Jackson Square, established in 1721 by French explorers and a young engineer named Adrien de Pauger, was the site of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and was known as Place d'Armes until 1856. The focal point of the square is the 1856 statue of Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. The two and a half acre park includes two cannons along Chartres Street and marble statues installed circa 1852 in each corner representing the four cardinal directions as Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Championed by Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba, the benches, light poles, and perimeter iron fence were installed in 1851 by the surveyor Louis Henri Pilié. Jackson Square was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and named as one of the American Planning Association's Great Places in 2012.
