Thiers wall
The building of the Thiers wall caused an immense alteration to the social structure of the outer parts of the city. The legislative boundary of Paris since the 18th century had been the Wall of the "Ferme Générale", sometimes translated as the "Farmers-General Wall", which had no defensive function being only high, but served to enforce the "octroi", a tariff on goods entering the capital. After the construction of the Thiers wall, the open grassland of the "zone non aedificandi" immediately outside the new wall quickly became a popular venue for walks and picnics by prosperous Parisians. This encouraged the development inside the walls of restaurants and dancehalls to entertain them and being beyond the "Ferme Générale" wall, allowed food and drink to be sold tax-free. The area between the two walls became known as the "petit banlieue" or "little suburb", which underwent rapid development over the following decades, primarily of working class housing and industrial sites, expanding from a population of 75,000 in 1831 to 173,000 in 1856. A few areas between the walls remained rural; the last vineyards in Paris were at Butte-aux-Cailles in the south. In 1853, the appointment of Georges-Eugène Haussmann as prefect began the huge renovation of Paris project, starting with the sweeping away of overcrowded slum housing in the city centre. In 1859, the start of the second phase of development extending beyond the recently demolished "Ferme Générale" wall was made possible by the extension of the Paris boundary to the Thiers wall. The inclusion of these slum areas was initially unpopular with Parisians; one journalist complained that "They have sewn rags onto the dress of a queen". However, the construction of new roads and other infrastructure brought great improvements to the new arrondissements, although it was the more prosperous suburbs that benefitted most.