Ever wonder who created the corner store? In New Orleans, Marie Louise Rosette Rochon was the mastermind behind the concept.
Born into slavery in Mobile, Ala. in 1760 (or 1763 depending on the source), Rochon’s father was a white French shipbuilder who owned a plantation. Her mother was her father’s enslaved woman. Rochon received her freedom from her father when she turned 16.
According to the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans (PRC). Rochon became a “placee” – a woman of color in a civil union with a white man – and moved to Haiti. She left for New Orleans in 1797 during the Haitian revolution. Then she became a placee to two other men.
In the early 1800s, using money she inherited from her father, Rochon was the first person to buy into the subdivision of Bernard de Marigny.
“After its subdivision and urban design, Faubourg Marigny became one of the most favored places for the incoming Creoles,” the PRC states. Many of the cottages built in Marigny were owned by free women of color, “a group often not recognized for the important role that they played in creating the built environment of New Orleans.”
Rochon built several cottages in the area. Two still exist. She bought corner lots and opened groceries – the first corner stores. She also raised cattle to provide fresh meat to her stores. In addition, she invested in lumber operations to provide construction material.
According to a plaque on a cottage built in 1815, Rochon’s investments and business acumen paid off. Her estate was valued at $100,000, about $1 million today.
“Rochon had money, made money, and became a fixture in New Orleans’ social life,” Karen Hinton wrote in the “French Quarter Journal.”
“When she died in 1863 … she was a wealthy woman, perhaps the wealthiest in New Orleans.”
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.