Before 1900, Spanish Fort was especially famous for its opera house and fine seafood restaurants. Author William Makepeace
Thackeray and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant were among the celebrities who dined at Spanish Fort and later bragged about the experience.
In the early 1880s, during his great American tour, playwright Oscar Wilde lectured a Spanish Fort audience about household
beauty. During its heyday as an amusement park, from the 1880s to the 1920s, Spanish Fort faced stiff competition from its
nearby rival, West End. Although Spanish Fort had brief moments of grandeur, sometimes proclaiming itself to be the “Coney
Island of the South,” the flood-prone park frequently fell on hard times, while West End prospered. In 1903, streetcar
service to the park was discontinued. Ownership passed to the same streetcar company that operated the rival park, but Spanish
Fort would never attain West End’s fame or grandeur. Spanish Fort closed in 1926. Source: New Orleans Magazine-Julia
Street: Questions and Answers about New Orleans March 2000 - Vol. 34 - Issue 6 - Page - #346 http://publications.neworleans.com/no_magazine/34.6.-JuliaStreet.html
Photo ca. 1880 Title: Opera house West End Creator: Mugnier, George Fran?ois, 1855-1936 Description: Two men and a boy standing
in front of pavilion. Rowles Stereograph Photographs Source: Louisiana State Museum Source: Louisiana State Museum http://appl005.lsu.edu/LSM.nsf/0d6463f4d93cecd68625689c00470f5c/8e0dd9afbe81fb6d862569f9004f7793?OpenDocument
