{{Short description|Gentlemen's club in New Orleans, Louisiana, US}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox organization | name = The Boston Club | image = The Boston Club New Orleans Circa 1890.png | caption = The Boston Club of New Orleans, [[Dr. William Newton Mercer]] House | location = 824 Canal Street [[New Orleans]], Louisiana | remarks = built by architect [[James Gallier]] | founded = {{start date and age|1841}} | coordinates = {{coord|29|57|14.2|N|90|04|14.1|W|display=inline,title}} }}
'''The Boston Club''' is an exclusive private [[gentlemen's club]] in [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]], US, founded in 1841 as a place for its white members to congregate and partake in the fashionable card game of [[Boston (card game)|Boston]]. It is the third oldest [[Gentlemen's Club|City Club]] in the [[List of gentlemen's clubs in the United States|United States]], after the [[Philadelphia Club]] (1834) and [[Union Club of the City of New York]] (1836).{{sfn|Coleman|1885|p=95}}
The Boston Club of New Orleans operates under laws for 501(c)(7) Social and Recreation Clubs; in 2024 it claimed total revenue of $1,591,590 and total assets of $3,595,619.<ref>{{cite web |title=Financials for The Boston Club of New Orleans |url=https://app.candid.org/profile/8074169/the-boston-club-of-new-orleans-72-0136070 |website=candid.org |publisher=Candid. |access-date=13 April 2026}}</ref>
The clubhouse has been located at 824 Canal Street since 1884, formerly 148 Canal St, on the edge of the Central Business District. It was designed and built in 1844 by [[James Gallier]] as a city residence for [[William Newton Mercer|Dr. William N. Mercer]], a [[Maryland]] native, [[University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine]] trained surgeon and veteran of the [[War of 1812]], posted in New Orleans, then Natchez, Mississippi, where he married Ann Eliza Farar whose dowry included [[Laurel Hill Plantation (Adams County, Mississippi)|Laurel Hill]] and [[Ellis Cliffs, Mississippi]], by way of her mother, the heiress of Richard Ellis, who with his brother John Ellis, for their loyalty to the crown during the American Revolution, received the original 20,000 acres [[english monarch|royal English]] [[land grant]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blakes |first=Alvin |date=2021-07-04 |title=Black Families of Edgefield Plantation – Woodville, Mississippi: Part 6 |url=http://almostdisappeared.com/black-families-of-edgefield-plantation-woodville-mississippi-part-6/ |access-date=2024-07-31 |website=Almost Disappeared |language=en-US}}</ref>
The club was organized by thirty leading mercantile and professional men, they were the heads of families and men of substance on the shady side of life, yet full of bonhomie and fond of the card game of Boston from which this club was christened. It epitomized the South's most refined male tastes and attitudes, a member once noted, "Propriety of demeanor and proper courtesy are alone exacted within its portals."{{sfn|Coleman|1885|p=96}}
==History== [[File:Boston Club Pass 1899.png|left|thumb|Boston Club Pass 1899]] Founded in 1841, members organized and rented rooms first at the Merchants Exchange, 126 Royal St, in the [[Vieux Carre]], then 129/130 Canal Street until the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] when it closed from 1862 to 1866. After the war, it occupied 214 Royal Street (currently the [[Hotel Monteleone]]) until 1867 at which point it moved to 4 Carondelet Street, the former home of New Orleans financier, [[Edmund Jean Forstall]]. In 1884 it moved into its current clubhouse at 824 Canal Street (then known as 148 Canal Street) and the house was fully purchased by 1905.{{sfn|Landry|1938|p=7}} The club was closed for 3 years during the Civil War.{{sfn|Landry|1938|pp=6-7}}
