When the twin resorts of Port Orleans and Dixie Landings were first opened, Disney imagineers crafted an elaborate and highly entertaining fictional backstory for the location. It covered the entire period from the original founding of Port Orleans in 1704 by French settlers Pierre d’Orr and Philip Leane (hence the name, ‘Port Orr-Leane’s), its later sale to the Spanish in 1763, and the subsequent settling further up the Sassagoula river of the fledgling outpost of Dixie Landings by Jonathon Colby Peace (“Colonel J.C.”) and his family and friends in the mid 1800s.

Much of that wonderful detail was sadly lost or watered down when the two resorts merged, but here is the full history, in all its original glory, as published in the early editions of the Sassagoula Sentinel and the Sassagoula Times (the elaborate free handout tabloid “newspapers” which were issued to guests staying at the Port Orleans and Dixie Landings Resorts when they first opened).

Please see the Resort Documents page for sample copies of the newspapers, including some of the more recent factsheet versions.

 

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French Expedition Settles in the New World Sassagoula Delta Claimed in the Name of France Area’s First City Planners Developed Port Orleans Famous City Sreets of Today “Satchel Girls” Arrive in Port Orleans The Marquis de Sirloin Becomes Port Orleans’ First Governor Gaston and Francois Poupon Lead Port Orleans’ Architectural Crusade Port Orleans Sold to Spain Cultural Diversity Influences Port Orleans’ Cuisine Jackson Square Brings Fashion & Frills to Port Orleans Jazz Clubs and Lounges add to Port Orleans’ Social Diversity Sentinel Breaks Ground as Delta’s First Morning Daily Newspaper The Cross Bakery, a Symbol of One Woman’s Ingenuity The Story of Scales, Sea Serpent of the Sassagoula The Port Orleans Mint Establishes City as Financial Trade Center Street Vendors Fill Port Orleans’ Marketplace Modes of Travel Set Pace in Port Orleans Up the River in Dixie Landings

Port Orleans Timeline 1694  •  French expedition sets sail for America 1704 • Port Orleans founded 1727 • First city planners develop Port Orleans 1743 • First governor of Port Orleans 1763 • Port Orleans sold to Spain 1763 • Port Orleans’ Architectural Crusade 1827 • The Palais D’Serf established 1835 • Sassagoula Sentinel established 1886 • The Port Orleans Mint established

 

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• A Parting of Brothers Leads to Ol’ Man Island
• The Trading Post
• Knee Deep in Danger — Alligator Bayou
• Dixie Landings Takes Root and a Boom Begins
• The Sassagoula Steamboat Company
• A New Era Arrives with the “Dixie Queen”
• Splendor in the Bayou — the Magnolia Bend Mansions
• The Colonel’s Comfortable Classic — Acadian House
• Magnolia Terrace, the Honeyworths’ Home
• Orderly Oak Manor
• Class & Culture at Parterre Place
• Strong Bridges Better Neighbors Make
• General Fulton’s General Store
• Frenchman Founds the “Wright Place” at the Right Time — Boatwright’s
• Cotton Co-Op Crops Up on Command Ground
• The Come-One, Come All, Cure All!
• Down the Sassagoula in Port Orleans...

 

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With grateful thanks to Michael Landman for the kind loan of his 1994 copy of the Sassagoula Sentinel, without which we would only know half the story.