Margaret Gardens Inn is located in the plaza of Margaret Place and Walk, founded in 1884 and dedicated to the Irish immigrant Margaret Goffney Haugherty who devoted her life to helping the needy and providing shelter for orphans. By establishing a bakery and dairy, she accumulated enough wealth to found seven orphanages with the help of her friends and the Daughters of Charity Organization. The seven steps leading to her statue in Margaret Park are imprinted with these orphanage name and dates of founding. She is the only woman in the United States to have three monuments pronounced in her honor, one of which can be seen from the front steps of our Inn.

From the 1930’s to the 1960’s Cecile Rouillier from Convent, Louisiana, operated a boarding house for the young gentlemen from River Road between New Orleans to Baton Rouge, who came to New Orleans to look for employment during the depression. The young ladies from the “country” stayed at the Louise House across the street.