The Great Hall: Perseverance Society Hall and the Beginnings of Jazz, Part 1

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Part 1: The Hurricane

At 11:55 AM on August 29th, 2021, Hurricane Ida made landfall. Winds that topped 160 MPH started to make their way up the state of Louisiana from Port Fuchone. The Category 4 storm, the fifth strongest to make landfall in United States history, would keep its maximum strength for the next six hours. Four days earlier, tropical storm 9 began its rapid development into a storm whose remnants would produce over twenty hurricanes and mass flooding in New Jersey and New York City on September 1st. By nightfall on August 29th, two million people in southeast Louisiana were without power and the City of New Orleans was now being pummeled by the relentless storm. Latoya Cantrall, mayor of New Orleans, stated that the rapid development of the storm left no time to issue a mandatory evacuation order for the city. Due to Ida making landfall on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Cantrall constantly reassured the security of the levee system which had been restructured since the catastrophic failure in 2005. A declaration of emergency had been issued by the federal government and Governor John Bel Edwards had warned residents that recovery from the storm could take weeks or months. The eye of the hurricane passed within 45 miles of New Orleans.

Twelve hours later, Ida had left Louisiana and the full extent of its damage could be seen. In Lafitte in Jefferson Parish, a barge had come loose and struck a bridge. A transmission tower had fallen into the Mississippi, adding a wrinkle to the storm recovery efforts. New Orleans wasn't spared. Awnings were ripped off of buildings including the one belonging to the famous Jax Brewery building on Decatur Street in the French Quarter. Several under repaired homes had completely collapsed and the telephone poles that lined the road connecting Orleans and Jefferson Parish were at a complete angle, blocking River Road. Several of the old mighty oak trees in City Park had been uprooted. The city would largely be without power for two weeks. However, in the heart of the Marigny neighborhood on North Villere Street, a shabby half standing building withstood the storm. Ida was the second major hurricane that these four walls had been struck by in ten months (Hurricane Zeta's eye had passed through New Orleans on October 30th, 2021 as a category 3 storm). Despite years of disrepair and neglect, the walls had withstood Hurricanes Betsy (1965), Hurricane Katrina (2005), and, now, Hurricane Ida (2021).

On a lot of just under one acre, the long rectangular building once known as Perseverance Benevolent Society Hall has long been abandoned to time. While Hurricane Ida hadn't blown the walls down, the storm had crippled the structural integrity which had been questionable since Hurricane Katrina. The current owners of the property, the congregation of the Holy Aid and Comfort Spiritual Church of Eternal Life, noted that the building is largely held up by a neighboring tree and the back of the building, once home to a camelback, was completely opened to the elements, as of 2018. The facade stretching over the entrance has laid blank since the Church bought the building in 1949 after displaying "Perseverance B.M.A.A" since the facade's addition in 1927. Beneath the right front window is a plaque dedicating the property to the Church. Much like the building it is designating, the plaque is weathered but remains readable. Though the exterior is determined to withstand all possible weather events, the interior has been ravaged. What was once a large indoor hall with a stage was brought into ruin after Ida struck, so much so that the walls are unsupported, creating a fragile state that advocates worry could collapse at any moment.

The City of New Orleans is not known for its historical restoration projects. The Municipal Auditorium in Armstrong Park has been empty since it was flooded with approximately four to six feet of water during Hurricane Katrina. The legal battle between the City government and FEMA has been long documented and only left the building in a greater state of neglect. A final attempt to make the Auditorium the city's new city hall was met with protests and the plans were abandoned. When plans for a Jazz National Park faltered, attempts to renovate the Kitchen Building at the historic Perseverance Masonic Hall No. 4 ceased and the Parks service terminated its lease with the City in 2018. Attempts to make the masonic hall a black musician hall of fame eventually ceased due to rising costs. The birthplace of Louis Armstrong was reduced to a small monument in front of the New Orleans Traffic Court. Jelly Roll Morton's childhood home was restored by a private citizen who keeps a watchful eye on the historical landmark. Much of the famed Storyville neighborhood has been bulldozed and replaced with buildings housing lawyer's offices and banks in the now-christened Central Business District. The latest hurricane had destroyed Karnofsky's Tailor Shop, where Armstrong was given his first job.

However, the advocates for 1644 North Villere Street had accomplished a rare win for historical renovation in the City. The Greater New Orleans Foundation had contributed $60,000 dollars to the needed repairs of the barely standing wood building. The money would have fixed the back of the building, no longer leaving the interior open to the elements. A fence would have been constructed to keep looters off the property. Work would have been started to make the structure stand on its own once again without the reliance of a large tree to keep the walls upright. But, before work could be planned, Tropical Storm 9 quickly developed into Hurricane Ida and the result of the storm made the cost of repairs significantly greater than the $60,000 contribution, making advocates further alarmed that the building could imminently collapse.

Though now a shell, the walls of Perseverance Society Hall continue to retain significant cultural history. One hundred-forty two years old as of 2022, the hall is a physical remnant of the Perseverance Benevolent and Mutual Aid Association (PBMAA), the first such organization founded by free people of color. In discussing the Hall's history, it is readily apparent that not only is the PBMAA an underappreciated part of the cultural history of the United States, Perseverance Society Hall is a significant landmark in the history of American Jazz music.

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