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Makin' Groceries in New Orleans |
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The French Market |
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From the French Market Corporation: For over 200 years, the historic French Market
has been an enduring symbol of pride and progress for the people of New Orleans. While the Market has existed on the same
site since 1791, each new decade and governing flag has brought dramatic changes to the Market and helped to secure its
special place in the hearts of the people of New Orleans. What began as a Native American trading
post on the banks of the mighty, muddy Mississippi River on the site chosen for the City by the French, has become a cultural,
commercial and entertainment treasure which the Crescent City proudly shares with the world. Today,
America’s oldest public market has assumed a leading role in the local economy as well, providing consistently increasing
revenues for city government while putting millions of dollars back into the local economy. While
change has always come to the Market, it hasn’t always come easily. Hurricanes, fires, foreign wars and domestic political
struggles have played their own special role in making the city’s best known landmark the commercial and cultural gumbo
it is today. Coffee drinking played a central role in the life of the Market. According to one account written in 1859
“about midnight the market begins to show signs of life; the coffee tables are decorated with their array of cups
of steaming Mocha” . . . 4 A British visitor to the city in the 1880′s wrote of the market: “They gave
me deliciously aromatic coffee, dark . . . beautifully crystallized sugar, plenty of hot milk, the purest bread, the freshest
of butter.”5 With the technological advancements of the late 1800′s, the grand old
Market changed too. In 1870, a structure known as the Bazaar Market was built. Most significant for its time, this unusually
well lit and functional building was designed by Joseph Abeilard, one of America’s first African-American architects. Chief features of the Market at this time included the Halle des Boucheries or Butcher’s Market,
a fruit and vegetable market, a fish market, and grocery goods sold in the Market’s Red Stores. Also
in abundance were multitudes of flowers and fauna from throughout south Louisiana. It was around this time that Italians
– more specifically, those from Sicily – came to dominance in the Market, selling mostly fruits and vegetables.
Even today, over a century later, merchants and farmers of Italian heritage continue to play a leading role in the life
of the Market. Prior to the late 1800′s, the City of New Orleans sold franchises in the Market
to collect rents, maintain order and enforce sanitation. As time passed, the Market came under control of various city agencies
and departments. Finally, with Robert Maestri as Mayor in 1932, the City Council consolidated management of the Market by
authorizing organization of the French Market Corporation under the leadership of the French Market Business Men’s
Association.
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Unless otherwise noted, the photographs on this website are from the Louisiana Digital Library.
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