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The Margaret Statue

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1884, Alexander Doyle. Margaret Place at Clio St.
  • (Detroit Publishing Company Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)

The Margaret Haughery statue, one of the nation’s first outdoor sculptures honoring a woman, was designed by Alexander Doyle, who had just completed his statue of General Lee (see OR126). After Irish immigrant Margaret Gaffney married Charles Haughery, they moved from Baltimore to New Orleans in the 1830s. Following the death of her daughter and husband en route to New Orleans, Margaret, penniless and illiterate, worked her way up from laundress to ownership of a dairy and bakery. She established and helped fund several asylums for orphans and the poor, and at her death in 1882 willed her fortune to eleven charitable institutions. In July 1884, thousands attended the unveiling of this white marble statue of Margaret seated on a chair with a small child at her knee, funded with small donations from those who had benefited from her philanthropy.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas
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Data

What's Nearby

K&B Plaza (John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Building)
Lee Circle
Howard Memorial Library
Confederate Memorial Hall Museum
National World War II Museum (D-Day Museum)

Citation

Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas, "The Margaret Statue", [New Orleans, Louisiana], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/LA-02-OR128.

Print Source

buildings of new orleans book

Buildings of New Orleans, Karen Kingsley and Lake Douglas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018, 160-161.

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