[[File: Boston Club of New Orleans.png|thumb|Boston Club of New Orleans May 24, 1924]] The History of Gentlemen's Clubs in New Orleans starts with The Elkin Club, named after Harvey Elkin, was founded in 1832 by a group of Harvey's friends who purchased "Elkinville" after Mr. Elkin encountered financial difficulty, these men included [[John Slidell]], [[John Randolph Grymes]], and [[Glendy Burke]]. It was the first official private social club in New Orleans. An open club, members could freely invite guests, it sponsored dances and balls in the vicinity of Bayou St John and closed officially in 1838, due to the financial crisis of 1837. Next was The Pelican Club, founded in 1843 from the remnants of The Elkin Club, and folded at the beginning of the Civil War. It confined its membership through blackball policies to bankers, cotton brokers, attorneys, physicians, and political leaders; the smallest lapse in credit spelled denial of membership. It was to this club [[Henry Clay]] and Gen. [[Winfield Scott]] would retire for respite. Younger gentlemen, who had been rejected membership to the Pelican Club, organized The Orleans Club in 1851 with less restrictive membership policies but similarly closed, during the [[Know Nothing]] Times. A few members of this club would later found [[The Pickwick Club]], the city's second-oldest gentleman's club, who would influence the development of modern-day Mardi Gras.{{sfn|O'Neill|Vaz|2014}}
Unlike [[The Pickwick Club]] or [[Knights of Momus|Louisiana Club]], the Boston Club was not initially a "closed club" and was more diverse. Members could invite guests into the club freely where they could use the premises "gratis", though in the traditional club style new members were put up through a blackball process. A few Jewish men, such as [[Judah P. Benjamin]] and the first [[Rex parade|Rex]], Lewis Solomon, had been members of the club in its earlier days.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archives and Special Collections at Tulane University |url=https://specialcollections.tulane.edu/archon/?p=creators/creator&id=12 |website=ArchivesSpace Public Interface}}</ref> Eventually, however, the club became almost exclusively Anglo-American as racial attitudes in New Orleans hardened after the Civil War and even white minorities would be blackballed leading to an air of [[antisemitism]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fishman |first1=Walda Katz |last2=Zweigenhaft |first2=Richard L. |year=1982 |title=Jews and the New Orleans Economic and Social Elites |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4467188 |journal=Jewish Social Studies |publisher=Indiana University Press |volume=44 |issue=3/4 |pages=291–298 |issn=0021-6704 |jstor=4467188 |access-date=2024-11-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=ISJL - Louisiana New Orleans Encyclopedia |url=https://www.isjl.org/louisiana-new-orleans-encyclopedia.html |access-date=2024-07-31 |website=Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life |language=en}}</ref> especially with the rise of the [[Battle of Liberty Place|Crescent City White League]].<ref name="auto8">{{Cite journal |last=Hunter |first=G. Howard |date=2016 |title=Late to the Dance: New Orleans and the Emergence of a Confederate City |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43916946 |journal=Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=297–322 |jstor=43916946 |issn=0024-6816}}</ref> For his merits early in his career [[Edgar B. Stern]] was invited to join. Stern declined the invitation on learning that close Jewish friends would be unable to join.<ref name="Richardson">{{cite journal|last1=Richardson|first1=Joe M.|title=Edgar B. Stern: A White New Orleans Philanthropist Helps Build a Black University|journal=The Journal of Negro History|date=Summer 1997|volume=82|issue=3|pages=328–342|doi=10.2307/2717676|jstor=2717676|s2cid=140496068}}</ref><ref name="Tabletmag">{{cite web|last1=Vogt|first1=Justin|title=The Krewes and the Jews|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/25752/the-krewes-and-the-jews|website=TabletMag.com|date=February 16, 2010|accessdate=31 December 2016}}</ref> The Boston Club has no reciprocal relationships with any national or international gentlemen's clubs, unlike other revered national societal institutions such as the [[Union Club of the City of New York|Union Club]] in New York or the [[Metropolitan Club (Washington, D.C.)|Metropolitan Club]] in Washington, D.C.
