French Market

In 1991, during the bicentennial of its first market hall, the French Market renewed its commitment to continuing and expanding Louisiana’s traditional market bounty from its land, waters, and cultures. Native Americans traded here from ancient times, when waterways were America’s highways. On the riverbank, the market linked the Mississippi Valley with the Gulf Coast by way of the Esplanade Ridge to Bayou St. John and through Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico. After the arrival of the French, the market on the levee grew to include products from around the world as New Orleans grew around it. In 1791, the Spanish city government established a city market and built the first market hall, a butchers’ market at St. Ann Street and the river. Over more than two centuries, many buildings were built, while others were lost to fire, hurricane, and changing economic conditions. The market became known as the French Market after Anglo-Americans arrived and called old things in the old city French, though many other cultures also shaped it, including Africans, Spanish, Haitians, Italians, Germans, Irish, Jews, Dalmatians, Greeks, Syrians, Lebanese, Filipinos, Chinese, other Asians, and Latin Americans. Colonial New Orleans was Caribbean Creole, enriched by the Acadian agricultural community, which gave the city and market the cuisine, music, and style that made them unique. In the twentieth century, changes in food production and distribution technology altered the market, but as change continued, the joy and vitality of the traditional market regained prominence.

New Orleans, Louisiana · United States