User:Stacey Umeozulu/sandbox

The St. Louis Hotel was primarily built in 1838 at the corner of St. Louis Street and Chartres Street. During this time, it was also referred to as the City Exchange Hotel. Presently, the hotel exists in the same place but with a different name: The Omni Hotel.

What is not known is that a huge slave market existed in the St. Louis Hotel. The abolition on slave trade took place in the early 1800s, and the Louisiana Purchase took place years before, which opened up the necessity of slaves for the new land. Walking into the hotel , one could see the large auction blocks where slaves were sold. The blocks were enclosed in a well-rounded rotunda.

Slaves were needed due to the excess amount of land earned from the Louisiana Purchase. Some slaves were brought in by boat from Baltimore, only for a number of them to be sold immediately after exiting. As for the rest of them, they were put into a slave pens in the French Quarter. In the 1830s, a law came about that banned housing of slaves in the French Quarter.