==Famous guests== *In 1873, [[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery]] attended a luncheon.{{sfn|Landry|1938|p=8}} *General [[Ulysses S. Grant]] lunched at The Boston Club in 1880.{{sfn|Landry|1938|p=8}} *[[Oscar Wilde]] visited the club in Summer of 1882 while on tour and was made an honorary member. He gave a lecture at the Grand Opera House on Canal Street on "Decorative Art". *[[John J. Pershing]] visited on February 17, 1920.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hémard |first=Ned |title=When General Pershing Took Berlin |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/membercentralcdn/sitedocuments/nola/nola/0085/1964085.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIHKD6NT2OL2HNPMQ&Expires=1731217606&Signature=xbpAkmoZwsFh4%2FiOFvhWurvd0us%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22When%20General%20Pershing%20took%20Berlin%5F7%2D2%281%29%2Epdf%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF%2D8%27%27When%2520General%2520Pershing%2520took%2520Berlin%255F7%252D2%25281%2529%252Epdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf |website=New Orleans Nostalgia}}</ref><ref>The Haberdasher, Volume 71, Haberdasher Company, 1920</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=November 2024}}{{sfn|Gill|1997|p=176}} *The [[Edward VIII|Duke of Windsor]] and the [[Wallis Simpson|Duchess of Windsor]], February 21, 1950<ref name="a654">{{cite web |title=Duke and Duchess of Windsor in stands in front of the Boston Club on Canal Street during Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans in 1950. |website=Louisiana Digital Library |date=1950-02-21 |url=https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/state-lhp%3A5339 |access-date=2024-11-10}}</ref> *It was customary, until 1992, for [[Rex parade|Rex]] (King of Carnival) and his queen to lunch at the club after the Rex parade during [[Mardi Gras in New Orleans|Mardi Gras]]. In addition, the Boston Club entertained the queen of the carnival and her court during the parade.{{sfn|Landry|1938|p=9}}
==Notable members== {{colbegin}} *[[Daniel Weisiger Adams]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Judah P. Benjamin]], [[Queen's Counsel|QC]]{{sfn|Parrish|1992|p=67}}{{sfn|Rightor|1900|p=607}}{{sfn|Meade|Davis|2001}} *[[Edward A. Bradford]], president 1851-1857 {{sfn|Rightor|1900}} *[[Edwin S. Broussard]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Robert F. Broussard]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Eaton J. Bowers]]{{sfn|Herringshaw|American Publishers' Association|1919}} *[[Charles Cordill]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Dominique François Victor Burthe|Victor Burthe]], president 1866–1868 *Dr. Robert [[William Tayloe (planter)|Tayloe]] Cook V, [[First Families of Virginia|FFV]]<ref>times picayune, Jan 18, 2013, obituary</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=November 2024}} *[[Isaac Delgado]]{{sfn|Reeves|2018}} *James Temple Doswell, president 1857–1859 *[[Stephen Duncan]]<ref name="auto10">Two histories, one future: Louisiana sugar planters, their slaves, and the Anglo-Creole schism, 1815–1865, Nathan Buman, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 2013</ref> *[[Isadore Dyer]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[James B. Eustis]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Charles E. Fenner]], president 1892–1904 {{sfn|Rightor|1900|p=607}} *[[Murphy J. Foster]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[John Hamilton Fulton]]{{sfn|Herringshaw|American Publishers' Association|1919}} *[[Randall L. Gibson]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[John Randolph Grymes]] Jr., [[First Families of Virginia|FFV]], Founding Member<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dictionary G |url=http://lahistory.org/site24.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021222947/http://www.lahistory.org/site24.php |archive-date=October 21, 2013}}</ref>{{sfn|Rightor|1900|p=607}}<ref name="auto4">[[Lyon Gardiner Tyler|Tyler, Lyon Gardiner]], ed. (April 1915). "The F. F. V.'s of Virginia". William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson. p. 277.</ref> *[[Harry T. Hays]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *Col. John Hewlett, president 1841–1852 *[[Carleton Hunt]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[William H. Hunt]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Ernest L. Jahncke]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Mike |date=August 2001 |title=Biography of Jahncke, Ernest Lee Orleans Parish, Louisiana |url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/orleans/bios/j-000002.txt |website=USGenWeb Archives}}</ref> *[[Bradish Johnson]]<ref name="Louisiana Planter 1892">{{cite journal|journal=The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer|date=November 12, 1892|volume=9|page=350|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JfMoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA350|access-date=February 