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Krause House Info-Research Solutions (© 1996)
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Where Noted Otherwise
Report/Rapport © Parks Canada / Parcs Canada
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House
Info-Research Solutions
Researching the
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
Recherche sur la Forteresse-de-Louisbourg Lieu historique national du Canada
REPORT 2000 - 141
PROPERTY
DEVELOPMENTS FRONTING
RUE ROYALLE AND RUE D'ORLÉANS
(INCLUDING RUE D'ESTRÉES AND RUE DAUPHINE
FRONTING BLOCK THIRTEEN)
LOUISBOURG: 1713 - 1960
BY
ERIC KRAUSE
KRAUSE HOUSE INFO-RESEARCH SOLUTIONS
AUGUST 21, 2000
(FORTRESS
OF LOUISBOURG
REPORT: HB701K72000 [2000 - 141])
PART
ONE: AN
INTERPRETATION OF BUILT EVENTS -
CONSTRUCTION
DETAILS BY LOT, BLOCK, AND STREET (1713 - 1960)
CHRONOLOGY
1713: | The Town of Louisbourg was founded |
1713-1715: | The Town of Louisbourg functioned as the principal establishment on the Island |
1713-1717: | Initial construction happened nearest the harbour first. Most of the town within the interior remained undeveloped. |
1713-1720: | Many informal, meandering streets served existing buildings and external areas such as Cap Noir |
1715-1717: |
Port Dauphin functioned as the principal establishment on the Island |
1717-1758: | The Town of Louisbourg functioned as the principal establishment on the Island |
1717: | The streets and properties were first surveyed and marked with piquet or large posts, 7-8 pieds long, pointed at one end. However, that winter, unknown persons removed them. |
1718: | The streets and properties were again surveyed and marked with piquet or large posts, 7-8 pieds long, pointed at one end. A ditch 1/2 pieds deep was cut from one piquet to the other in case the posts were again removed. |
1720: |
A regulation required that property owners:
|
1721: | A regulation directed that property owners were to enclose their concessions and maintain the 6-8 pouce thick boundary posts, which were to be 3 pieds below the ground and 4 pieds above, with the squared-off posts - each face to be 5 pouces - marked with the number of their land. Beneath might be found a piece of coal, clinker, or brick. |
1725: | The crown had paid for the first pavé along the houses on the principal streets. By inference, after that first undertaking, owners were responsible |
1727: | The fortification contractor received a supplementary contract describing his allowable charges for the building and street pavé (cobblestone) he had undertaken but not mentioned in his February contract of 1725 (i.e. until 1727, contacts had not included such work) |
1737: | The fortification contractor received a contract describing his allowable charges for building and street pavé (cobblestone) |
1737: | A previous regulation that owners were to clean the streets in front of their properties was affirmed |
1745: | Siege |
1745: | The town was considered to be in a ruinous state following the siege |
1745: | The windows of every house in the town were shattered |
1745-1746 (Winter): | Many houses and fences were pulled down for fuel |
1746: | A regulation that the inhabitants of each house clean their streets, that the dirt be carried out of the city, and that canals be cut around each house to drain off melted snow and water |
c. 1746-1747: | Several of the principal streets, which were dirty and in poor condition, were cleaned and mended |
1749: | It was reported that, generally, piquet boundary markers had been removed [presumably during the 1745-1748 English occupational period], and it was ordered that properties be re-surveyed and markers replaced |
1752: | A regulation directed that property owners remove ice from in front of their houses and dispose of it into the middle of the streets, and that, generally, they keep clean the street in front of their houses |
1753: | Several streets were declared as populated with public wells |
1753: | The fortification contractor received a contract describing his allowable charges for building and street pavé (cobblestone) |
1758: | Breastworks were raised in several streets |
1758: | Siege |
1758-1759: | The town was considered to be in a ruinous state because - according to disputed evidence - it was the English method to destroy houses during the course of a siege |
1760: | Orders directed that houses were not to be demolished unless required during the destruction of fortification features |
1762: | A fire broke out nearly at the centre of the town, with twelve wooden houses burned, and four or five wooden ones pulled down |
1784: | The town was described as in a ruinous state |
1849: | The streets were declared to be no longer visible |
1911: | Rows of stone, almost hidden, show the location of the former streets |
1931: | Plans called for the marking of all streets and the opening of certain streets , thus allowing one to drive from the Dauphin Gate to Rochefort Point |
CHRONOLOGY
1713-1720: | Opposite Block Three and towards the east, a stream crossed the street, and, opposite Rue de l'Étang, emptied into the rear of Block Four |
1713-1720: | A stream and a garden, existed in the street, fronting future Block Fifteen, Lot A, future Block Fifteen, Lot E, and future Block Fifteen, Lot D |
1713-1720: | A stream bisected Block Thirteen, crossed Rue Royalle and future Block Five [perhaps Block Five, Lot B], to empty into the Grand Étang |
