Bill and Nancy Jensen Collection

Bill and Nancy Jensen owned the Pott's House and were intrinsic to the development of the Historic Spanish Town Civic Association (Friends of Historic Spanish Town). They were leaders in the preservation movement in Baton Rouge as well as the revival of Downtown. These works represent their efforts and interests surrounding these topics.

North Street in Baton Rouge Louisiana was one of the original east/west thoroughfares in the municipality. As the metropolitan center grew, the use of automobiles increased and the availability of public transportation decreased, a call to widen this egress into the business district began. In 1968, the Downtown Street Improvement Program was implemented. The plan called for the “widening and improving of 19 streets through property owner participation and public funds and removal of on street parking from these streets”. North Street was slated to grow from two lanes to four from Lafayette Street to N. 9th Street (the I-110 Expressway). Residents along the areas targeted for improvements began to challenge not only the assessments placed upon them by the City Parish government, but the need for such a project citing the adverse effects on property values as well as the unfair financial burden placed upon them. “The Battle of North Street” pitted property owners along North Street against the City Parish Government and eventually ended up in the Louisiana Supreme Court. The first suits were filed in 1968 and the issue was not resolved until sometime in 1974 or 1975. These papers reflect the efforts of property owner William Jensen (then owner of the Historic Pott’s house located at 801 North Street) to fight the widening and the assessments.