By unanimous vote of the New Orleans City Council on July 1, Palmer Park in the Carrollton neighborhood will be renamed in honor of Ellis Marsalis and Caffin Avenue in the Lower Ninth Ward will bear the name of Fats Domino.
The vote is the culmination of work done by a renaming committee aimed at rechristening city landmarks named after Confederates, slave owners and segregationists. Palmer Park was named after Presbyterian pastor Benjamin Palmer who was a vocal proponent of Louisiana’s secession at the outset of the Civil War. Caffin Avenue was named after a former plantation owner who profited from slave labor.
Officially named Marsalis Harmony Park, the renowned family of jazz musicians lived in the nearby Pigeon Town section of the Leonidas neighborhood. In advance of the vote, Ellis Marsalis III wrote a letter of approval to Councilman Joe Giarusso who represents the district: “On behalf of the direct descendants of Ellis and Dolores Marsalis, each of us—Branford, Wynton, Ellis, Delfeayo, Mboya and Jason—agree to and would be honored to have the name of the current Palmer Park changed to honor our family’s varied civic contributions. Moreover, let this dedication be presented as an affirmation of the present and not a rebuking of the past or the turning of a political tide.”
After the vote, Giarusso tweeted, “I am thankful to the Carrollton residents who ran surveys, talked to neighbors, and attended public meetings about this change. And, I’m thankful for the Marsalis family for working with my office and suggesting ‘Harmony’ as a unifying idea. Honored to have had this opportunity.”
Ellis Marsalis Jr. died in March 2020 of complications from COVID-19. A petition was begun soon thereafter by the New Orleans Jazz Centennial to rename Washington Square Park on Frenchmen Street, near Snug Harbor where Marsalis held a Monday night gig for nearly 30 years.
Fats Domino lived on Caffin Avenue in a two-home compound from 1960 until Hurricane Katrina flooded the property in 2005. He was born and raised in the working-class neighborhood and chose to reside in the Lower Ninth Ward even after he attained fame and fortune in the 1950s and ’60s as a pioneering rock star known for such hits as “Ain’t That a Shame” (1955), “Blueberry Hill” (1956) and “I Want to Walk You Home” (1959).
Two other sites were also renamed during the council meeting. Washington Square Artillery Park, located between Jackson Square and the Moon Walk along the Mississippi River and named after a unit of the Confederate Army, will now honor Oscar Dunn, the first Black elected lieutenant governor in Louisiana during Reconstruction. In Algiers, Berhman Park, named after a segregationist mayor of New Orleans, will be renamed for Morris F.X. Jeff Sr., a civic leade who established recreational and educational programs for African American children in New Orleans
