fun facts - Mardi Gras History

Fun Facts: New Orleans, LA, and Mobile, AL, are 
actually sister cities, having been founded by the 
same group of Frenchmen, led by brothers Bienville 
and Iberville LeMoyne. The original French Quarters 
of both cities have the street names Bienville, Iberville, 
Royal, Dauphine, Conti, Toulouse, etc. Mobile was 
founded in 1703, and New Orleans followed in 1711 
as things started moving West. So the often repeated 
claim that Mobile had the first Mardi Gras comes 
not only from her being the older sister, but also 
from the fact that Mobile was quicker to bring it 
back after the Civil War ended in 1865 (led by Joe Cain 
and the Mystic Cowbellions). Both New Orleans and 
Mobile spent a lot of time ruled by Spain, too, and 
Spanish architecture abounds in the pre-American 
districts of both cities, since fires destroyed most 
of the original French stuff.