The Heart of the City Since 1721
Jackson Square is the living room of New Orleans. It has been the center of civic life since Adrien de Pauger laid out the original Place d'Armes in 1721, three years after the city was founded. Every era of New Orleans history has played out in this one-block square — French colonial rule, Spanish occupation, the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and every upheaval since. Empires have changed hands here. Executions took place here. Andrew Jackson was celebrated here after the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, and the square was renamed for him in 1851.
The Cathedral, the Cabildo, and the Presbytere
The three buildings that frame the upriver side of Jackson Square form the most photographed architectural ensemble in the South. St. Louis Cathedral, with its triple white spires, is the oldest continuously active cathedral in the United States — a parish has worshipped on this site since 1727. The current building, the third on the site, was completed in 1794 after the second great fire destroyed the previous church.
Flanking the cathedral are the Cabildo and the Presbytere. The Cabildo — the old Spanish colonial government building — is where the Louisiana Purchase was signed in 1803, the real estate deal that doubled the size of the United States. It now houses the Louisiana State Museum. The Presbytere, originally intended as a rectory for the cathedral, was never used for that purpose and also became a museum. Together, the three buildings form a wall of history that anchors the square and gives the French Quarter its most iconic skyline.
The Pontalba Buildings
The long red-brick buildings that line the north and south sides of the square are the Pontalba Apartments, built in 1849 by Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba. They are widely considered the oldest apartment buildings in the United States. The Baroness — a formidable woman whose father-in-law once shot her in the chest during a dispute over money (she survived, he didn't) — designed the buildings herself, complete with the ornate cast iron galleries that became the signature architectural feature of the French Quarter.
The Pontalba buildings transformed Jackson Square from a muddy parade ground into the elegant urban space it remains today. Ground-floor shops and restaurants line the arcades, and the upper floors are still residential — some of the most coveted addresses in the French Quarter.
The Artists, the Musicians, the Readers
The iron fence that surrounds Jackson Square is the permanent gallery of the French Quarter's artist community. Painters, sketch artists, and caricaturists hang their work on the fence every morning and take it down every evening, a tradition that has been going on for decades. Inside the fence, the landscaped park with its central equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson is open to anyone who wants to sit on a bench, read a book, or watch the world go by.
Outside the fence, the pedestrian mall of the square is a constant performance. Street musicians play for tips — jazz trios, solo guitarists, brass bands, bucket drummers. Tarot card readers and palm readers set up their tables along the Chartres Street side. Living statues stand motionless until someone drops a dollar. Mimes, magicians, and tap dancers compete for sidewalk space. It's the greatest free show in America, and it runs every day.
The Square After Dark
At night, Jackson Square transforms. The crowds thin, the lights of the cathedral glow against the sky, and the square takes on the atmospheric quality that has drawn artists and writers to New Orleans for two centuries. The gas lamps along the pedestrian mall cast a warm, flickering light. The sound of a distant saxophone drifts from somewhere in the Quarter. The Mississippi River rolls past just beyond the levee, invisible but present.
Jackson Square has been the center of New Orleans for over three hundred years, and it holds that position not because of any single monument or building but because it's the place where everything converges — history, art, music, religion, commerce, and the daily human drama of a city that has always preferred to live its life outdoors, in public, where everyone can see.
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