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October 10, 2007
Girod Street and the myth of the "Saints Curse"
Whenever the New Orleans Saints start playing poorly, someone invariably brings up the "curse of the Superdome." The curse is based on the belief that a cemetery was demolished to make way for Da Dome. Let's put this to rest once and for all.
The cemetery in question is Girod Street Cemetery, the first cemetery in New Orleans built by a Protestant congregation, Christ Church Episcopal. It fell in to such disrepair and decay that, by 1957, had to be demolished. The Superdome wasn't a gleam in Dave Dixon's eyes until the 1960s, and didn't become a reality until the 1970s.
Still, that's not enough to convince some folks, so here's some maps so you can decide for yourself. The first is a plate from Robinson's Street Atlas of 1889, courtesy of the Office of Notarial Archives:
clicky map for larger image
The green on the left side is the neutral ground of S. Claiborne Avenue, now the location of I-10. The canal at the bottom is the New Basin Canal, now the location of the Pontchartrain Expressway. Da Dome's property line begins essentially in that corner. The blue line is where Robinson Street could cross through Da Dome to LaSalle on the other side. The red line is where Freret Street would cross through the parking garage by Da Dome. The green area on the right is Girod Street Cemetery.
Now, a more modern map of the area:
clicky map for larger image
Notice the two lines as superimposed over Da Dome. The exact scale isn't important; what's important is that the blue line is a block to the north of the location of the cemetery, and that is barely inside Da Dome. So, one might argue that the parking garage is built on the north part of what used to be the cemetery, but Da Dome itself is well outside the boundaries of the cemetery.
So, while we New Orleanians would like to attribute the lack of success of our NFL franchise to supernatural reasons, it's just not so.
Posted by YatPundit at October 10, 2007 8:31 AM