Where We Practice Law: The History of Baton Rouge
The city of Baton Rouge was named over 300 years ago
when on March 17, 1699, Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville,
led an expedition along the Mississippi River.
The city’s earliest
written records are found in the diaries of these
explorers which tell the tale of a pole stained with
blood of fish and animals that served as the
dividing line between the Bayougoula and Houmas
Indians. It is from this "red stick" that
Iberville christened our city "le Baton
Rouge." D'Iberville's writings refer to the
area as Istrouma or Red Stick, which when translated
into French becomes Baton Rouge. Records of
D'Iberville describe large reddened poles erected by
Indians with fish and bear heads attached in
sacrifice. These may have designated boundaries at a
point separating the hunting grounds of the Bayou
Goula and the Houma Indian tribes.
In 1718, the French
are alleged to have constructed a fort near the area
to protect travelers from New Orleans to northern
outposts. the Baton Rouge area then belonged to
France. The area was transferred to England by the
treaty of Paris in 1763. Following this, the
settlement was renamed New Richmond.
In September of 1779,
the Spanish defeated the English at Fort Butte on
Bayou Manchac and then captured Baton Rouge, so that
by 1781 West Florida, including East Baton Rouge was
under Spanish influence.
In 1810, when the
Spanish were overthrown by local settlers,
approximately 1,000 persons resided in the Baton
Rouge vicinity. The people declared themselves
independent and renamed this area the West Florida
Republic, In a few months, the territory was annexed
by Louisiana and was divided. At that time, East
Baton Rouge Parish was created.
Baton Rouge was named
the state capital in 1846, and the Old State House
was completed in 1850. Louisiana seceded from the
Union in 1861, and in August 1862, Baton Rouge fell
to the Union forces. The federal government of
Louisiana was moved to New Orleans. It was 1882
before Baton Rouge again became the capital of the
state.
Louisiana State
University came to Baton Rouge in 1869. The campus
was located downtown prior to its move in 1926 to
its present location; however, the Indian mounds on
the campus of LSU were built 450 years before the
construction of the great Egyptian pyramids.
In 1927, Huey P. Long
was elected governor and served from 1928-1932, when
he became a United States Senator. One of the most
famous "populist" politicians, Long
provided "free textbooks" for public
schools.
During Long’s term,
the skyscraper new State Capitol was erected. It
cost $5 million and took only 14 months to complete.
It stands nearly 450 feet tall with 34 stories. It
was here that Long was assassinated in 1935. Long is
buried on the grounds of the State Capitol.
Several flags have
flown over Baton Rouge since its founding. Those of
France, England, Spain, West Florida, Louisiana,
Confederate States of America and the United States
of America.
Louisiana was
admitted into the Union on April 8, 1812. Baton
Rouge was incorporated in 1817; it became the State
Capital in 1849.
For most of the
duration, of the Civil War (1861-1865), Baton Rouge
was under Union control, except for a brief period
in 1862. During the war, the capital was relocated
several times; however in 1882 the center of
government was returned to Baton Rouge. At that time
the City had a population of 7,197.
At the turn of the
century, the town began to develop industrially due
to its strategic location on the first bluff along
the Mississippi River north of the Gulf of Mexico.
Baton Rouge
Louisiana's Capital City is now 74.74 square miles
in size with some 230,000 people. East Baton Rouge
Parish population is approximately 412,500 and is
472.1 square miles in size.
The Baton Rouge Flag
is a field of crimson representing the great Indian
Nations that once inhabit-ed the area. The crest on
the lower left uses the red, white and blue,
representing the colors of the United States. The
upper left of the shield is the fleur-de-lis of
France, the upper right is the Castille of Spain,
and the lower potion is the Union Jack of Great
Britain. The crest encompasses the emblems of the
three foreign countries, whose flags have flown over
Baton Rouge. The name "Baton Rouge" in
white appears prominently on the field of crimson.
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