By LEONARD GRAY

DESTREHAN – Two events of historical significance, linked with a major statewide event, will come to St. Charles Parish in 2003.

That year is the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, when the Louisiana Territory of France was purchased for $15 million by the United States under the administration of President Thomas Jefferson. At that time, Jefferson named the Orleans Territorial Council to govern the new territory and appointed Jean Noel D’estrehan to the council.

The document proclaiming the appointment was donated to the River Road Historical Society, which owns and operates Destrehan Plantation, and will go on exhibit during the spring of 2003. The document, signed by Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison, empowered the community leader to assist in guiding the colonists toward American citizenship and develop a democratic form of government for the territory.

Jean Noel Destrehan de Tours was born in New Orleans in 1754, the seventh child and third son of Jean Baptiste D’estrehan who started construction of the Harvey Canal.

The younger D’estrehan married Marie Celeste de Logny, whose father built D’estrehan Plantation as a wedding gift to the couple. They raised 14 children there and he added two garconnaires and enclosed the ground floor in 1810.

His career included serving on the Orleans Territorial Council from 1803 to 1812, as Vice-Mayor of New Orleans in 1803 and as Speaker of the First House of the Legislature. He also wrote Louisiana’s first constitution.

In 1794, D’estrehan made his most significant mark in Louisiana history, for it was his financing by $5,000 of Etienne de Bore’s experiments in present-day Aububon Park in New Orleans which resulted in the first successful granulation of sugarcane syrup.

This spawned an industry which, inside of 60 years, generated more millionaires in Louisiana than in the rest of the United States, prior to the Civil War. He died in 1823, after which the house went to his daughter, Eleonore Zelia, and her husband, Stephen Henderson.

In addition, the River Road Historical Society, joined by the St. Charles Historical Foundation, will present “An Evening with the Notables” on Jan. 18, 2003.

This event, a pageant/play, will feature community leaders portraying historical figures from St. Charles Parish’s past, including Karl D’Arensbourg and Gov. Michael Hahn.

Gov. and Mrs. Mike Foster will serve as honorary chairpersons for the event, which will be held at Destrehan Plantation’s Mule Barn.