Origins
There has been an open-air marketplace situated just downriver from the Place d'Armes (Jackson Square) in the French Quarter since the 1790s. Like almost every city on the Continent, New Orleans developed an area where farmers would bring in their produce and fresh meat. This market began as a cluster of wooden stalls, not unlike what one would see in the middle of town since the Middle Ages.
New Orleans was beseiged by several bad fires and at least one hurricane in the 1700s and early 1800s. By 1813, the city government decided to construct a more permanent marketplace building to replace the structures that had been damaged and/or destroyed by those disasters over the previous twenty or so years. This first building was the Halle des Boucheries, or the Butcher's Market. The Halle des Legumes (Vegetable Market) was constructed about a block away in 1823, followed by the Red Stores in 1833 (although they weren't really part of the market per se). The gap between the Butcher's and Vegetable Markets was filled in 1870 with the construction of the Bazaar.
The location of the French Market left the buildings extremely vulernable to weather damage throughout its 200-plus year history. By the 1930s, the original buildings were either destroyed or in pretty sad shape. The entire complex was a perfect place for a Depression-era project, so the Project Works Administration stepped in and the entire French Market was re-designed and renovated in 1937-38. The colonnaded buildings we now know as the Market date from this renovation. The French Market received another major facelift in the 1970s, patching up the damage time and hurricanes like Betsy had inflicted over the years. A new Red Stores building was added at this time (the old ones having been destroyed by storms), and the Cusine Market building was also added to the Market complex.
Now that you know some of the history of the New Orleans French Market, come with us on a virtual tour of the marketplace!
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