Established in 1721 as a drill field, what is now Jackson Square was known for more than a century as the Place d’Armes (under the French flag) or the Plaza de Armes (when Spain owned the colony). This plaza acquired its current name in 1848, but it wasn’t until 1850 that the dusty old parade ground began to take its present shape and design. The statue of General Jackson on his rearing horse, by sculptor Clark Mills, was put in place in 1856 and is the world’s first equestrian statue with more than one hoof unsupported.


Pontalba Buildings - twin buildings on each side of the square.
Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, the daughter of the colony’s richest man in the Spanish period, Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, built the great twin buildings, which bear her name. Determined to improve the Place d’Armes, Micaela de Pontalba planned to offer New Orleans luxury apartments and fine ground floor offices and shops. She hoped to reverse the flow of commerce moving from the Vieux Carré. Work was begun in 1840 on the 16 row houses facing St. Peter Street and completed in 1849. The almost identical row on the opposite side of the newly renamed Jackson Square was finished in 1851. The City of New Orleans now owns the St. Peter Street building. The Louisiana State Museum
owns the St. Ann Street building.