A SKETCH OF THE PLAN OF THE FAUBOURG LIVAUDAIS,
Drawn at the request of Messrs. L. PEIRCE, W. H. CHASE, M. MORGAN and S. J. PETERS,
By B. BUISSON, Surveyor for the Parish of Jefferson—March, 1832.
PRINTED BY BENJAMIN LEVY, CHARTRES-STREET.
The year 1840 saw the Presbyterians organized in Lafayette City under the popular Rev. Jerome Twichell. Their church, completed in 1843, on Fulton between Josephine and Adele, was also occasionally used by the Society of Friends. Henry Clay attended services once in the church soon after it was opened. The Prytania Presbyterian Church, where George W. Cable worshipped and sang in the choir, was founded in 1846.
Episcopal services began in a room on the corner of Washington and Laurel streets in 1847. Later that year, construction started for the Church of the Holy Trinity at the corner of Live Oak (now Constance) and Second streets. In 1851, the Rev. Alexander F. Dobb, a dynamic churchman, began working for the construction of a handsome new edifice at Jackson and Coliseum Streets. Trinity Church, as its name was shortened, was occupied in 1853. Unfortunately, Mr. Dobb and his wife died in the tragic yellow fever epidemic of that year and never saw the completed church.
Congregation Gates of Prayer, the Jewish synagogue, originally worshipped in a building near the corner of Sixth and Tchoupitoulas Streets, but in 1854 it moved to a building, still standing though no longer used for that purpose, on Jackson Avenue.
Missions for the German Protestants were provided by the Evangelical, Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches in various locations.
Lafayette City is no more. Its heritage is two-fold: the sturdy Irish-German stock of its riverfront section; and the great houses and cultural heritage of the Garden District, its fine residential section. Of the former, volumes could be written; of the latter, the following pages will attempt to touch the high spots. If this small book encourages the reader to visit the scenes described, if it provides a setting for the better appreciation of the great houses, the many hours of patient research and writing will be well rewarded.
Mansion on Prytania, between Philip and Jackson, typifies great days of Garden District, was once home of authoress, historian Grace King.
Frances Jones was Miss King’s illustrator.