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On the north end of Mid-City is Bayou St. John, which was first used by Native American Chapitoulas and Choctaws, as a short route from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River in the 1600's. After the Choctaw showed it to the French in the late 1600's, they used it as a shipping channel and renamed it Bayou St. John (the Indians called it Bayouk Choupic).Because of the difference in water level between the Bayou and the sea level, there was a portage, where Native Americans, traders, and trappers had to unload goods from the Bayou and transport them overland along a trail, into the city. This trail later became Grand Route St. John and Esplanade Avenue. Daniel Clark bought a huge portion of this area from plantation owners in 1804 and mapped out Faubourg St. John (present day Bayou St. John neighborhood). Up until the mid 1850's, there were not that many houses, due to poor drainage. In the 1860's the Rampart-Esplanade Railroad Line and the Esplanade Bayou Bridge Line had major impacts in the increased development of the area (these streetcars actually traveled across the Magnolia Bridge back then)!In the 1930's, many families with houseboats lived along the bayou, but neighbors started complaining about the unkempt appearance. In 1936, Congress ended navigational use on the bayou and WPA workers dredged and cleaned it up. Today, this neighborhood is full of historic houses, including colonial-style homes, cottages and bungalows. The Bayou is a community gathering spot used by dog walkers, canoers and kayakers and is the site of the annual fun-time Bayou Boogaloo Festival.