From Bienville to Bourbon Street to bounce. 300 moments that make New Orleans unique.

WHAT HAPPENED In 1720, the first 1718 ~ 2018 group of Germans settled on the West Bank of St. Charles 300 Parish. TRICENTENNIAL

The three River Parishes, St. Charles, St. John and St. James, began to be settled soon after New Orleans was founded. In 1720, 21 families from Germany settled on the west bank of the , between the com- munities of what is now Killona and Taft. They were joined a year later by another 330 German immigrants, brought by John Law’s company to help settle the area. The settlers faced many difficulties, including swampy land difficult to cultivate, floods and disease. In 1765, the Acadians also settled in the area, mainly up- river in St. James Parish. The Germans and Acadians worked together to farm the area and feed New Orleans. Charles Deslondes led a slave At the end of the 18th century, several plantations uprising in 1811 that started in St. John Parish and ended in lined the river in the three parishes, including the a massacre of the slaves that Destrehan, Ormond and Home Place plantations. revolted. In 1811, the par- ishes were the site of largest slave in- surrection in U.S. history, led by slave Charlie Deslondes. The Home Place plantation in Hahnville, also known as the Keller Homestead, is a The National Historic Landmark. Uprising was short A 3-dollar bill from St. Charles Parish in 1862 The Dow Chemical Co., in Taft, near Hahnville, a town that is home to zero lived, and 96 slaves people, but houses multiple industrial operations. were gathered and killed in retaliation for killing two John Law’s white people. company In the early 1900s, the area was extensively harvested circulated these for cypress. After oil was discovered in in the pamphlets early 20th century, the Destrehan Plantation was sold to attract Germans to the Mexican Petroleum Company as a site for an oil to move to refinery. Several refineries and oil export terminals fol- present- lowed, which were then followed by chemical compa- day St. Founder of Destrehan, politician Charles nies. Dow, Monsanto, Shell, Motiva and Valero are some and plantation owner, Parish. of the companies that now operate in the River Parishes. Jean Noël d’Estréhan de Beaupré