Tulane University
Founded in 1834 to train doctors during yellow fever and cholera outbreaks — the South's second medical school, still standing.
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Tulane began as the Medical College of Louisiana, built in direct response to epidemic disease. A dry-goods merchant named Paul Tulane donated city real estate in 1884 to rescue it financially; Josephine Louise Newcomb followed in 1887. The Civil War shut it for four years. That layered survival story is baked into a campus whose law school ranks 12th oldest in the US and whose medical school ranks 15th.
What to look for
- Campus dedications or plaques referencing Paul Tulane, whose real-estate donation transformed a struggling public university into a private institution
- The law school building — the department was added in 1847 when the state legislature rechartered the school as the University of Louisiana, making it the 12th oldest law school in the country
- Any Newcomb references — Josephine Louise Newcomb's 1887 endowment was the second major private gift that fixed the university's independent future
Private research university campus in uptown New Orleans; grounds are generally walkable — check tulane.edu for public tour availability.
Tulane University is one of 5 sights worth the detour in New Orleans, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the New Orleans pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in New Orleans
- Caesars SuperdomeEight Super Bowls, one hurricane shelter, and the largest fixed dome on Earth — all in one building.
- Smoothie King CenterLocals call it The Blender — a $114 million NBA arena that became a field hospital when the Superdome next door couldn't cope after Katrina.
- St. Louis CathedralThree churches have stood on this spot since 1718 — the second burned to the ground on Good Friday 1788, and the one standing today has been in use for over 230 years.
- Bourbon StreetA French name on a Spanish street — three empires compressed into twelve blocks.