After the Louisiana Purchase, many settlers from other parts of the United States developed their homes and businesses in the area upriver from the older Creole city.

The very broadest definition of Uptown, historically, included everything upriver from Canal Street, which would encompass about one-third of the city.

In the narrowest usage, as a New Orleans City Planning neighborhood, Uptown refers to an area of only some dozen blocks centering on the intersection of Jefferson and St. Charles Avenues.

[4][5] People from other parts of the United States settled uptown in the 19th century, joined by immigrants, notably from Italy, Ireland, and Germany.

Census data shows that ethnically and racially mixed city blocks were common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which continues to be the case with much of Uptown.

The sugar plantation once owned by François Livaudais, situated in Jefferson Parish along the Mississippi River between the present Philip, Pleasant, and LaSalle streets, was sold to developers in 1832.

The Livaudais Plantation was subdivided and incorporated in April 1833 as the City of Lafayette and included the land which would later become known as the Garden District.

[8] Cornelius Hurst, developer of Faubourg Hurstville, sold a square block to the City of Lafayette for a cemetery in 1833.

The society also cited inadequate grounds keeping, improper maintenance, and damage by movie film crews as contributing to this decline.

[10] Greenville was a city formerly in Jefferson Parish bounded by the present-day Audubon Park and Lowerline Street, and extended from the river to St. Charles Avenue.

Cornelius Hurst, Pierre Joseph Tricou, and Julie Robert Avart had bought the plantation in 1831, dividing it into three equal parts.

[17] Hurst named three streets perpendicular to the Mississippi River Eleonore, Arabella, and Joseph for his wife, daughter, and son, respectively.

The name Hurstville is still used to identify the former faubourg; and as of 2010, still appears in local news items and real estate listings.

[21] Uptown was built along the higher ground along an old natural river levee on a wide, gradual bend of the Mississippi.

While Magazine Street has only one lane of traffic in both directions, it is a major commercial district, known for its many locally owned shops, restaurants, and art galleries.

St. Charles was the city's "millionaires row" in the 19th century, and a good number of the architecturally significant old mansions remain.

But much of the avenue holds newer apartment buildings and commercial establishments, and some mansions have been converted to rental units.

[22] Notable Uptowners have included jazz musicians Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, George Brunies, Harry Connick Jr., Percy Humphrey, the Neville Brothers, Joe "King" Oliver, Leon Roppolo, Gregg Stafford, singers the Boswell Sisters and Mahalia Jackson; inventor A. Baldwin Wood; writers Michael Lewis, Anne Rice, and John Kennedy Toole; ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin; past and present professional football players Archie Manning and his sons Peyton and Eli Manning, Steve Gleason,[23] Drew Brees and Thomas Morstead;[23] New Orleans Saints former head coach Sean Payton and owner Tom Benson;[23] and rappers B.G., Birdman (rapper), Soulja Slim, Juvenile, and Lil Wayne.

High water did affect some portions of Uptown, especially the areas closer to Claiborne Avenue,[24] in some places severely.

In these areas many old homes were built on piers 0.9 to 1.2 meters (3 to 4 feet) above street level to insure against the occasional disastrous flood.

[24] For months early in the post-Katrina recovery, Magazine Street became a commercial hub of New Orleans, with many businesses owned and run by locals reopening before chain stores in the metro area.

[29] The Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orléans, a public French immersion charter school, is also in Uptown.