23, 2013|title=The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer}}</ref><ref name="auto10"/> *[[Benjamin F. Jonas]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[John H. Kennard]]<ref name="LaSC">{{cite web|url=http://www.lasc.org/Bicentennial/justices/Kennard_John.aspx|title=John Hanson Kennard (1836 - 1887)|publisher=Louisiana Supreme Court|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609025235/http://www.lasc.org/Bicentennial/justices/Kennard_John.aspx|access-date=May 15, 2020|archive-date=2019-06-09}}</ref><ref name="LaSCJ">{{cite web|url=http://www.lasc.org/Bicentennial/justices.aspx|title=Louisiana Supreme Court Justices, 1813-Present|publisher=Louisiana Supreme Court|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608080334/http://www.lasc.org/Bicentennial/justices.aspx|access-date=May 16, 2020|archive-date=2019-06-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 1, 1871 |title=Boston Club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/27010865/?terms=%22boston%20club%22 |work=The Times-Picayune |publisher=Judi Terzotis |location=New Orleans, Louisiana |via=Newspapers.com |volume=35 |issue=31}}</ref> *[[Hugh Kennedy (New Orleans)]]{{sfn|Coleman|1885|p=96}} *Samuel Horton Kennedy, president 1859-1861 {{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Duncan F. Kenner]]{{sfn|Parrish|1992|p=67}} *[[Arthur Pendleton Mason]], [[First Families of Virginia|FFV]], president 1880-1883<ref name=CB>{{cite book |title=Campbell Brown's Civil War: With Ewell and the Army of Northern Virginia |last=Brown |first=Campbell |author2=Terry L. Jones |year=2004 |publisher=[[Louisiana State University Press]] |location=[[Louisiana State University]], [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]], [[Louisiana]] |isbn=0-8071-3019-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Utl4RLPEucC |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224134219/https://books.google.com/books?id=8Utl4RLPEucC |archivedate=2016-12-24 }}</ref> *Ernest S. Lewis, president 1904-1913{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *Florenz Albrecht Luling {{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Samuel D. McEnery]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Paul C. P. McIlhenny]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Paul McIlhenny, CEO of company behind Tabasco dies|date=February 24, 2013|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/paul-mcilhenny-ceo-of-company-behind-tabasco-dies_831286.html|publisher=Zee News|access-date=February 24, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=McIlhenny, CEO Who Expanded Tabasco Brand, Dies at 68|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-24/tabasco-maker-ceo-and-chairman-paul-mcilhenny-dead-at-68.html|publisher=Bloomberg|access-date=February 24, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Paul McIlhenny, Tabasco-maker CEO, dies at 68|date=February 24, 2013 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paul-mcilhenny-tabasco-maker-ceo-dies-at-68/|publisher=CBS NEWS|access-date=February 24, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Tabasco CEO Paul McIlhenny dies|date=February 24, 2013 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/24/us/tabasco-ceo-dead/|publisher=CNN|access-date=February 24, 2013}}</ref> *[[Edwin T. Merrick]] president 1930-1932{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Henry C. Miller]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[John Albert Morris]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://lagenweb.org/orleans/bios/LM/morrisJohnA.html | title=Morris, John A }}</ref> *[[Abraham Myers]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Francis T. Nicholls]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Alton Ochsner]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/2627340/?terms=boston%20club&match=1 | title=The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune 31 Jan 1959, page Page 10 }}</ref> *[[Don Albert Pardee]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[John M. Parker]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://library.louisiana.edu/collections/collection-44 | title=John M. Parker Papers | date=October 31, 2014 | access-date=January 9, 2024 | archive-date=March 2, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302072930/https://library.louisiana.edu/collections/collection-44 | url-status=dead }}</ref> *[[Davidson Bradfute Penn]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZ9YAAAAMAAJ&dq=davidson+Bradfute+Penn&pg=PA540|title=Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History|first=Clement Anselm|last=Evans|date=September 18, 1899|publisher=Confederate publishing Company|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://antietam.aotw.org/officers.php?officer_id=1067|title=Antietam: Col Davidson Bradford Penn|website=antietam.aotw.org}}</ref><ref name="Antietam">{{cite web |title=Antietam: Col Davidson Bradford Penn |url=https://antietam.aotw.org/officers.php?officer_id=1067 |website=antietam.aotw.org |access-date=30 November 2021}}</ref> *[[LeRoy Percy]]<ref>The House of Percy: Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern Family, Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Oxford University Press, October 31, 1996, p.178</ref> *[[Walker Percy]], [[Order of Saint Benedict|Obl.S.B.]]