Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 52-Gallatin Street: New Orleans First Vice District Revisited
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Join us as we uncover the dark history of New Orleans' first vice district, Gallatin Street, a dangerous and lawless area that predated the more well-known Storyville red-light district. Listen as we explore the deplorable living conditions, corruption, and violent crime that defined this notorious street during the 19th century.
• Location of present-day French Market was once the most dangerous area in New Orleans
• Residents lived in squalid conditions, often sharing rooms with livestock and rotting produce
• Corrupt and understaffed police force allowed criminals to operate with impunity
• Prostitution was New Orleans' second most profitable industry with most sex workers dying within four years
• Nearly half a million immigrants entered through the Port of New Orleans between 1841-1860
• Teenage criminals Mary Jane "Bricktop" Jackson and Delia Swift (Bridget Fury) formed America's first all-female street gang
• The Live Oak Gang earned their name from the oak clubs they carried and their meeting place
• By late 1890s, the city established Storyville to contain and regulate prostitution
• Gallatin Street was officially renamed French Marketplace in 1935
• The expansion of the French Market in 1926 erased all physical traces of Gallatin Street's dark past
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Sources:
Marinello, Nick, Brothels of Antebellum New Orleans, June 23, 2009, Tulane University News, www.news.tulane.edu/news/brothels-antebellum-new-Orleans , accessed Feb. 15, 2025
Ghost City Tours, www.ghostcitytours.com/new-orleans/haunted-places/haunted-gallatin-street/ , accessed Feb 16, 2025
Karst, James, Gallatin Street, once, New Orleans' most dangerous with 'crime and depravity in every inch', Nola.com/The Times Picayune, www.nola.com/entertainment_life/vintage/gallatin-street-once-new-orleans-most-dangerous-with-crime-and-depravity-in-every-inch/article , accessed Feb 16, 2025
https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/vintage/gallatin-street-once-new-orleans-most-dangerous-with-crime-and-depravity-in-every-inch/article_3140df02-0c46-5f4b-8893-b33b5bf0aec8.html
Photo Credit:
View of Gallatin Street in the 1930s, shortly before demolition, public domain, photo from WPA, retrieved Feb 21. 2025