1713-1718: | Opposite Block Three, the side of a hillock existed |
1713-1720: | Many informal meandering roads crossed the planned streets and town blocks in every direction, serving existing buildings and external areas such as Cap Noir |
1717: | An un-named Rue Royalle was first illustrated this year |
1717-1767: | The street fronting Blocks Ten, Eleven and Twelve - for a time identified as Le Nouveau Quay, reflecting a false hope that the street would someday rise from the Grand Étang - was mostly under water |
1718: | A named Rue Royalle was first illustrated this year |
1721-1724: | Excavation and levelling - 580 pieds of length x 24 pieds of width x 1 pied 6 pouces of average depth - of the street, to provide access to the Block Thirteen Hospital - might have also included the corner of Rue Royalle and Rue de l'Étang |
1727 -1730: | Proposals specified pavé in the street, fronting the Block One, Bakery |
1728: | Somewhere, there was pavé work associated with the construction of the Block Thirteen Hospital |
1729-1730: | No pavé in the street, fronting Block Sixteen, Lot B |
1730: | A proposal specified pavé in the street, fronting the Block One, Chief Engineer's House |
1733: | The corner of Rue Royalle and future Rue du Petit Étang, across from the Block One, Bakery, had been carved out of the side of a hill |
1734: | The corner of Rue Royalle and Rue du Petit Étang was defined this year by the creation of a new Rue du Petit Étang |
1734: | The pavé fronting the Block One, Chief Engineer's House, measured 102 pieds of length x 7 pieds of width |
1735: | A stream crossed Block Seventeen, Lot C, exiting into the street and ran westward until it turned north, to run down Rue du Petit Étang |
1744: | An underground dry-stone sewer - c. 1 1/2 - 2 pieds deep - was cut, running from the Block Thirteen Hospital to the Grand Étang |
1747: | A gutter was cleared that channelled water from the Block Eighteen, Place d'Armes across Rue Royalle on its way to the Quay |
1750: | The Rue de l'Étang - where it crossed Rue Royalle - was improved with earth for cart traffic for carrying coal from the Quay to the Queen's Bastion |
1759: | A military traverse existed in the street at the corner of Rue Royalle and Rue Toulouze |
1827: | By now, the Quay and Rue St. Louis were the only apparent streets within the fortification walls |
1931: | Plans called for the marking of this street and perhaps the opening of it to allow one to drive from the Dauphin Gate to Rochefort Point |
CHRONOLOGY
1713-1720: | Many informal meandering roads crossed the planned streets and town blocks in every direction, serving existing buildings and external areas such as Cap Noir |
1718: | A named Rue d'Orléans was first illustrated this year |
1719-1721: | A skewed Block Fourteen, Lot G building encroached upon the street |
1720-1724: | A garden - later a yard - of the Block Eighteen, Ancien Gouvernement crossed the street |
1721-1724: | Excavation and levelling - 24 pieds of width x 1 pieds 8 pouces of average depth - of the street to provide access to the Block Thirteen Hospital might have included the corner of Rue d'Orléans and Rue de l'Étang as well |
1728: | The quarter circle - for the place before the hospital - was developed at the intersection of Rue d'Orléans and Rue de l'Hôpital with this year's construction of the Rue de l'Hôpital |
1728: |
Somewhere, there was pavé work associated with the construction of the Block Thirteen Hospital |
1734-1736: | Exterior pavé had been placed around the Block Twenty Three, Lot A house and around the storehouse or hangard |
1744: | Excavations - likely near or at the juncture with Rue de Canada - occurred to provide earth for the eastern fortification enceinte |
1747: | A gutter was cleared that channelled water from the Block Eighteen, Place d'Armes across Rue d'Orléans on its way to the Quay |
1750: | Rue de l'Étang - which crossed Rue d'Orléans - was improved with earth for cart traffic for carrying coal from the Quay to the Queen's Bastion |
1931: | Plans called for the marking of this street and perhaps the opening of it to allow one to drive from the Dauphin Gate to Rochefort Point |
CHRONOLOGY
1713-1720: | Many informal meandering roads crossed the planned streets and town blocks in every direction, serving existing buildings and external areas such as Cap Noir |
1717: | An un-named Rue d'Estrées was first illustrated this year |
1718: | A named Rue d'Estrées was first illustrated this year |
1728: | Somewhere, there was pavé work associated with the construction of the Block Thirteen, Hospital |
1767: | A drain ran down the street beside the Block Thirteen Hospital, and turned east at the corner of Rue Royalle and Rue d'Estrées, to empty into the Grand Étang. Originating from two wells in the Rue de Scatary, it then continued down Rue de l'Hôpital, entered two small covered buildings placed in Rue de France, exited them, and continued down Rue d'Estrées to the Grand Étang. |
CHRONOLOGY
1713-1720: | Many informal meandering roads crossed the planned streets and town blocks in every direction, serving existing buildings and external areas such as Cap Noir |
1717: | An un-named Rue Dauphine was first illustrated this year |
1718: | A named Rue Dauphine was first illustrated this year |
1728: | Somewhere there was pavé work associated with the construction of the Block Thirteen, Hospital |