<ref name =nba1962>{{Citation | url = https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1962 | title = National Book Awards | year = 1962 | publisher = [[National Book Foundation]] | access-date = March 30, 2012}}. With essays by Sara Zarr and Tom Roberge from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.</ref><ref name="NYT_Conversattions">Kimball, Roger. [https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/04/books/existentialism-semiotics-and-iced-tea.html?scp=1&sq=Existentialism%2C+Semiotics+and+Iced+Tea&st=nyt Existentialism, Semiotics and Iced Tea, Review of Conversations with Walker Percy] New York Times, August 4, 1985. Retrieved June 12, 2010.</ref><ref>Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and how it Changed America, John M. Barry, Simon & Schuster, 1997</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Walker Percy Check Collection |url=https://library.loyno.edu/sites/default/files/2020-04/Collection_75_PercyChecks.pdf}}</ref> *[[Felix Pierre Poché]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[James Robb (banker)|James Robb]] *[[Thomas Jenkins Semmes]], president 1883–1892<ref>Georgetown College Journal, Volume 27, Issues 1–28</ref> *[[John Slidell]]{{sfn|Parrish|1992|p=67}} *[[Pierre Soule]], Founding Member<ref>{{Cite web |title=Midnight Boheme |url=https://www.midnightboheme.com/maisonsoulehistory.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524184441/https://www.midnightboheme.com/maisonsoulehistory.html |archive-date=May 24, 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Parrish|1992|p=67}} *[[Henry M. Spofford]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[James B. Steedman]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Richard Taylor (Confederate general)|Richard "Dick" Taylor]], [[First Families of Virginia|FFV]], president 1868–1873{{sfn|Parrish|1992|p=67}}<ref name="auto4"/> *[[T. Semmes Walmsley]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haas |first=Edward F. |year=1972 |title=New Orleans on the Half-Shell: The Maestri Era, 1936-1946 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4231266 |journal=Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association |publisher=Louisiana Historical Association |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=283–310 |issn=0024-6816 |jstor=4231266 |access-date=2024-11-10}}</ref> *[[Waterman Steamship Corporation|John Barnett Waterman]] *[[Edward Douglas White]]{{sfn|Landry|1938}} *[[Maunsel White]]<ref>Officers, Members, Charter, and Rules of the Boston Club of New Orleans. Pub. by the Boston Club. 1919. pp.40</ref> {{colend}}
===Portrait Gallery=== <gallery class="center packed"> File:Judah P Benjamin crop.jpg|Judah Benjamin, QC File:Eaton J. Bowers.jpg|Eaton J. Bowers File:BROUSSARD, EDWIN S. SENATOR LCCN2016860963 (3x4a).jpg|US Senator Edwin S. Broussard File:IsaacDelgatoStanding.jpg|Issac Delgato File:Stephen Duncan - (1787-1867).jpg|Stephen Duncan File:Isadore Dyer.png|Dr. Isadore Dyer File:J.H. Fulton (LOC) (16030876396).jpg|J.H. Fulton File: Randall L. Gibson - Brady-Handy.jpg|US Senator Randall L. Gibson File:John Randolph Grymes.jpg|John Randolph Grymes File:Harry Thompson Hays2.jpg|Harry Thompson Hays File:Carleton Hunt (Louisiana congressman).jpg|US Congressman Carleton Hunt File:William-Henry-Hunt.jpg|Sec of Navy William Henry Hunt File:Ernest Lee Jahncke - Assistant Secretary of the United States Navy in 1930.jpg|Sec of Navy Ernest L. Jahncke File:Bradish_Johnson_1811-1892.jpg|Bradish Johnson File:Benjamin F. Jonas - Brady-Handy.jpg|US Senator Benjamin Franklin Jonas File:Judge John Hanson Kennard.jpg|Louisiana Justice John Hanson Kennard File:Duncan-kenner-portrait.jpg|Duncan Kenner File:Samuel Douglas McEnery cph.3b20800.jpg|LA Gov. Samuel Douglas McEnery File:Louisiana Justice E.T. Merrick, The Green Bag, no border.jpg|Louisiana Justice Edwin T. Merrick File:John Albert Morris.jpg|John Albert Morris File:Abraham Myers.jpg|Abraham Myers File:Francis T. Nicholls.jpg|LA Gov. Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls File:Portrait of John M. Parker.jpg|LA Gov. John M. Parker File:LeRoy Percy, bw photo portrait, circa 1910.jpg|LeRoy Percy File:Walker_Percy.jpg|Walker Percy File:Louisiana Justice Felix P. Poche, The Green Bag, no border.jpg|Louisiana Justice Felix P. Poche File:James Robb by George Healy.png|James Robb File:Thomas Jenkins Semmes.png|Thomas Jenkins Semmes File:John Slidell LA 1859.jpg|John Slidell File:Louisiana Justice Felix P. Poche, The Green Bag, no border.jpg|Louisiana Justice Felix P. Poche File:PSoule.jpg|Pierre Soule File:Judge Henry M. Spofford.jpg|Louisiana Justice Henry M. Spofford File:JBSteedmanMGenright.jpg|Maj. Gen. James B. Steedman File:Richard Taylor.jpg|Gen. Dick Taylor File:T_S_Walmsley_American_Legion_Weekly.jpg|Thomas Semmes Walmsley File:Edward White, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, 1905.jpg|Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Douglas White File:Maunsel White 1851.jpg|Maunsel White </gallery>
