Magazine Street
street in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Magazine Street is a major thoroughfare in New Orleans, Louisiana. Like Tchoupitoulas Street, St. Charles Avenue, and Claiborne Avenue, it follows the curving course of the Mississippi River. The street took its name from an ammunition magazine located in this vicinity during the 18th-century colonial period.
History
Alternatively, the street may have been named after the Spanish word magazin or almazon which means 'warehouse.' The story goes that General James Wilkinson from Kentucky made a controversial trip to New Orleans to trade American products with the Spanish. He persuaded Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró to give Kentucky a monopoly on the Mississippi River trade. Wilkinson became an official agent, and a warehouse or magazin was built for him.
The historical French designation of this street, rue des Magasins, in turns points to a general reference to a number of ware- or store-houses associated with the street.
Description
The downriver end of Magazine Street is at Canal Street; on the other side of Canal Street in the French Quarter the street becomes Decatur Street. From Canal through the Central Business District and Lower Garden District, Magazine Street is one-way in the upriver direction; downriver traffic forks to join Camp Street, the next street away from the river.
“Magazine Street” enters the record as street in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Magazine, Street and street can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Magazine Street” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Magazine, Street and street provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6729765. Authority coordinates are 29.921, -90.096. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Magazine Street”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Magazine Street primary sources, Magazine Street archive and Magazine research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Magazine Street”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Magazine Street” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.