Gallatin Street: New Orleans' First Vice District
Gallatin Street, the two-block stretch near the Mississippi River now known as French Market Place, was once the center of vice in Antebellum New Orleans. This tour shares some of the stories that gave Gallatin Street its notorious reputation as "the place where Terpsichore and Bacchus ruled the hour."
Access: Walking
Distance: ~0.5 miles, 10-15 minutes
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Stories 4
Gallatin Street: An Introduction
A small, two-block stretch called Gallatin Street, now called French Market Place, was once the headquarters of vice in New Orleans. A visitor to the street in 1873 described the scene for the…
The People of Gallatin Street
Gallatin Street’s close proximity to the port made it a quick and frequent stop for those who docked, worked, or lived near the booming economic area. Close to half a million immigrants came through…
The Barrooms and Brothels of Gallatin Street
Gallatin Street was once filled with barrooms, dance houses, and brothels — most institutions serving as all three. There was rarely a fee to enter, but men were encouraged to buy a drink for their…
The Demise of Gallatin Street
In 1924, Times-Picayune journalist Lyle Saxon provided a description of Gallatin Street as it appeared in the 1920s, calling it “deserted, forgotten, given over to warehouses and storage rooms of…Tour curated by: Jessica Anne Dauterive, Greg Lambousy, William Jones, Sean Simonson, Ellie Ginsburg