==Horse racing== [[File:Louisiana Jockey Club's Boston Club Stakes 1907.png|thumb|left|200px|LA Jockey's BC Handicap, 1907]] [[File:Louisiana Race Course 1838 Spring Meeting.png|thumb|200px|Louisiana Race Course 1838 Spring Meeting]] Members of the Boston Club frequently patronized Jockey Clubs of the area, the [[Eclipse Race Course]], the [[Metairie Cemetery|Metairie Race Course]] and the [[Fair Grounds Race Course]], putting up high stakes purses to help offset the Jockey Club's expenses. "The Boston Club...being composed of gentlemen who know 'what's what'...insured a numerous and distinguished attendance upon these occasions."<ref name="auto5">New Orleans Picayune, 1858</ref> Later noting "In the betting circles last evening... The wagering was spirited and lively, and a good deal of money will change hands as a result."<ref name="auto5"/> Boston Club Founder [[John Randolph Grymes]] owned filly ''Susan Yandal'' who ran in the first races at the Fair Grounds, his cousin [[Henry Augustine Tayloe|Henry Tayloe]], younger son of leading turfman [[John Tayloe III|J. Tayloe III]] of [[The Octagon House|The Octagon]], was one of the founders of [[The Louisiana Jockey Club]], along with native [[French people|French]] [[Creole peoples|Creole]] [[Bernard de Marigny]].
==Homes of The Boston Club== * 1841–1855: Merchants Exchange, 126 Royal Street * 1855–1862: 129/130 Canal Street * 1862–1865: Club closed * 1865–1867: 214 Royal Street ([[Hotel Monteleone]]) * 1867–1884: old No. 4 Carondolet, now 122 ([[Edmund Jean Forstall|The Forstall Mansion]]) * 1884: 824 Canal Street (then called 148 Canal Street){{sfn|Landry|1938|pp=10-13}}
==Description== [[File:The Boston Club - New Orleans (55151874303).jpg|thumb|824 Canal Street]] Entering from Canal Street, the entrance to the club is a 10x12 [[vestibule (architecture)|vestibule]] framed by sidelights between engaged ionic pilasters and columns, with a wooden door inscribed in a frosted glass the club's initials BC, opening into a marble-paved hallway. Adjacent, to the left through a solid mahogany door,{{sfn|Coleman|1885|p=96}} is a well-decorated parlor, extending fifty-five feet deep from the front facade. Here can be found leather chairs, lace curtains, and rockers with foremost men of New Orleans discussing current events. There is a reception area with a large round table behind leading into formal and informal dining areas. The formal dining room is forty-five feet deep, with molded stucco ceiling cornices and large center ceiling medallion of floral designs, and mantels finished in the period [[Eastlake Style]] replacing earlier marble mantel carved with cherubs and flute players. The bar, located behind the informal dining area, is made of oak along with the wainscot running around the room. The second floor has two rooms, the front, a former card room while the rear is mainly used as a sitting room but can be converted easily into a dining room, it is finished in oak with cypress doors and is attached to a billiards room, board room and lady's water closet.{{sfn|Landry|1938|p=6}}
==Significance== The Boston Club is a social club composed solely of Anglo-Americans<ref name="auto8"/> since the turn of the century, with few details known about its constituents. Members usually announce their associations upon death, in their obituaries. Its clubhouse has held lavish balls, regular daily lunches, monthly dinners, and annual spring and fall parties. Its events and social activities were the fodder for many newspaper and social columns at the turn of the 19th century and on into the 20th century. That a lavish club lifestyle could be centered around something as simple as a card game serves as a sign of prosperous times in New Orleans.{{cn|date=April 2026}}
==Status as the "oldest club in the south"== The Boston Club is the oldest [[gentlemen's club|City Club]] in the [[Southern United States]].<ref name="Whitakers">{{cite book|title=[[Whitaker's Almanack|Whitaker's Almanack 2008]]|year=2008|page=649|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-7136-8554-1}}</ref> Only two Gentlemen's City Clubs, that offer the facilities of a traditional gentlemen's city club{{spnd}}regular hours, paid staff, a bar, a dining room, lodging rooms{{spnd}}that are associated with the English model of city clubs in the [[St. James's]] district of London, are older: the [[Philadelphia Club]], and the [[Union Club of the City of New York]].
