Why do they call it the Crescent City?

Best Answer: Crescent City alludes to the course of the Mississippi River around and through the city. New Orleans has many nicknames including Saint City, The City That Care Forgot, Crescent City, and probably its most famous, The Big Easy. Now for a little history on two of the city’s more popular nicknames. read more

Before the city's rapid, suburban expansion by way of landfills in the 20th century, most of the area that is now New Orleans was an uninhabitable bog. The only viable land on which to build was a crescent-shaped sliver along the bend in the Mississippi River where the old part of town is (the Warehouse District, CBD, French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny and Bywater). read more

New Orleans is called the Crescent City because the original town-the Vieux Carré, also called the French Quarter-was built at a sharp bend in the Mississippi River. The town was founded about 1718 by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. The original town was a mere outpost of officials, soldiers, merchants, slaves, and rivermen. read more