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The future Musee Rosette Rochon will focus on the culture of free people of color in New Orleans around the mid-19th century.
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Courtesy of Don Richmond
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Hey Blake,
I've been hearing about a museum in the making
called Musee Rosette Rochon. It's supposed to be a Creole cottage built by a
free woman of color in the 1830s. I can't seem to be able to find more information
about it except that it's on Pauger Street near the Quarter. I am interested
in the history of New Orleans, its architecture and preservation, so I would
like to know more about this project.
Jules P. Cote
Dear Jules,
We certainly need more people like you who
are interested in learning about our history and saving everything we can. We
have so much to be proud of.
Located at 1515 Pauger St. in the Faubourg
Marigny is the future Musee Rosette Rochon. The Creole cottage was built around
1815 on the street that was then known as Rue Bagatelle. Don Richmond, a retired
interior decorator, originally bought the house in 1977, sold it, and bought
it again in 1994. He is personally renovating it and plans to create a museum
that will focus on the culture of free people of color in New Orleans around
the mid-19th century.
From the earliest Colonial days, the gens
de couleur libres -- free persons of color -- have played an important role
in New Orleans. As early as 1724, their legal status was defined. As their numbers
increased, so did the regulations controlling their freedoms and behaviors.
The Spanish, as did the French before them, guaranteed freedom for children
of free colored women, but there were numerous other restrictions. By the time
of the American rule in 1803, they were still guaranteed legal equality, although
they were frequent victims of harassment and discrimination. And they were not
given the right to vote before the Civil War.
In spite of the difficulties, many free people
of color came to New Orleans from Europe, and others came from French and Spanish
colonies in the West Indies. More than 4,000 between 1806 and 1810 came from
St. Domingue. Just before the Civil War, the census of 1860 showed that the
population of New Orleans was approximately 175,000. Among these were 10,689
free people of color.
The people who came called themselves Creole,
meaning they were of European ancestry or were born in the French and Spanish
colonies. Many of them were well-educated or skilled tradesmen and spoke French.
Marigny was a popular place in which to buy
and build. The lots -- about 60 feet by 120 feet -- were small and relatively
inexpensive. A homeowner could purchase one for about $300-$400. The free men
of color sometimes owned entire city blocks, and it has been estimated that
they owned $15 million worth of real estate.
Women were among the early owners of property
in Marigny. The owner of the cottage on Pauger Street was Rosette Rochon, a
woman of French and Haitian ancestry who was born in Mobile, Ala., in 1767.
She was an enterprising free woman of color who, before she died in 1863, made
a fortune in New Orleans by speculating in real estate, renting property and
operating a grocery store.
In the first 20 years of the 19th century,
small Creole cottages were built and then replaced by larger ones in the 1830s
as the properties were bought and sold many times. In fact, by 1860, about three-fourths
of the sites in Marigny had been owned at least at one time by free people of
color.
Many people have expressed interest in Richmond's
project. In 1999, there was a popular exhibit at the Xavier University Archives
called "Toward a Museum of Free People of Color: The Musee Rosette Rochon Project."
Also, The Times-Picayune and Louisiana Weekly published articles
and columns about the project in 2001.
Richmond's biggest problem, as you might guess,
is money. A Louisiana preservation group has committed funding for promotion
but not for restoration. Richmond estimates that it will take more than $1 million
to restore the house and turn it into the museum that he envisions.
So if anyone really wants to play a role in
saving a piece of important history, Don Richmond can be reached at 947-7673.
