I located the followng informatin on a web site called New Orleans Know-It-All -News & Views - Blake Pontchartrain: New Orleans Trivia I must tell you that Audubon Park's history revolves around names like Bore, Gayarre and Foucher. Long ago, the land where the park is now was given to the patriotic Balthasar de Masan, one of Lafreniere's cohorts in the failed rebellion of 1768 to rid the French New Orleans of Spanish rule. The Spanish government confiscated the property and years later gave it to someone who exhibited a bit more loyalty: Pierre Foucher, the son-in-law of Etienne de Bore, the first mayor of New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase. The Foucher property included a smaller plantation belonging to Foucher's father-in-law, Bore. He was the gentleman who made his reputation by producing the first commercially successful granulated sugar in the United States in 1795. Bore maintained the property from 1781 until his death in 1820. Charles Eitenne Gayarre inherited the plantation from his famous grandfather, and in 1825 sold the small plantation to Pierre Foucher. Sadly, neither plantation was successful in the long run. The combined plantations comprised about 400 acres, but much of the land would turn into a swamp after heavy rains. Louis Foucher, the son of Pierre, acquired both plantations in 1834. Louis didn't do much with the property. At one point he tried to lure gamblers by constructing a race track, but for the most part he left the property undeveloped. It was so far from the city that no one really considered it much of an investment. So sometime before the Civil War, the Foucher family left New Orleans and moved to France, where Louis acquired the title Marquis de Circe. During the Civil War, the opposing forces took turn occupying the abandoned plantation. The Confederates held it first in 1861 and called their site Camp Lewis. Here they kept recruits until they could be shipped out to duty elsewhere in the South. The following year, Union forces moved in under the command of Gen. Benjamin Butler. The old plantation was an ideal place for him to quarter most of his troops and keep them away from the angry citizens . The plantation also became Sedgwick Hospital, a temporary medical facility for sick and wounded soldiers. The Marquis de Circe-Foucher never returned from France, but he sent a representative to determine damages to his property and seek redress for $88,449. After he died in 1869, his widow and niece attempted to acquire the money. Not until 1883 did the federal government give the estate $9,200 plus 5 percent interest dating from April 1, 1865. The ladies, however, had no intention of trying to use the land for agriculture and soon put the property up for sale. By the 1870's, most of the owners of the Uptown plantations had subdivided their property and development had begun. Standing alone was the Foucher Plantation. The Carrollton newspaper called it an "eyesore" a "dead sea" and chastised the absentee owners. After the property changed hands several times, the city acquired the land for a park, in 1879 the City Council established the Upper City Park, also known as New City Park Commission, which would be responsible for operating the park. Money to operate the park did not, however, come from either the city or the state. The main source of revenue came from leasing the grounds for grazing. There were virtually no development of the park until the early 1880's, when a group of local businessmen began to campaign for a world's fair in New Orleans. When Upper City Park was chosen as the site for the World's Industrial and Cotton Exposition of 1884-1885, the future of the park was changed forever. Helen Kendrick