Many storms and disasters occurred during the early years of the city. In 1719 the river rose to a great height and the site was completely inundated to a depth of a few inches. In 1722 a hurricane destroyed 3o houses and damaged crops. German col onists who had settled on the banks of the Arkansas managed to reach New Orleans and there prayed Bienville to send them back to their homes. He persuaded them to establish themselves along the river above the city, and thus was formed the nucleus of the German settlement, which to this day is called the German coast.
There were few women of good character in the Colony in the early days; and many of the better class of settlers, missing their home life, desired to return to France. It thus became imperative that if the settlement was to survive, the men must have good wives to make homes for them. When Bienville left the Colony in 1724, he promised to send a load of good women as soon as possible. In 1727 the "Casket Girls" (Filles a la cas sette) arrived and were placed under the care of the Ursuline nuns whose convent had been established in the same year. They were first domiciled in Bienville's former home, but in 173o their own house on Chartres and Ursuline streets was completed. This is the oldest building in the United States west of the Alleghenies.
In 1763 the Treaty of Paris was concluded between France and England. By this treaty England gained all the territory east of the Mississippi except the Isle of Orleans. On Nov. 3, 1762, Louis XV. had, by the secret treaty of St. Ildef onso, given the Isle of Orleans and all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi to his cousin, Charles III. of Spain. It was not until Oct. that the French king notified governor Abbadie of the transfer of the Colony, nearly two years previously, to Spain, and ordered him to surrender Louisiana to accredited Spanish commissioners when they should present themselves. There was sorrow and dis may when these tidings were received. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris confirmed Spain in possession of this territory and granted free and open navigation of the Mississippi river to the subjects of Great Britain and the United States. In 1788, and again in 1794, fires destroyed large portions of the city. By the first, 59 squares were devastated, and 856 houses were burned. The second fire destroyed 212 houses and caused a loss estimated at $2,600,000. Rebuilding with brick instead of wood, resulted in a more permanent city.
During this period the Spanish Governor, Almonaster y Rojas, was the greatest benefactor of New Orleans; he gave freely of his private fortune for many purposes. He rented in
perpetuity the squares flanking the Place d'Armes and erected a row of brick buildings to be used as shops and retail stores. These were replaced in 1845 by the Pontalba buildings, which bear the name of their builder, Baroness Pontalba, a daughter of the governor. He rebuilt the Charity hospital, which had been destroyed by a hurricane, and a chapel for the Ursuline nuns. Through his generosity the cathedral was completed in it was constructed of bricks and had much the same appearance as to-day except in details of the belfry and towers. A town-hall, or hall of the Cabildo, presented to the city in 1795, was used as a meeting place of the Spanish Cabildo. It was here that the formal transfer of Louisiana from France to the United States took place.
Before the cultivation of sugar-cane the staple crop of Louisi ana had been indigo; but it did not prove successful. In 1794 Etienne de Bore succeeded in making granulated sugar. His plantation is now within the city limits. By the Treaty of Madrid, signed in Oct. 1795, Spain and the United States agreed that New Orleans should be open to the Americans as a port of deposit for three years ; the produce was to be free of duty but a reasonable price for storage was to be paid. The commerce of New Orleans increased greatly, the levee was the scene of noisy, bustling business.
The purchase of Louisiana by the United States in 1803 had a further beneficial effect on trade. The first half of that year showed an increase of 37% in tonnage over that of 1802 ; exports exceeded $2,000,000 and imports $2,500,000. The flat-boat trade with the upper valley also increased enormously. Above the vieux carre commercial houses were erected and this newer portion of the city gradually became a business centre. Above the Terre Commune, Common street, was Madame Gravier's plantation, a part of the former Jesuit grant. Many of the street names are reminders of the first owners or of the first use of the locality. Gravier street bears the name of its original owner; Poydras that of a philanthropist; Magazine was so named because of the great tobacco warehouses on Magazine and Common, and Camp street because of a slave camp between Poydras and Girod. An aristocratic suburb was along the Bayou St. John road. Below the old city the Marigny plantation was settled by the French.