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Isaac Delgado’s Sugar Fortune Built New Orleans’ First Museum
Isaac Delgado came to New Orleans at age 14 with big dreams but little else.
The Jamaican teen joined his uncle’s sugar business in the 1850s, working first as a clerk and later as a bookkeeper. Over time, he built his own fortune trading sugar along the Mississippi River wharfs.
But wealth wasn’t enough for the lifelong bachelor. At 71, Delgado gave the city $150,000 to build its first art museum in City Park…