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SUMMARY

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE

Charles Louque was born November 29, 1845, in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, to Candide Delhommer and Norbert Louque, a sugar planter. He attended Spring Hill College in Alabama and Old Jefferson College in Convent, La. in St. James Parish, but left college during the Civil War for military service from 1864-1865. After the war, he began studying law and graduated from the University of Louisiana in 1866, and compiled and published A Digest of Decisions of the Supreme Court of Louisiana in 1878.

Louque was a member of the City Council of New Orleans from 1884-1888 during Mayor John Fitzpatrick’s administration and served as chairman of the public order committee. He was elected state senator in 1902 and served five consecutive terms, retiring in 1920. He was instrumental in draining and reclaiming land in and around New Orleans (in what is now the neighborhood of South Lakeview), making the land available for agricultural and residential purposes through his New Orleans Swamp Land Reclamation Company (later renamed The New Orleans Land Company).

He married Edna Stewart in 1871 and the two had six children. Louque died in 1927.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

Papers contain records of Louque’s legal, political, and business affairs, including his work as a state senator and in land reclamation and development in New Orleans.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series I, Financial and Legal Documents, 1838-1920, undated

The majority of papers relate to sales of land in Louisiana. These include deeds, transfers, and purchases such as those by Stoddart Howell in St. John the Baptist Parish (1838-1840), by Stamaty Covas in Livingston Parish (1855), by N. D. Harvey in Grand Isle, La., (1869), the sale of Edmie Plantation in St. Charles Parish (1885), and many more in and around New Orleans. Also included are two Livingston Parish land plats (1850), mortgage certificates (1876-1895), tax receipts (1868-1899), and bills and receipts for rent, home repairs, purchases, clothing, and electricity. Other items include the succession papers of François Lacroix (1879-1883), statements of account issued the steamship G. G. Marseille (1882-1883), documents pertaining to the estate of A. Carriere and the partnership of A. Carriere and Sons (1884-1885), and the succession papers of Jean Petit (1888-1889), George H. Shotwell (1888), T. W. Bothick (1888-1901), and Samuel Stewart and wife (1889).

The collection also includes a number of legal documents pertaining to cases such as Wilmer Coal and Railroad Company vs. Alto Thomas (1889), New Orleans Fort Jackson and Grand Island Railroad Company vs. Dr. E. Rabasse (1890-1891), Mrs. M. M. Fisher vs. City of New Orleans and School Directors (1895-1896), and many more. Also included is a suit of Carondelet Canal and Navigation Company vs. Otto Touche (1887) as well as daily reports of the Carondelet Canal and Navigation Company listing names and classes of vessels and furnishings information regarding cargo (1894). A number of documents, letters, and accounts pertain to the New Orleans Swamp Land Reclamation Company (1893-1896).

Broadsides include one of the New Orleans Board of Trade listing officers, directors, and committees (1890), and another advertising a benefit performance for the Sisters of Mount Carmel (1894).

Also included are letters from R. G. Pleasant, governor of Louisiana, to Charles Louque, state senator, seeking his stand on the matter of borrowing money for building fire-proof vaults in the Secretary of State and State Auditor’s offices, and assistance to the Railroad Commission in investigating rate advances (1917). He also discusses appointment and financing of the State Food Preparedness Committee (April-May, 1917).

The collection contains three manuscript volumes:

Volume 1, Mde. Commagere Bank Book, 1878-1879

Volume 2, Stoddard Howell Receipt Book, 1888

Volume 3, Emil Waldhauser Sketch Book, 1880-1886

Series II, Printed Items and Photograph, 1905, undated

Printed items include a valentine (undated), a broadsheet concerning Southern Mutual Live Stock Association in New Orleans, a report on New Orleans drainage, and various printed cards and advertisements (undated). Also included are three Baton Rouge postcards depicting the National Cemetery, Confederate Monument, and Court House (1905), and seven postcards depicting the former LSU campus, showing the president’s residence, auditorium of Garig Hall featuring picture of Lee and Jackson, Heard Hall, a bird’s eye view looking northeast, Hill Memorial Library, Foster Hall, and campus and dormitories (undated).

A photograph of a drainage machine manufactured by Mansfield Machine Works in Mansfield, Ohio, is also included (undated).

CROSS REFERENCES

CONTAINER LIST