Leon Godchaux

Leon Godchaux (June 10, 1824 – May 18, 1899) lived in Louisiana, where the "largest sugar plantations" were "the Calumet, and those owned by Leon Godchaux, 'The Sugar King of the South.'"

Born to a Jewish family in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, Godchaux immigrated to the United States in 1837. In 1845, he founded the Leon Godchaux Clothing Co, a department store that anchored Canal Street in New Orleans for years to come. He then purchased the town of Bonnet Carre in St. John the Baptist Parish and changed its name to Reserve which went on to become the largest sugar refinery in the United States fed by his 12 sugar cane plantations across southeast Louisiana. He achieved business success in his home state, for with "a first class crop and many outside offerings, there is no doubt that Raceland refinery will beat the record this season, thus placing Leon Godchaux at the head of the list of sugar producers of this State and give to him the title" 'the Sugar King of Louisiana.' At his death in 1899, he owned 30,000 acres of sugar cane fields which producing 27 million pounds of refined white sugar. He was a multimillionaire thanks to the profits from his sugar empire, and his department store in New Orleans."

In 1975, he was honored on a Mardi Gras doubloon as a "great man of Louisiana." For additional posthumous honors, see also SS Leon Godchaux and St. John the Baptist Parish School Board for the Leon Godchaux Accelerated Program.