Although the original site was located predominantly on the east side of Jackson Avenue, its boundaries as defined by the Historic District Landmarks Commission are: Magazine Street to the north, Jackson Avenue to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Delachaise Street to the west.

Most of the original location of the Irish Channel is now considered part of the Lower Garden District and the location of historic Irish Channel landmarks such as Adele Street, St. Andrews Street, St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. Alphonsus Church, along with a police station, Walmart, Boettner Park, and the River Garden development.

[4] Significant emigration from Ireland to the United States occurred during the period 1810 - 1850, with a particularly large wave to New Orleans during the decade of the 1830s.

The point of debarkation was Adele Street, where many immigrants, penniless, took up residence in simple cottages (shotgun houses).

[5] These Irish immigrants arrived primarily to dig the New Basin Canal,[4] and were generally regarded as expendable labor.

Irish immigrants found New Orleans a better cultural match than most Southeastern areas of the United States due to the large predominant Roman Catholic European population already there.

[6] St. Alphonsus Church, constructed in 1855 by the Redemptorist Fathers, served the religious and cultural needs of this Irish immigrant population for many years.

For generations Irish school children as well as parishioners and visitors would participate in novenas to Our Lady at St. Alphonsus church.

[5] Through the early 20th century much of the population worked in the port of New Orleans before modern shipping innovations greatly reduced the need for stevedores and similar jobs.

Gary Robichaux, the executive director of ReNEW, had full control over the school's hiring and firing, and he kept 15% of the previous teaching staff and brought younger teachers to replace them.

[17] Many early jazz musicians including Tom Brown, the Brunies brothers, Nick LaRocca, and Tony Sbarbaro lived in the Irish Channel.

[6] Francis Xavier Seelos was a Redemptorist priest who served those stricken by yellow fever in the Irish Channel from 1866-7.

[20] Eleanor McMain was a social activist in the Irish Channel in the early part of the twentieth century, leading Kingsley House to become a center for progressive movements.