[Dixielandjazz] PC Basin Street
David Richoux
tubaman at tubatoast.com
Wed Jul 18 12:05:41 PDT 2007
I have a reproduction of a mid/late 1700s original proposed street
plan for New Orleans - the "Basin" of Basin Street was a "turn-
around" pool for a canal - it does not show up on any of the maps here:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/maps/louisiana/
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/new_orleans_1798.jpg is
pretty interesting.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/new_orleans_1816.jpg lists
an "intended canal"
I found this bit of info - that canal of Canal Street was never built!
http://www-faculty.cs.uiuc.edu/~friedman/canal/Canal.htm
> In the early 1800s, a canal was supposed to have been built down
> the middle of this commons, 50 feet wide, connecting the
> Mississippi River to the Basin Canal (also called the Carondelet
> Canal). The latter canal, now filled in, formed a connection to
> Lake Ponchartrain, running from Bayou St. John to Basin Street,
> where it ended in a large turning basin. The plan called for 60
> feet of reservation on each side of the new canal. The proposed
> canal was never built, but the result was a 170 foot wide commons
> area, which gradually evolved into a street with two roadways
> flanking a central reservation.
>
(so Basin Street was actually about 7 or 8 blocks from the river, but
there were many brothels in Storyville, built along Basin Street,
just outside the French Quarter. So the "dark and light folks" were
meeting in Storyville ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyville has some tidbits...
Dave Richoux
On Jul 18, 2007, at 11:04 AM, Rebecca Thompson wrote:
> I get a real chuckle out of listening to the lyrics to Basin Street
> after
> learning the history of the street. It was near the boat docks
> where the
> brothels were located. There were no sewers, hence all sewage ran
> through
> the streets. Hard to imagine that Basin Street is like heaven on
> earth!
>
> Also the "working girls" were either black or white,(but always
> light) but
> the clientele was primarily the upper crust white folk. There was
> another
> area in New Orleans designated for the black customers.
>
>
> Rebecca Thompson
> Flower Mound, TX
>
>
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