Columbia Street met the river at the Columbia Street Landing, the first place visitors saw when they arrived in Covington and the last stop on land for the area's principal exports on their way to market via the Bogue Falaya River across Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans. In 1890, Covington's new town hall stood in the ox lot in the middle of the square bounded by Boston, Columbia, Rutland and Florida streets. This block of Columbia Street naturally developed as the town's principal commercial area.