St. Claude Street in Treme renamed after sainthood candidate Henriette Delille
Published: Friday, June 17, 2011, 10:30 PM
By Bruce Eggler, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
Goodbye, St. Claude. Hello, possible future saint Henriette Delille.
The New Orleans City Council voted 7-0 Thursday to rename St. Claude Street in Treme to honor the New Orleans-born free woman of color who in 1847 founded the religious order that became known as the Sisters of the Holy Family.
The change affects the 1000 through 1800 blocks of St. Claude, from St. Philip Street, at the edge of Louis Armstrong Park, to Pauger Street, where St. Claude Street and McShane Place come together to form St. Claude Avenue. The avenue will still be known as St. Claude.
The idea for the change originated with the Historic Faubourg Treme Association.
Some Treme residents, including some who live or have businesses on St. Claude, opposed it, but Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, whose district includes the area, said her office received several times as many messages of support as of opposition from neighborhood residents.
Proponents cited both mundane and spiritual reasons for the change.
The mundane argument, they said, is to eliminate confusion that can send taxis, packages and pizzas to the wrong street.
St. Claude Street is one block on the lake side of North Rampart Street, which turns briefly into McShane Place before becoming St. Claude Avenue. Those not familiar with the neighborhood sometimes assume that St. Claude Street is the same as North Rampart Street.
The spiritual reason is to honor Henriette Delille, who lived and worked in the Treme neighborhood. Born in 1812, she is widely recognized for her work serving the city's poor, especially slaves, before the Civil War. She founded a nursing home for the poor in 1841 and operated it on St. Bernard Avenue. She died in 1862.
Last year, the Catholic Church declared her to be "venerable," two steps short of sainthood. If she is eventually canonized, she would be the first native-born African-American declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
Opponents of the change, some of whom joked about what punishment awaits them after death for their position, said they agreed that Delille deserves recognition but that renaming this particular street was not appropriate.
P.B. Hubbard, who recently bought a home on St. Claude Street, said the nine-block-long Delille Street will be even more unknown to outsiders than under its current name. "If I wanted to live on a street that no one had ever heard of, I could have moved out to Harahan," he said.
He said the change would also end the last link in the city to the line in Professor Longhair's classic song "Go to the Mardi Gras" about seeing the Zulu king "down on St. Claude and Dumaine" -- a corner that has not existed since Armstrong Park was built.
But Palmer said the change was appropriate, both to eliminate confusion that can be a nuisance and even hazardous to residents, and to "recognize a woman who contributed significantly to the community." No street in Treme is named for a "person of color," she noted.
Her colleagues lined up behind her.
Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell said she felt "privileged to cast a vote for this."
By law, the direct costs of changing a street name, primarily installing new street signs, must be borne by those proposing the change -- in this case, the Historic Faubourg Treme Association, St. Augustine Church and the Sisters of the Holy Family. The City Planning Commission estimates those costs at about $500.
But many residents also would have expenses as a result. Sylvester Francis, owner of the Backstreet Cultural Museum, at 1116 St. Claude St., said in a letter that the change "would force us to revise business cards, stationery, our website, etc. at great expense to us." Moreover, he said, "customers worldwide know us to be located on St. Claude Street."
Palmer said she would work to set up a fund to assist Francis and others who will face added costs because of the change.
Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3320.
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