DeBow began this magazine in New Orleans in January 1846 as the "Commercial Review of the South and West". It was published in New Orleans almost every year, except 1865 when disrupted and 1864, when based in Columbia, SC. He also published it in other cities as well: in Washington, D.C., between 1853 and 1857 (during his tenure as Head of the U.S. Census), continuing until 1860, then in Charleston, SC, 1861–1862. By the start of the Civil War, it was the most widely circulated southern periodical. DeBow wrote much of each issue himself.