Located in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, Louis Armstrong Park is an urban park that honors the jazz great Louis Armstrong. Numerous monuments, landmarks, ponds and open green space have provided residents and visitors with a place to gather and to experience the culture of the city. This combination has fulfilled a vision to highlight the local history and natural charm of the Tremé neighborhood and all of New Orleans.
Honoring New Orleans Native Louis Armstrong
While Louis Armstrong Park contains various elements that have come to influence and define the city of New Orleans, the most significant of them all is Congo Square, which resides in the southwest corner of the park. The current Congo Square features a brick edifice that represents just a portion of the area outside the city where slaves and free blacks would come together for meetings, open markets, and African dance and drumming celebrations starting in the 1740s.
The space changed and evolved over the centuries, eventually leading to the establishment of the Tremé neighborhood, which is recognized as the birthplace of many of New Orleans’ most renowned jazz musicians. Jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong is one of New Orleans’ best-known musicians, whose famous songs have influenced jazz musicians all over the world.
An urban renewal project in the 1960s removed a substantial portion of both the Tremé neighborhood and what had comprised Congo Square. After many years of debate over how to positively transform the space, a decision was made to create a park that would honor Armstrong and be dedicated to the tradition of jazz. Armstrong died in 1971 but the park was opened to the public in 1980. A statue that depicts Armstrong was dedicated in that same year.
The statue of Louise Armstrong is just one of the many monuments and features of the park, all of which honor and celebrate vital parts of New Orleans’ history and culture.
Local Landmarks and Extraordinary Events
The 32-acre park has numerous local landmarks that have enabled it to become a hub of activity for the city. That includes the famous white arch at the park’s entrance, which has given the park a visually distinctive look and is lit up in spectacular fashion at night.
Louis Armstrong Park also features the French Opera House, Sculpture Promenade, Louis Armstrong Sculpture Garden, Jazz Compound, Rose Garden, and a lagoon in the center of the park. Additionally, a bust of saxophonist Sidney Bechet and monuments that depict trumpeter Buddy Bolden, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and Allison “Big Chieg Tootie” Montana are located throughout the park.
The landscape surrounding the park includes numerous gardens, large trees, lagoons and ponds. These natural features and open spaces have allowed it to serve as the location for events of all types, including as the home of the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1970. Every year, events that take place in Armstrong Park include Jazz in the Park, Halloween Costume Ball in Armstrong Park, Treme Creole Gumbo Fest, Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival, and Congo Square New World Rhythms Festival. Weekly concert series and weddings also occur in the park on a regular basis.
These notable landmarks and frequent happenings have allowed Louis Armstrong Park to become an attraction for visitors that is featured on countless guides and maps to the city. The park is also specifically highlighted as a place that features events and landmarks that can be the motivation for a visit to New Orleans for audiences across the world. In doing so, Louis Armstrong Park has been able to showcase what it means to actively cultivate a legacy that is directly tied to the culture of a city and region.
Celebrating Louis Armstrong and the New Orleans Tradition of Jazz
Open daily and free to the public, Louis Armstrong Park features landscape and landmarks that allow audiences to enjoy the space in whatever way they wish, whether it’s to appreciate local history or simply enjoy a stroll through a green refuge in the middle of New Orleans. Such powerful options are the result of a vision to honor New Orleans’ best-known musicians while also celebrating the city’s tradition of jazz. That endeavor has helped cultivate a legacy that will positively impact the present and future of New Orleans.
