Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1936-04-02
FAMED new ORL LEANS
MARKET MUST MOVE
Forced to Make Room TO-
the Mississippi River.

IL the OLD French
market on New Orleans Waterfront
tne river has given much. And now
the river is taking away. In order to
handle the shifty yellow Mississinni
IN Its S-curves about the city the levee
must be moved back, and the French
market must move over to make room.
1t VIII be renovated at the same time
substituting the odor of damn con-
crete Tor the odors of sanctity and
nsh and vegetables Of almost a cen.
fury and half.
In Its sun-drenched space between
the city and the Mississippi, the old
French market is mellow symbol Of
vanishing era" says the National
Geographic society. Brilliant colors
shoulder in its deep shade, Turing WIS.,
itors for a pleasant cup Of coffee as
well as the sterner business Of buying
and selling foodstuffs.
Market Dates From 1895.
AThe market sprawls over three
blocks, a jungle Of awninged stalls
piles Of crates, and white-tiled booths
astir with the slow amble Of chatting
shoppers. Covered .banquettes, or side
walks, are Uttered with the overflow
OF informal merchants whose only
wares are few baskets Of fruit or
vegetables spread around them on ia.
bic or ground.
"On one side lie dreary smudges
OF railroad tracks, and then the Mis-
sissippi, here treacherous, yellow, and
muddy, with its shutting ferries and
.moored sea-going vessels. Cityward
its neighbors are the statuary Of Jack
son square, the iron-balconied Pom
talba apartments, the Cabildo in which
Louisiana was formally transferred
to the United States in 1903, and the
tranquility of st. Mary's church and
the Convent Of the Ursulines.
"The market has a fascinating his
tory. 1t was built under a Spanish
governor in 1875, for the elegant Gre
ole population of Nouvelle Orleans,
mainly pure-blooded French and Span
ish born in America. A hurricane de-
stroyed the original structure, but in
1913 its rebuilding as a meat market
began under the United States govern
ment, with enough French patronage
still to give the new structure French
name: Halle des Boucheries.
I'm few years the market covered
an adjacent block, dedicated to vege-
tables. and later still third, for fish.
Thus the area between ST. Ann street
and Ursuline street became honey
combed with white-tiled cubicles and
their delectable stores of Louisiana's
products.
"a coffee shop in the French market
modestly claims the honor of having
instituted the universal custom in New
Orleans of stopping during business
and after pleasure for cup of thick
black drip coffee. Now many coffee
stalls offer the popular Creole bever-
age with delicate seasoning of chic
DRY, and their tiny oil-cldth- covered ia
bles are popular pastime with visi-
tors and an established habit with res
idents.
Many Noted Visitors.
I'm its patrons as well as in its
history the French market has inter-
national alliances Andrew Jackson
and the pirate Lafitte are said to have
stalked across its sawdust-covered
flagstones. Adelina Patti, after max
ing her first American appearance at
New Orleans French opera house,
took a keen interest in delicacies Of
Creole cooking, delicacies which the
French market supplied. Audubon, on
his second day in the city in 1921,
found his way to the bird sellers in
the French market and lamented that
such a great array had been killed.
Surely the coffee shops knew Mark
Twain, o. Henry, George Washington
Gable, W. M. Thackeray, Lafcadio
Hearn, and others seeking to fathom
Creole secrets.
"Rarer now are Indian women offer
ing punches of dried and fresh herbs.
Italians, both men and women, pre-
dominate among the vendors. Farm
ers and share-croppers, black and
white, sit stolidly by crates or baskets
Of their produce, or outside lean visit
fully over the lowered tailboards Of
their wagons or trucks.
"Most attentive to the displays are
negro women. heads swathed in the
tignon, or bright bandanna, who car
ry big market baskets or shopping bags
to fill for their white folks To en-
courage them as regular customers,
merchants offer them lagniappe, or a
little bonus, on transactions.
"A tour through the French market
is a visit to Louisiana's own informal
natural history museum, with all the
states fora and fauna on parade In
rich profusion and amiable disarray.
Visitors and residents alike hope that
the remodeled market will carry on
the culinary traditions of the market
of old"