Lafayette Square

Lafayette Square is the second-oldest public park in New Orleans, Louisiana, located in the present-day Central Business District. During the late 18th century, this was part of a residential area called Faubourg Sainte Marie.

The park was designed in 1788 by Charles Laveau Trudeau aka Don Carlos Trudeau, Surveyor General of Louisiana under the Spanish government; who later served as New Orleans' acting mayor in 1812, after Louisiana statehood. The Square was named after Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat and general who fought on the American side in the American Revolutionary War. The park has a bronze statue of Henry Clay in the center of the park and a statue of Benjamin Franklin on Camp Street. A statue of John McDonogh on St. Charles Avenue was removed in July 2020.