Leon Godchaux (June 10, 1824 – May 18, 1899) was a French-born American businessman, planter, sugar plantation owner and the founder of the Leon Godchaux Clothing Co. department store and Godchaux Sugars Inc.. He lived in Louisiana, where the "largest sugar plantations" were "the

Calumet Calumet may refer to: Places United States *Calumet Region, in northern Illinois and Indiana **Calumet River **Calumet Trail, Indiana ** Calumet (East Chicago) * Calumet, Colorado *Calumet, Iowa * Calumet, Michigan *Calumet, Minnesota * Calumet ...

, and those owned by Leon Godchaux, 'The Sugar King of the South.'"

Biography

Born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in Herbéviller region of Lorraine

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, Godchaux immigrated to the United States in 1837. In 1845, he founded the Leon Godchaux Clothing Co., a department store that anchored Canal Street in New Orleans for years to come. He then purchased the town of Bonnet Carre in

St. John the Baptist Parish St. John the Baptist Parish (SJBP, french: Paroisse de Saint-Jean-Baptiste) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, the population was 42,477. The parish seat is Edgard, an unincorporated area, and the largest c ...

and changed its name to

Reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

. The town of Reserve went on to become the home of the largest

sugar refinery A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar. Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the white ...

in the United States, fed by his twelve sugar cane plantations across southeast Louisiana. Godchaux–Reserve Plantation was one of his twelve plantations, located in Reserve, Louisiana and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

(NRHP). He achieved business success in his home state; according to the ''Hawaiinan Planter's Monthly'', with "a first class crop and many outside offerings, there is no doubt that Raceland refinery will beat the record this season, thus placing Leon Godchaux at the head of the list of sugar producers of this State and give to him the title" 'the Sugar King of Louisiana.' By the time of his death in 1899, he owned 30,000 acres of sugar cane fields which annually produced 27 million pounds of refined

white sugar White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process. Description The refining process completely removes t ...

. He was a multimillionaire thanks to the profits from his sugar empire and his department store in New Orleans." In 1975, he was honored on a Mardi Gras doubloon as a "great man of Louisiana."Se
here
for images of the doubloons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godchaux, Leon 1824 births 1899 deaths Businesspeople from Louisiana American planters American people of French-Jewish descent Jews and Judaism in Louisiana People from Reserve, Louisiana American Jews Jewish Confederates