The history of
Baton Rouge dates back to 1699, when a French expedition first saw the site on
which the City of Baton Rouge is now located. The party reached a small stream
that separated the hunting grounds of the Bayagoulas and the Oumas Indians. Its
banks were separated by a reddened, 30-foot-high maypole with several heads of
fish and bear attached in sacrifice and dripping with blood that the natives had
sunk there to mark the land line between the two nations. The red stick the
French saw was probably used both as a boundary marker and for ceremonial
purposes. The area was named Baton Rouge (French for red stick).
One can
readily believe that the site was used as a point of reference by priests,
traders, and settlers as they traveled up and down the Mississippi River.
Significantly, no one was ever able to change the name though it was attempted
several times. Le Baton Rouge had become a permanent part of the landscape.
One-third of Louisiana’s population today is of French descent, and one becomes
accustomed to hearing the French accent throughout the
area.
From its
origin as the site of an Indian village, through many years as a sleepy river
town, to its emergence as a major educational, governmental, and industrial
center of the south, Baton Rouge has been a city of change and diversity. Baton
Rouge was incorporated in 1817 and became the capital of the state in 1882.
Today, with the City of Baton Rouge the dominant center of business, culture,
education, and finance, the Parish of East Baton Rouge looks forward to even
greater prosperity.
Baton Rouge is
the parish seat of government, the key industrial city in the area, and the
center of an immense chemical and petroleum complex on the Mississippi River.
The metropolitan area is the second largest in the state. The expanding Port of
Greater Baton Rouge ranks fourth among the major ports of the nation and second
in Louisiana. Projected population figures show that this progressive city will
have a phenomenal growth in future decades.
Baton Rouge
has a subtropical climate free of extreme temperatures. Winters are mild with
only occasional cold spells. East Baton Rouge Parish comprises 471.81 square
miles along the Mississippi River, in the southeast part of the state. The
parish includes three major cities: Baton Rouge, with a 1999 population of
231,219 and an area of 75 square miles; Baker, with a population of 13,315 and
an area of 4 square miles; and Zachary, with a population of 10,348 and an area
of 20 square miles.
The East Baton
Rouge Parish school system consists of 101 public and 49 private schools. Baton
Rouge supports 35 libraries; 13 of these are public parish libraries. Higher
education is provided by two state universities: Louisiana State
University, a traditional leader among the nation's institutions; and
Southern University, recognized as the largest predominantly African-American
institution in the nation.