Audubon Park (New Orleans)

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Coordinates: 29°56′03″N 90°07′25″W / 29.93417°N 90.12361°W / 29.93417; -90.12361
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Audubon Park
Audubon Park entrance located on St. Charles Avenue
Map
TypeUrban park
LocationNew Orleans, Louisiana
Coordinates29°56′03″N 90°07′25″W / 29.93417°N 90.12361°W / 29.93417; -90.12361
Area350 acres (1.4 km2)
Created1871
StatusOpen all year

Audubon Park (historically French: Plantation de Boré[1]) is a municipal park located in the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. It is approximately 350 acres. The park is approximately six miles to the west of the city center of New Orleans and sits on land that was purchased by the city in 1871. It is bordered on one side by the Mississippi River and on the other by St. Charles Avenue, directly across from Loyola University and Tulane University. The park is named in honor of artist and naturalist John James Audubon, who began living in New Orleans in 1821.[2]

History and features

One of the fountains at Audubon Park with Tulane University in the background.

The land now housing the park was a

plantation during the French and Spanish colonial periods and early American statehood. It belonged to Étienne de Boré, the first mayor of New Orleans and the first successful sugar planter in Louisiana; his plantation also included what is now the location of Tulane University and Audubon Zoo
.

It was used by both the Confederate and the Union armies in the

Buffalo Soldiers. At the time of its establishment, it was the last large undeveloped parcel of what was to become uptown New Orleans
. The area was annexed by the City of New Orleans, along with the surrounding communities of Jefferson City and Greenville in 1870, and the following year the city purchased the land.

Use as an urban park was intended from the start, with "Upper City Park" originally selected as a name to distinguish the park from

World's Fair soon thereafter, the World Cotton Centennial of 1884. After the closing of the fair, the park's development began in earnest. Most of the fair's buildings were demolished, with the exception of Horticultural Hall, which remained in the park until destroyed in the 1915 New Orleans hurricane. The only notable reminder of the fair to remain in the park in the 21st century is a large iron ore rock from the Alabama State exhibit (which in local lore has often been misidentified as a meteorite). Audubon Park's present form largely follows a design drafted by John Charles Olmsted, a principal of the renowned Olmsted Brothers
landscape architecture practice.

Early in the 20th century, part of the park became home to the Audubon Zoo. The zoo received significant improvement at the hands of the Works Progress Administration, and again from the 1970s onwards. Numerous early- and mid-20th century park attractions like the miniature railway, the enormous Whitney Young public swimming pool, the swan boats in the lagoons, and the carousel were closed, dismantled and/or discontinued in the 1970s, though a far smaller public pool was constructed in the 1990s adjacent to the site of the original Young pool.

The park features sports fields and picnic facilities along the Mississippi River, in an area called Riverview Park.[3] This riverside portion of Audubon Park is known colloquially as "The Fly",[4] an almost-forgotten reference to the modernist, butterfly-shaped river viewing shelter constructed in the 1960s and demolished in the 1980s in the aftermath of its severe damage one foggy morning at the hands of blundering river traffic.

The ring road around the park was closed to

automobile
traffic at the start of the 1980s and became a popular 1.7-mile (2.7 km) walking, jogging and biking route. A 2.2 mile dirt path located around the perimeter of the park is also popular for runners seeking a less congested route.

A few of the park's old

National Guard
troops and relief workers after the storm.

Athletic facilities

In 1898 the Audubon

David Mark Berger, an athlete and graduate of Tulane University who was captured and killed in the 1972 Olympic Games hostage crisis. The field was officially dedicated to Berger's memory on June 10, 2013.[5]

Wildlife

Trio of great egrets at Ochsner Island Rookery in Audubon Park.

Ochsner Island on the east side of the park features a

black-bellied whistling ducks
have begun using the park's lagoons as a stopover on their migrations.

References

  1. ^ "Cajun and Cajuns: Genealogy site for Cajun, Acadian and Louisiana genealogy, history and culture". www.thecajuns.com.
  2. ^ "John James Audubon". 25 October 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  3. ^ "Audubon Park Map". Audubon Institute. Archived from the original on 2008-07-11. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  4. ^ Saulny, Susan; McDonald, Brent (Producer) (2007). New Orleans Postcard (Streaming). New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  5. ^ "David Berger – Avenger Field dedication". 10 June 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Audubon Park, New Orleans.
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