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When Louis Bouligny bought a plantation in 1829, he immediately made plans to develop it into a city neighborhood. Once his plans were made, Benjamin Buisson, the surveyor of Lafayette City (the Garden District) named each of the streets.
A former officer in Napoleon’s army, Buisson named the main boulevard after the emperor himself, Napoleon Avenue, and many of the sides streets after his most famous battles (Jena, Milan, Marengo).
Around the same time, the railroad began expanding and ran right through Bouligny, giving the neighborhood an economic boost and inspiring other land owners to create similar subdivisions and neighborhoods.
– Scott Hutcheson, Senior Advisor to the Mayor on the Cultural Economy