Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

J ACOB M ORRISON (1905-1974) AND
M ARY M EEK M ORRISON (1911-1999)
Mary Morrison.
THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION, BEQUEST OF
THE ESTATE OF MARY MORRISON, 99-59-L.7.
For four decades, Jacob “Jake” and Mary Morrison were the most outspoken voices supporting
historic preservation in the New Orleans French Quarter. Ironically, neither was born in the city,
Jacob in New Roads, Louisiana, and Mary in Mississippi. Jacob penned the first text of Historic
Preservation Law in 1957, used by preservationists regularly since its publication. In 1938, he
drafted the charter of the Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents and Associates, Inc. (VCPORA)
and in 1957 the charter for the Friends of the Cabildo, serving as president of both.
Mary Morrison entered politics in 1940, launching a grass-roots women’s campaign supporting
reform candidate Samuel Jones for Louisiana governor. Her
political work in 1946 subsequently led to the formation of
the Independent Women’s Organization, active today. Mary
and Jake settled in an 1829 home at 722 Ursulines Street in
the French Quarter, which they made a virtual center of historic
preservation planning. Mary followed the path set out
by her predecessor Elizabeth Thomas Werlein (1883-1946),
who had led the Louisiana League of Women Voters, founded
the “Quartier Club” to restore old French Quarter houses,
and was instrumental in the founding of the Vieux Carré
Commission. Mary co-founded the Louisiana Council for
the Vieux Carré, served on the Vieux Carré Commission,
and was consistently active in the Vieux Carré Property
Owners, Residents, and Associates. Until her very old age,
Mary Morrison penned countless letters-to-the-editor of the
dominant Times-Picayune supporting preservation causes.
Over the years, the Morrisons led opposition to the demolition of vernacular cottages, the extension
of the Quarter’s commercial zones, and the proliferation of hotels, which displaced local residents.
Appointed to a position as city attorney by his half brother Mayor de Lesseps S. Morrison, Jake became
the lead attorney in a number of landmark preservation cases, including City of New Orleans v.
Pergament 1 in which the Louisiana Supreme Court overturned a lower court finding that the Vieux
Carré Commission did not have jurisdiction over signage. His efforts laid the groundwork for other
landmark cases, especially Succession of Morris G Maher v. City of New Orleans, 2 in which the United
States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit first enunciated the doctrine of the tout ensemble in letting
stand a lower court decision that the Commission had jurisdiction to deny the demolition of an “ordinary”
shotgun on Dumaine Street. 3
In October 1974 the National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized the Morrisons’ advocacy
when it gave them the Louise DuPont Crowinshield Award, the Trust’s highest honor. That
award noted that Mary had been intimately involved for thirty years to maintain the integrity and
unique character of the Vieux Carré and that Jacob had been “in the forefront of many legal battles
to preserve the Vieux Carré and has won most of them.” 4 Jacob Morrison died two months later,
Mary outliving him by twenty-five committed years. Today, the Vieux Carré Commission
Foundation and VCPORA sponsor a biannual lecture series to commemorate their work, known as
the Jacob Haight and Mary Meek Morrison Memorial Lecture Series.
1 5 So.2d 129 (1941).
2 516 F.2d 1051. A third notable case was City of New Orleans v. Impastato in which the court agreed with the city’s
position that the Commission had jurisdiction over sides and courtyards, in this case, the courtyard of the Napoleon
House Bar).
3 222 So.2d 608 (1969).
4 Times Picayune, 3 222 So.2d 608 (1969).
NOTABLE NEW ORLEANIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
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