Is it Pension Town or Pigeon Town?

The area found to the northwest of Carrollton Avenue and to the south of Claiborne Avenue may be called Pigeon Town or Pension Town. This question is just one of the many that make New Orleans a complicated city with a unique past full of all kinds of unanswered questions.

In fact, many of those living in the area or passing through the area may refer to it as Leonidas, which is the official city designation. This name comes from the street running directly through the center of the neighborhood and even that name takes on more than one pronunciation.

The borders of this area are also a bit unknown as one person may say they include the parish line, Claiborne Avenue, Lake Avenue and Carrollton Avenue. Others may decide to choose ab order found many blocks away from these streets.

Some will even take the Pension Town designation and make it one word; Pensiontown. Both Pension Town and Pigeon Town are nicknames for the area and represent something a bit different. Pensiontown is a smaller section of Pigeon Town, but some may just call it P-Town to make it even more confusing.

The origin of both Pension Town and Pigeon Town are hard to figure out and pin down for sure. It seems that Pigeon may have originally be Pidgin, which could have been a dig at the immigrants living there or it could have come from the African slaves living here when it was plantation land. There are several versions and nothing concrete shows which is correct.

Pension Town started after the Civil War and may have come from the fact that many pensioners started to populate the area. However, some believe it got this name due to retired railway workers and those retiring from the Sewerage and Water Board deciding to live here.

Today, both names are used rather widely and plenty of explanations are out there for why. However, nothing is concrete and the two names for this area of New Orleans could mean something different to each person living within the area.

For more information on the debate between Pension Town and Pigeon Town, read this article from Nola.com. 

See homes for sale in Pigeon Town or Pension Town below: 

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