Baton Rouge Guide » More About Baton Rouge: Overview

Overview

Set along the Mississippi River, Baton Rouge is a city of presence, both Louisiana's capital and seat of East Baton Rouge Parish. The state's second largest city, however, wasn't always the political and manufacturing force it is today. When claimed by the French in 1699, the area was a threshold between Bayougoula and Houma Indian hunting grounds. Marking the division was a stripped tree, reddened with the blood of slaughtered animals. Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, a Frenchman leading an exploratory party from New Orleans, christened the area "Baton Rouge" after the improvised landmark, and the city's name was set for posterity. After the United States brokered the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the town grew measurably, and by the late 19th-century, Louisiana State University was founded, and the city's status as state capital was cemented. These days, Baton Rouge is an amalgam of commerce and tradition, its oil refineries and chemical companies juxtaposed against antebellum plantations and a prominent Cajun heritage. The port city's history also includes Governor Huey Long's controversial public tenure and violent death in the Capitol he built. The edifice is still a tourist draw, as are the Old State Capitol, the USS Kidd, and the Old Governor's Mansion. Folks also relish riverfront casinos, bustling nightclubs, Cajun-Creole restaurants, and the vigor of LSU and Southern University. All these influences color the richness that is now Baton Rouge, insinuating themselves into the region's haunt of zydeco, its earthen beauty, and a past that lingers yet today like Spanish moss in southern trees.