Etienne de Boré

Etienne de Boré (27 December 1741 – 1 February 1820) was the first person to hold the title of Mayor of New Orleans.

Though born in Kaskaskia, Illinois, he was sent to Europe to be educated and spent most of his life there. On leaving school he entered French military service in the King's Musketeers, and, later, after a visit to Louisiana, on business, was transferred to the cavalry. He left the army with the rank of captain. He owned a great plantation a few miles above the City of New Orleans. There he had originally cultivated indigo. But when this product lost its market as a result of competition from Guatemala, he turned his attention to the manufacture of sugar. On his estate he set up a sugar mill and there, in 1795, had, with the aid of two Cubans, Mendez and Lopez, succeeded in producing the first granulated sugar ever known in the colony, with the result that agriculture was completely revolutionized.

He was appointed mayor by Governor William C. C. Claiborne in 1803; he resigned to look after his personal affairs the following year. He died at around 80 years old, and is buried in New Orleans' Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1. One of his daughters was the mother of Louisiana historian Charles Gayarré.

External links

• Boré biography on New Orleans Public Library site
• Boré's tenure as mayor (in Kendall's History of New Orleans, Chapter 4)