Born in Quebec Canada in 1680, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville is considered the founder of numerous Gulf Coast cities, including Mobile Alabama, Biloxi Mississippi, and New Orleans Louisiana.

After surveying the area in 1717, Bienville returned and established New Orleans as the new capital of the French Louisiana colony. Bienville helped to design the layout of the New City, creating what would become the French Quarter. He named the new capital in honor of Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, the Prince Regent of France.

Bienville served as Governor of Louisiana four separate times between 1701 and 1743, finally returning to France, where he died in 1767.

This city originally erected this monument in Bienville Plaza in 1955 but relocated it to Bienville Place in 1996.