Who has never wondered why their street was called by this name? Who in Toulouse has never been surprised by the Place des Trois Cocus, the rue des Sept Troubadours or the Chemin de Lanusse? “We received dozens of letters asking us for details on certain streets in the city, that motivated our project” explains Gaëlle Mignot, assistant to the municipal archives of Toulouse. On the Urban’Hist site, it is now possible to research the history of your street and learn a little more about sixty streets considered unusual thanks to the work of three historians and their documentary research.
History strongly marks our streets
The streets also change a lot of names throughout history: “We see a lot of fashions, details Gaëlle Mignot. The first names are linked to the use of the place, or are quite colorful. In the city center, the streets are sometimes named after the professions mostly represented in the streets. Then in the 19th century, street names were given to personalities who marked the history of Toulouse or the country. And then certain names keep coming back, we have tried several times to change the name of Place des Carmes but the custom has remained and we have come back to this name of Place des Carmes. “