Louisiana Leaders: Notable Women in History
MARGARET HAUGHERY, 1813 - 1882
PHILANTHROPIST, BUSINESSWOMAN and SOCIAL WORKER
The first statue erected in the United States in honor of a woman is the statue to Margaret Haughery at the corner of Prytania and Camp in New Orleans. This remarkable woman was a penniless Irish immigrant who lost her husband and child to the yellow fever epidemic soon after their arrival to New Orleans in 1835. From humble beginnings she grew into an astute business woman/entrepreneur and philanthropist who established four orphanages, several homes for the elderly, and at her death gave the bulk of her estate, over $600,000, to New Orleans' orphanages. She was well known throughout the city for her charity and compassion and creative resourcefulness to provide for the city's needy children.
After establishing her first orphanage in a dilapidated house with the widespread reputation for being haunted, and after making it habitable, the owner wanted to evict them and sell the property. Margaret used her ingenuity and sincerity to convince the owner of the value of charity and for her efforts the orphanage was granted free rent from that day on. After this success, she purchased several cows to provide milk for the children and this purchase grew into a booming dairy whose products she sold through the city from her milk cart. Her investments and loans were highly profitable and her wealth grew. As a result of earlier loans to businessmen, she found herself to be the major stockholder of a bankrupt bakery which she transformed into a highly successful venture known as Margaret's Bakery (later the Klotz Cracker Factory).
She tended to the victims of the constant yellow fever epidemics in the city without consideration of race, religion, or class and her generosity was well-known throughout the city. After the epidemic of 1853 devastated so many homes and families, she was approached with the need for an orphanage for infants alone. Her answer was, "Build the asylum, and God will pay for it" and it was thus that St. Vincent De Paul Infant Asylum at Race and Magazine Streets was started. An imposing structure, the debt for the orphanage was paid off in sixteen years, largely through Margaret's milk cart sales.
Margaret died in 1882 and was greatly mourned. The crowd at her funeral stretched for a block outside the church doors and her pallbearers included former governors and mayors. All stores, city offices and business establishments were closed for the day in respect.
Page Webmaster.
