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Lee Circle (New Orleans, Louisiana)

USA / Louisiana / Gretna / New Orleans, Louisiana
 park, monument, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places
Lee Circle is a traffic circle where a monument to Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, once stood in the center. It sits on the intersection of St. Charles Avenue, Howard Avenue, and Andrew Higgins St. The statue that topped the 18 meters high column was sculpted by Alexander Doyle and erected in 1884. Prior to this, the circle was known as Tivoli Circle. It was said by locals that Lee's statue faced due north, because you never turn your back on a Yankee. The statue of Lee was removed in May 2017 as part of the movement to remove Confederate statues nation wide.



www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDu9gY2ElXo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu6h1JH7plM
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Circle
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   29°56'36"N   90°4'20"W

Comments

  • Dave (guest)
    Some day in the near future, you can bet New Orleans' black population will build over this statue and rename it Spike Lee Circle.
  • SDI (guest)
    No doubt...
  • bill (guest)
    I admire Lee looking East over New Orleans. I agree it's location creates political tension. Many, many times past monuments for whatever dedication is a reflection of American history all of us respect everyday.
  • n.o. yat (guest)
    Actually the circle is called Tivoli Circle. When the area for the monument was given by the city the ordience read and still reads on the books as "the area within the circle shall be known as Lee Place at Tivoli circle". It is still on the publc records book in New Orleans. The statue of Lee faces the north symbolicaly not because you can't turn your back on a Yankee.
  • cnskey (guest)
    Spoken like a true Yankee.
  • dfm1981
    Locals call this intersection Lee Circle, in spite of any legal description on city records. And as this statue is of General Lee and has never flown the Confederate battle flag (which is the main object that they feel should be removed) local black leaders have never given any indication of wanting to remove it. In the 1980's they focused on a monument on Canal Street that memorialized several whites killed during a race riot early in the 1900's. It was removed to a very non-noticeable place off of Canal Street and a plaque explaining the context of the era was added. There are statues of several Southern generals in the New Orleans area. Just in front of City Park is a monument to General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (best known as P.G.T. Beauregard), a Lousiana born Southern general who led the Confederate forces at the first Battle of Bull Run.
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This article was last modified 8 years ago