Le 15e arrondissement de Paris

Did you know that the 15th is the Paris arrondissement that has the highest population? Nearly 250,000 people live in the 15th which would make it alone one of the 10 largest cities in France if it were separated from the rest of Paris. More than 10% of the population of Paris is in the 15th. The 15th also makes up about 10% of the area of Paris — but it covers only about 3.25 square miles.

The rue Lecourbe in the 15th, and the elevated metro line that runs along the edge of the arrondissement

The 15th is not a tourist area. It's a middle class neighborhood, mostly residential, on the southwestern side of the city. There aren't any major monuments in the 15th — but there are many cafés, restaurants, shops, and markets. I once did some research using the French Pages Jaunes web site and found that there were more boulangeries (approximately 75 of them) in the 15th than in any other Paris arrondissement. That makes sense, because so many people live there.

Nineteenth-century buildings in the 15th arrondissement with their street-level shops

The longest street in Paris is the rue de Vaugirard, which starts near the Jardin du Luxembourg and runs all the way out to the Porte de Versailles, all the way across the 15th. In fact, the neighborhood is also knows as the Quartier de Vaugirard. Among the other major streets that run through the 15th are the rue Lecourbe, the rue de la Convention, the boulevard de Grenelle, the rue Cambronne, and the avenue Emile-Zola.

 There are a lot of cafés with outdoor seating in the 15th arrondissement.

The 15th didn't become a part of Paris until fairly recent times — less than 200 years ago. It was annexed by the city in the mid-1800s. Until then, the area was outside the city walls. A new wall was built between 1840 and 1860, and the 15th was then included in Paris. The population of the area increased five-fold between 1850 and 1950.

 Newer and older buildings side by side in the 15th

CHM's family has lived in the 15th arrondissement since at least the 19th century. His grandparents lived in the same neighborhood where he lives now. His father, a well-known doctor, had his medical office in the same building that CHM still lives in, and he started his practice there before the year 1900. By then, nearly 100,000 people lived in the 15th.

The Invalides church isn't actually in the 15th, but like the Eiffel Tower and the Tour Montparnasse,
it's right on the edge of the arrondissement.

Back in the 1970s, I became friends with a family that lived a little farther out in the 15th, on the rue de la Convention. The "matriarch" of the family was a woman born in 1903. She had lived in Paris since she was a young girl. She told me she remembered when, on weekends, she, her sister, and her mother would go out to the Porte de Versailles, on the edge of  the 15th, and pick flowers in the fields. You'd be hard-pressed to find a field of flowers around there these days.