in 2005 as a result of the federal levee failures created by Hurricane Katrina. Then-mayor Ray Nagin oversaw the park’s renovation and added a sculpture garden including sculpture depicting jazz musicians, Mardi Gras Indians and Congo Square dancers.
Armstrong Park has more recently been the home of many other events, including the “Jazz in the Park” free concert series, the Treme Creole Gumbo Fest, and the Louisiana Cajun & Zydeco Festival.
