Hey Blake,
Why is Exposition Boulevard that runs along the eastern side of Audubon Park called a boulevard? It's just a sidewalk.
George Jones
Dear George,
It may be only a sidewalk, but the picturesque, tree-lined stretch bears its impressive name in commemoration of the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition of 1884-85, which was held in what is now Audubon Park. Technically a boulevard is a broad thoroughfare, often having grass plots with trees along the center or between sidewalks and curbs, and the name sounds more sophisticated than a street. When urban planners were designing the master plan for Audubon Park in the 1880s, they apparently preferred the grandeur of "boulevard" to "street" for the area that carried traffic along the park.
Audubon Park originally was the site of the Foucher Plantation, built in the 18th century by Pierre Foucher. In 1871, the city purchased 12 1/2 arpents (a pre-metric French measurement; this plot measured about 2,400 feet) of the plantation for $180,000. Nothing notable was done with the land until the 1884 exposition, which was a success. Shortly after the world exposition, a North, Central and South America Exposition was held on the same spot, but it was a failure and closed in 1886. In that same year, the upper portion of the land was named Audubon Park in honor of John James Audubon, an artist and naturalist who moved to New Orleans in 1821.
