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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])

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HISTORICAL STREET FRONTAGE CHECK LIST

PART ONE: AN INTERPRETATION OF BUILT EVENTS - 
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS BY LOT, BLOCK, AND STREET (1713 - 1960)


(III)

STREETS

RUE ROYALLE AND RUE D'ORLEANS 
(AND RUE D'ESTRÉES AND 
RUE DAUPHINE FRONTING BLOCK THIRTEEN)


GENERAL

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:

(i) Construct buildings - within the year of a registered property concession - to the street property line - with at least a 3 pieds separation between wooden buildings

(ii) Develop the street in front of their conceded property to the centre of the street

(iii) Build 1/2 [the other 1/2 by the owner opposite] of the dry-stone drain - for channelling water - that was to extend down the centre of the street

(iv) Place roof drains so that they emptied upon the street or upon the rear of the property and not upon a neighbour's property

(v) Not place struts (commonly of piquet) in the streets to support [piquet] buildings

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

RUE ROYALLE

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

RUE D'ORLÉANS

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

RUE D'ESTRÉES

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.

RUE DAUPHINE

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

 

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