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Photo -- Amistad Research Center, Dillard University, reception on lawn behind chapel, April 30, 1978.

Born in New Orleans on Septermber 1, 1900,  jazz drummer Alfred Williams performed with the Tuxedo Orchestra during the 1910s and with Sam Morgan, Manuel Perez and A.J. Piron on the riverboats beginning in the 1920s.  In 1936 Williams left New Orleans but returned in 1951 and played frequently with the  Preservation Hall Band until his death on April 30, 1963 in New Orleans.

April 30, 1958 photo of interior construction of the "new" main branch of the New Orleans Public Library on Loyola Avenue.

Alexander Allison photo of Alcee Fortier Senior High, 5624 Freret Street, April 30, 1955. (NOPL).

Nine years after the Louisiana Territory was purchased from France, Louisiana became the 18th American state on April 30, 1812. It was not contiguous to any other U.S. state (Mississippi was not admitted until 1817, Arkansas until 1836, and Texas in 1845).  1962 photo of Louisiana Statehood Day Ceremonies at the Cabildo, April 30, 1962.

On April 30, 1803, representatives of the United States and France concluded negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase.  The Louisiana Territory included a huge swatch of land from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains (not including what is now Texas, parts of New Mexico, and some land already controlled by the United States.  This purchase doubled the size of the United States. A formal treaty for the Louisiana Purchase, antedated to April 30, was signed two days later.

1803 Declaration -- "the town of Bayou St. John shall be a port of delivery": An Act for Laying And Collecting Duties or Imports and Tonnage within the Territories Ceded to the United States, by the Treaty of the Thirtieth of April [April 30, 1803], One Thousand Eight Hundred and Three, Between the United States and the French Republic, and for Other Purposes: SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That, to the end that the laws providing for the collection of the duties imposed, by law, on goods, wares and merchandise, imported into the United States, and on the tonnage of ships and vessels, and the laws respecting the revenue and navigation of the United States, may be carried into effect within the said territories, the territories ceded to the United States by the treaty above mentioned, and also all the navigable waters, rivers, creeks, bays, and inlets, lying within the United States, which empty into the Gulf of Mexico, east of the river Mississippi, shall be annexed to the Mississippi district, and shall, together with the same, constitute one district, to be called the 'District of Mississippi.' The city of New Orleans shall be the sole port of entry in the said district, and the town of Bayou e St. John shall be a port of delivery, a collector, naval officer, and surveyor shall be appointed to reside at New Orleans, and a surveyor shall e be appointed to reside at the port of Bayou St. John; and the President of the United States is hereby authorized to appoint, not exceeding three surveyors, to reside at such other places, within the said district, as he shall deem expedient, and to constitute each, or either of such places ports of delivery only. And so much of any law or laws, as establishes a district on the river Mississippi, south of the river Tennessee, is hereby repealed, except as to the recovery and receipt of such of duties on goods, wares and merchandise, and on the tonnage of ships c or vessels, as shall have accrued, and as to the recovery and distribution of fines, penalties, and forfeitures, which shall have been incurred before the commencement of the operation of this act.