Bouligny Plaza and Main Street

Bouligny Plaza at the foot of Main Street is the civic heart of downtown New Iberia — a small square on the bank of Bayou Teche where a bronze statue of the Iberian bull marks the connection to the Spanish founders. The surrounding Main Street district is a compact, walkable commercial centre with 19th- and early 20th-century commercial buildings, some good restaurants, antique shops, and a general atmosphere of a small Southern city that has aged gracefully rather than been aggressively revitalised.

The downtown New Iberia Commercial Historic District, centred on this area, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and represents one of the better-preserved small-city downtowns in Louisiana. The combination of the plaza, the bayou bank, Shadows-on-the-Teche a block away, and several good places to eat within walking distance makes this the natural centre of any visit to New Iberia.

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New Iberia's Main Street was laid out in the 1790s by Francisco Bouligny, a Spanish colonial officer who established the town as a Spanish settlement — hence the Spanish architectural influence in some of the older buildings, and the name Bouligny Plaza. The Spanish colonial origin makes New Iberia slightly different from the French-heritage Cajun towns to the north, though by the early 19th century the Acadian French-speaking community had absorbed the original Spanish settlers.

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