- The Louisiana State Capitol, in Baton Rouge, is the tallest state capitol in the United States.
Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana and the second largest metropolitan area of the state. Only New Orleans is larger. The city is located on the eastern banks of the Mississippi River, in the southeast-central part of Louisiana. It is a leading port of the United States. The name Baton Rouge means “red stick” or “red post” in French. About one third of the population is of French descent.
Places of interest
The old State Capitol in Baton Rouge was designed and built between 1847 and 1850. It is now a museum. The new Capitol, completed in 1932, is made of marble and is 34 stories high. Baton Rouge is also the site of Louisiana State University and of Southern University, the largest mostly African American institution in the country. Louisiana State University has many fine buildings, including Hilltop Arboretum, the Rural Life Museum, and Windrush Gardens.
Economy
Baton Rouge is an important industrial center. It has nearby oil fields, an abundance of natural gas and other natural resources, and low-cost ocean and river transportation. The Port of Baton Rouge transfers railroad and water freight cargoes to ocean-going ships. Petrochemicals, refined oil and gas products, rubber goods, steel products, and paper products are also produced.
History
French-Canadian explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville was the first European in the Baton Rouge area in 1699. There he saw a red cypress post, or baton rouge, that marked a boundary between different Native American peoples. The French built a fort on the site in 1719 and named the area for the red cypress post.
France passed control of Baton Rouge to Britain in 1763, at the end of the French and Indian War. At that time it was made a part of West Florida. During the American Revolution, the Spanish captured the area on September 21, 1779. The Spanish controlled the region for the next 20 years.
In 1800, France again took control of Louisiana from Spain. In 1803 the United States purchased Louisiana from Napoleon I. Spain claimed Baton Rouge, however, together with the entire territory of West Florida.
The city's inhabitants rebelled against Spanish rule in 1810 and claimed independence as the county of Feliciana. In 1812 Louisiana was admitted to the Union. Baton Rouge was incorporated as a town in 1817. It became the capital of Louisiana in 1849.
On January 26, 1861, Louisiana joined the Confederate States of America. Union forces captured Baton Rouge during the American Civil War but withdrew after a battle on August 5, 1862. Union troops reoccupied the city in December 1862 and held it for the rest of the war. Population (2000 census), 227,818.