Guess who built the French Quarter in New Orleans? Not the French.
The Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 destroyed 856 of the 1,100 structures in New Orleans, spanning the south central Vieux Carré from Burgundy to Chartres Street, almost to the Mississippi River front buildings. An additional 212 buildings were destroyed in a later citywide fire, in 1794. From 1762 to 1801 Louisiana was a province of New Spain. So it was the Spanish who built the French Quarter! Go visit the old part of San Juan Puerto Rico and you will think you are in the French Quarter.