In the Middle Ages, damaged meats were salted and boiled there to feed the poorest.

[1] In the 17th century, La Voisin, a chief personage in the famous affaire des poisons, which disgraced the reign of King Louis XIV, lived here.

[citation needed] Nicolas-Edme Rétif, the French novelist, lived on the Rue de la Bûcherie during the years leading to his death in 1806.

[2] Until the late 1970s, the place was a popular Parisian street with mixed modest restaurants (Lebanese, Asian, Pakistani), antiques dealers, and art galleries.

The dissection amphitheatre of the ancient Faculty of Medicine where Jacques-Bénigne Winslow taught is still located on the Rue de la Bûcherie.