French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old S ...
. It was created in 1994 to celebrate the origins and evolution of
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
.
Most of the historical park property consists of within Louis Armstrong Park leased by the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...
. There is a
visitor center
A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors.
Types of visitor center
A visi ...
at 916 North Peters Street and a concert venue, several blocks away in the French Quarter. The Park provides a setting for sharing the cultural history of the people and places which helped to shape the development and progression of jazz in New Orleans. National Park Service staff present information and resources associated with the origins and early development of jazz, through interpretive techniques designed to educate and entertain.
Perseverance Hall No. 4
The centerpiece of the site is Perseverance Hall No. 4. Originally a
Masonic Lodge
A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...
, it was built between 1819 and 1820, making it the oldest Masonic temple in Louisiana.
Perseverance Hall was 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 artist ...
on October 2, 1973. The entire National Historical Park was administratively listed on the Register on the date of its authorization, October 31, 1994.
File:NEW ORLEANS JAZZ NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, ORLEANS PARISH.jpg, Entrance to Louis Armstrong Park