Lafayette Square and American Sector Forum

Why is it significant?

You have arrived in Lafayette Square, the historic civic and political epicenter of the nineteenth-century American Sector.

Key Facts

Open the walk

You have arrived in Lafayette Square, the historic civic and political epicenter of the nineteenth-century American Sector. Laid out in 1788 by royal Spanish surveyor Carlos Laveau Trudeau as the Place Gravier within the newly platted Faubourg Sainte Marie, this handsome two-and-a-half-acre park was renamed in 1824 to honor Revolutionary War hero General Marquis de Lafayette during his triumphal farewell tour of America.

Lafayette Square was established by American newcomers deliberately to serve as their direct democratic rival to the French Quarter's Jackson Square, anchoring a new Anglo-American commercial city that rapidly eclipsed the old Creole quarter in mercantile power.

Stroll along the shaded brick walkways beneath centuries-old live oaks, sweet magnolias, and towering palms. In the center of the square stands a heroic bronze statue of Henry Clay, sculpted in 1860 by Joel T. Hart, alongside bronze monuments to Benjamin Franklin and John McDonogh, the eccentric merchant philanthropist who bequeathed his vast fortune to fund dozens of public schools across New Orleans. During the Civil War, following the Union capture of New Orleans in April 1862, federal troops under General Benjamin Butler pitched military encampments beneath these trees, while military bands played patriotic anthems from the park bandstand. In modern times, Lafayette Square is the beloved venue for the popular springtime Wednesday at the Square concert series, where local brass bands, funk ensembles, and rhythm and blues artists perform for downtown crowds.

Standing in the center of the park looking across at the majestic columns of Gallier Hall, the classical democratic ideals of early American New Orleans resonate with monumental dignity. This green square anchored the transformation of a colonial outpost into an American commercial powerhouse.

Look across Saint Charles Avenue toward the colossal white marble portico of Gallier Hall.