The French Market

The French Market traces its legal beginning to September 10, 1784, when the Authorities of Justice and Administration required all city retailers to conduct business on this site. The first market structure was completed in 1791, and after a hurricane destroyed it in 1812, it was replaced in 1813 by the building that houses the meat and retail fish markets. Although the interior was modernized from 1936 to 1938, the walls and supporting columns remain as they were erected in 1815, and other market structures were built at various times between 1813 and 1872. Trading had taken place here long before the French arrived, as Indians used the spot for exchange, and the market continued as the most ancient mart in the Mississippi Valley. Its rehabilitation in 1936 to 1938 was directed by the French Market Corporation, acting under authority granted by the commission council of New Orleans, with financing provided cooperatively by the corporation, the Public Works Administration of the United States, the City of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, the Orleans Levee Board, and business men of the market area, while retaining the architectural integrity of the historic structures and modernizing the interiors to meet contemporary refrigeration and sanitary standards.

New Orleans, Louisiana · United States