Edmund Jean Forstall (c. 1794-1874) was an American banker, merchant, and planter, from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, from a prominent Louisiana Creole family through his mother, and Irish heritage on his father's side. He is known for developing The Forstall System in 1842.

Career

By 1818, through family connections, Forstall was a director of The Louisiana State Bank. He began his mercantile career with Gordon, Grant & Co. in the early 1820s, which then became Gordon, Forstall & Co. in 1826, where he managed the New Orleans Branch. In 1938, Forstall became the president of Citizens Bank of Louisiana. In 1842, he developed The Forstall System which was a banking system used until the end of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

.Holden, Arthur C. “The Phenomena of Long-Term Credit”. ''Land Economics'' 42 (1966): 363-370.

Philanthropy

Forstall was an Administrator of the University of Louisiana under President William Newton Mercer, with Secretary Albert G. Blanchard, Chief Justice of the

Louisiana Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Louisiana (; ) is the supreme court, highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The Supreme ...

Edwin T. Merrick,

Mayor of New Orleans The post of Mayor of the City of New Orleans () has been held by the following individuals since New Orleans came under American administration following the Louisiana Purchase — the 1803 acquisition by the U.S. of of the French province '' ...

Charles M. Waterman, Admin Pierre Emile Bonford, and Admin Isadore Labatut,

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

Forstall Mansion

Located at old No. 4 Carondolet Street, now 122, in the

Central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

, the Forstall Mansion served as the home of

The Boston Club The Boston Club is an exclusive private gentlemen's club in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, founded in 1841 as a place for its white members to congregate and partake in the fashionable card game of Boston (card game), Boston. It is the third oldest ...

from 1867 to 1884 and

The Pickwick Club The Pickwick Club is a private gentlemen's club in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1857, The Pickwick Club and the Mistick Krewe were originally one group comprising two organizations. After The Boston Club, The Pickwick Club is the second o ...

from 1894 to 1899. In 1856 he purchased 920 Saint Louis Street, then removed himself there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forstall, Edmund Jean American bankers 19th-century American businesspeople 1790s births 1874 deaths