==In popular culture== In [[The Moviegoer]], by [[Walker Percy]], "Uncle Jules" is said to have suffered a heart attack (his second) and died at the Boston Club on Mardi Gras.
==Gallery== <gallery class="center packed"> File:Boston Club 1939 dinner menu.jpg|Boston Club Dinner Menu File:Boston Club Dinner Menu 1939.png|Boston Club Dinner Menu File:Marten Ten Hoor Boston Club New Orleans.jpg|Good Companions, A farewell to the Boston Club of New Orleans </gallery>
==See also== *[[The Pickwick Club]] *[[Union Club of the City of New York|Union Club]] *[[Philadelphia Club]] *[[List of gentlemen's clubs in the United States]] *[[Mystic Krewe of Comus|Mistick Krewe]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Works cited == {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Coleman |first=W.H. |title=Historical Sketch Book and Guide to New Orleans and Environs: With Map. Illustrated with Many Original Engravings; and Containing Exhaustive Accounts of the Traditions, Historical Legends, and Remarkable Localities of the Creole City |publisher=W. H. Coleman |year=1885 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VwTlxwEACAAJ |access-date=2024-11-10}} * {{cite book |last=Landry |first=S.O. |title=History of the Boston Club: Organized in 1841 |publisher=Pelican Publishing Company |year=1938 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7QQuQGKYigC |access-date=2024-11-10}} * {{cite book |last1=O'Neill |first1=Rosary |last2=Vaz |first2=Kim Marie |title=New Orleans Carnival Krewes |publisher=The History Press |publication-place=Charleston, SC |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-62619-154-9}} * {{cite book |last=Gill |first=J. |title=Lords of Misrule: Mardi Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-60473-638-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wF19HqrAoIoC |access-date=2024-11-10}} * {{cite book |last=Parrish |first=T.M. |title=Richard Taylor, Soldier Prince of Dixie |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |series=Richard Taylor: soldier prince of Dixie |issue=v. 1 |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8078-2032-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dm1QiW3PMmoC |access-date=2024-11-10}} * {{cite book |last=Rightor |first=H. |title=Standard History of New Orleans, Louisiana, Giving a Description of the Natural Advantages, Natural History ... Settlement, Indians, Creoles, Municipal and Military History, Mercantile and Commercial Interests, Banking, Transportation, Struggles Against High Water, the Press, Educational ... Etc |publisher=Lewis Publishing Company |year=1900 |url=https://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/louisiana_anthology/303_download/texts/rightor--standard_history_of_NO/rightor--standardhistoryo00righ.pdf |access-date=2024-11-10}} * {{cite book |last1=Meade |first1=R.D. |last2=Davis |first2=W.C. |title=Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate Statesman |publisher=LSU Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8071-2744-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34OCDyK3-UQC |access-date=2024-11-10}} * {{cite book |last=Herringshaw |first=T.W. |author2=American Publishers' Association |title=Herringshaw's American Blue-book of Biography: Prominent Americans of ... |publisher=American Publishers' Association |year=1919 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pZNIAAAAYAAJ |access-date=2024-11-10}} * {{cite book |last=Reeves |first=W.D. |title=Notable New Orleanians: a Tricentennial Tribute |publisher=Historical Publishing Network |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-944891-48-0 |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/60393971/notable-new-orleanians-a-tricentennial-tribute |access-date=2024-11-10}} {{refend}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston Club}} [[Category:Gentlemen's clubs in the United States]] [[Category:1841 establishments in Louisiana]] [[Category:Clubhouses in Louisiana]] [[Category:Organizations based in New Orleans]] [[Category:Organizations established in 1841]]