Running through uptown, it is the through street closest to the Mississippi River.
Formerly, the street was heavily devoted to river shipping commerce, but as shipping concerns gravitated to other locations in the latter part of the 20th century, more of the street has been utilized for residential and other business purposes.
The name of the street comes from the name of a Native American tribe[1][2] that perhaps means "those who live at the river" in Choctaw (hạcha-pit-itula).
[3] The tribal village – called the côte (or quartier) des Chapitoulas in the 18th and early 19th centuries – was the headwaters of a bayou also named after the Chapitoulas.
[3] The street starts at the upriver side of Canal Street (the opposite side from the French Quarter) and goes through New Orleans Central Business District (CBD) and uptown, following the curve of the river's crescent bend before coming to its terminus, hitting East Road at Audubon Park.