1764 - Jean Baptiste Laubel settles on land fronting the Mississippi River that would later hold the main building of the Godchaux Sugar Refinery.
1809 - The land is split and sold by Laubel's two sons.
1822 - Francois and Elisee Rillieux - brothers, and free men of color, who in 1822, purchased the house and began buying land adjacent to the property. They amassed a plantation with a 14 1/2 arpent front, the forerunner of Reserve. The Rillieuxs are possible cousins of Norbert Rillieux (1806-1894) who revolutionized the sugar refining industry during the 1840s by adapting the vacuum pan process to the refining of sugar. The Rillieux brothers operated a large sugar operation from l822 to 1833.
1833 - Antoine Boudesquie - buys the plantation after the death of Francois Rillieux.
1869 - Leon Godchaux - a French born Jewish merchant from New Orleans purchased the plantation from Boudesquie's widow. By the late 1800s Godchaux and his descendants had turned the plantation and the sugar refinery into one of the largest sugar industries in the world. Before the death of Leon Godchaux in 1899, he was known as "Louisiana's Sugar King".
By the early 20th century, Godchaux's sugar refinery had become the largest in the U.S. Those who worked at the refinery, built their homes close by and thus the town of Reserve became established. The refinery, became the economic base of Reserve's residents through most of the 20th century.
So important was the Reserve Plantation that in the fall of 1909, President William Howard Taft, in the company of 117 senators and congressmen, and twenty four governors, docked at the house on the way to New Orleans.
1975 - The Hunt Brothers from Texas purchase the refinery through their Great Western Company.
1985 - The Hunts declare bankruptcy and the refinery closed its doors.
1988 - Barry Silverton and Pacific Malibu Development Corp. of California bought the site and converted it into a bulk cargo shipping terminal.
1992 - The Port of South Louisiana purchased the property and renamed it Globalplex.
Landmark Preserved
In 1993, the River Road Historical Society, preserved this historic landmark by moving the Gaudchaux-Reserve House from the Globalplex site, completing Phase I of restoration. The move was necessary because of a planned expansion of the Globalplex facility. The House was relocated to the corner of West 10th Street and River Road, a site approximately 100 yards from where it was originally built on the Port's property.
The Port of South Louisiana conveyed ownership of the House to River Road Historical Society in September of 1993. The House's new location is a part of the original Reserve Plantation properties.
