Why Jackson Square Costs Nothing But St. Louis Cathedral Facing It Has Its Own Hours
Jackson Square, the French Quarter's central public square, is free to enter and open daily from 8am to 6pm. St. Louis Cathedral, the cathedral-basilica facing the square and the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States, with roots dating to the 1720s, is also free, though donations are encouraged, but keeps its own separate hours: daily 9:30am to 4pm, with last entry at 3:45pm.
Why the square and the cathedral facing it run on two separate schedules
Both Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral are free, but the square's 8am-to-6pm window and the cathedral's shorter 9:30am-to-4pm window with a 3:45pm last-entry cutoff don't match, worth checking both specifically rather than assuming one schedule covers the whole plaza.
Why "oldest continually used Catholic cathedral in the US" is a specific claim worth understanding
St. Louis Cathedral's history traces to a church site first designated in 1721, with the current building continuing that same use uninterrupted since, worth treating as a genuine historical distinction, not every historic church can claim continuous use across three centuries.
Why donations, not a fee, are how the cathedral actually sustains free entry
Entry to the cathedral is free with donations encouraged rather than required, worth understanding as the actual funding model, distinct from the ticketed sites nearby elsewhere in the French Quarter.
What This Means for Planning a Visit
The practical takeaway is that both the square and the cathedral cost nothing, but arriving before 3:45pm matters specifically for the cathedral, not the square itself, which stays open two hours later. The broader French Quarter district around both is covered on its own city page.