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Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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Baton Rouge, Louisiana
File:BRskyline1.jpg
Flag of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Flag
Official seal of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Seal
Nickname: 
Red Stick
Motto: 
Authentic Louisiana at every turn
File:LAMap-doton-Baton Rouge.png
Country
  State
    Parish		United States
  Louisiana
    East Baton Rouge Parish
Founded
Incorporated		1699
16 January 1817
Government
 • MayorMelvin "Kip" Holden (D)
Elevation
14 m (46 ft)
Population
 (2004)
 • City224,097
 • Metro
751,965
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
Websitehttp://www.brgov.com
For the Canadian restaurant, see Baton Rouge (restaurant).

Baton Rouge, French: Bâton-Rouge (pronounced /ˈbætn ˈɹuːʒ/ in English, and [[Media:BatonRouge.ogg|/batɔ̃ ʀuʒ/]] in French) is the capital and the largest city of Louisiana, a state of the United States of America. Historically, Baton Rouge has been the second largest city in Louisiana behind New Orleans, but as of mid-2005, the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina have, at least temporarily, reduced the population of New Orleans such that Baton Rouge is currently the largest city in Louisiana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 227,818 and as of 2004, the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimate puts the city at 224,097. The Greater Baton Rouge area as of 2000 had a population of 602,894, but has grown to over 750,000 since the 2000 census. It is the second largest metropolitan area in the state after Greater New Orleans. Baton Rouge is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish. Baton Rouge is home to the main campus of Louisiana State University and to Southern University. Baton Rouge is also home to The Shaw Group, a Fortune 500 Company.[1]

Baton Rouge also goes by its English translation, "Red Stick", "Beauregard Town" and its abbreviation (B.R.). Like other capital cities, its region is called the "Capital Area."

History

Establishment

The French name "Baton Rouge" means "Red Stick" in English. In 1699, the Sieur d'Iberville led an exploration party of about 200 French-Canadians up the Mississippi River. On March 17, on a bluff on the east ("right") bank, they saw a cypress pole festooned with bloody animal and fish heads, which they learned was a boundary-marker between the hunting territories of two of the local Houma Indian groups. The bluff (by consensus among historians) is located on what is now the campus of Southern University, in the northern part of the city, and a commemorative sculpture by Frank Hayden has been erected nearby.

The first real settlement at the present site of Baton Rouge took place in 1718, when Bernard Diron Dartaguette received a grant from the colonial government at New Orleans. Records indicate two whites and 25 blacks (some of whom may have been slaves) resided on the concession. On New Year's Day, of 1722, the first mass at the settlement was celebrated in Dartaguette's parlor by Father Pierre François-Xavier de Charlevoix, a Jesuit teacher and missionary who was on his way to New Orleans, having traveled from Quebec by way of the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi River. By 1727, however, the Dartaguette settlement had vanished; the reason for its disappearance is not known, though it probably was a combination of crop failure and the concurrent success of the settlement at Pointe Coupee, across the river and a few miles north. As the location had no particular importance to the French, they ignored it thereafter; this period of less than a decade was the sum total of Baton Rouge under French rule.

The British period

The origins of Baton Rouge as a continuously settled community date from the establishment of a British military outpost there in 1763, following the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau in the fall of 1762 that included the cession of New Orleans and western Louisiana by France to Spain and the acquisition by Great Britain of eastern Louisiana. British territory on the east was separated from Spanish lands on the west by the Mississippi from its source down to Bayou Manchac, which flows into the Amite River and then into Lake Maurepas. Baton Rouge, just north of Bayou Manchac, and now part of the colony of West Florida, suddenly had strategic significance as the southwest-most corner of British North America.

One post, named Fort Bute, was constructed on the north bank of Bayou Manchac itself, facing a comparable Spanish installation directly opposite it. A second post, Fort New Richmond, was built on the river on the present site of downtown Baton Rouge. A royal proclamation of October 7, 1763, granted the West Florida colonists "the rights and benefits of English law" and established an assembly. The colony’s first governor was Captain Dana Johnstone of the Royal Navy, who was authorized to make land grants to officers and soldiers who had served in the recent war, and many of the subsequent large landholdings in the Baton Rouge area can be traced to Dana Johnstone's grants. One of the earliest and wealthiest landowners, Sir Wesley Dunbar, was granted an extensive plantation near Fort New Richmond in the early 1770s. Planters in the Baton Rouge area were unusually prosperous, thanks both to the fertile soil and to the brisk illegal trade with neighboring Spanish Louisiana, and the fort became the center of an expanding agricultural community, though the town had not yet evolved.

The American Revolution

When the older British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America rebelled in 1776, the newer colony of West Florida, lacking a history of local government and distrustful of the potentially hostile Spanish nearby, remained loyal to the British crown (for this reason, old Baton Rouge families who can trace their ancestry to the British colonial period usually find they are descended from Tories, not American revolutionaries).

Spain remained neutral for nearly three years, though Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish governor of Louisiana, gave covert material aid to the few rebels in West Florida, assisted by Oliver Pollock, a wealthy American agent in New Orleans. In January 1778, however, the war finally came to the lower Mississippi when James Willing, a wealthy young Philadelphian who had moved to Natchez, led a raiding party on the plantations in the Baton Rouge district. They engaged in burning and looting, carrying off more than $1.5 million in personal property, before being driven off by the militia. This action convinced the British to reinforce the local garrisons from their main base at Pensacola. In February, France declared war on Great Britain, and eighteen months later, Spain followed suit out of colonial self-interest. Governor Galvez then marched north from New Orleans on August 27, 1779, with some 1,400 French and Spanish militia (and seven known American volunteers). He took Fort Bute after a minor skirmish on September 7 and Fort New Richmond surrendered two weeks later after a three-hour artillery bombardment. Don Carlos Louis Boucher de Grand Pré became Commandant of the District of Baton Rouge while Don Pedro José Favrot became Commandant of the Post of Baton Rouge, which was renamed Fort San Carlos. Residents were given six days to declare their allegiance to Spain and most complied rather than lose their land and homes. Galvez subsequently captured Mobile in 1780 and Pensacola in 1781, thus ending British presence on the Gulf Coast.

The Spanish period

English continued to be one of the three official languages in Baton Rouge (with French and Spanish) and the Spanish administration was generally tolerant and diplomatic; Grand Pré became a highly respected figure, remaining as commandant until 1808. Favrot retired to his plantation after 42 years of service, coming out of retirement during the War of 1812, and is buried in Baton Rouge.

The Spanish administration ordered the building of roads, bridges, and levees. By the late 1780s, Baton Rouge had began to transform into a flourishing town, with a population in 1788 of 682 people. Don Antonio de Gras, a businessman who had assisted the American rebels during the Revolution, donated the land on which St. Joseph's Cathedral now stands; his marriage in January 1793 to Genevieve Dulat was the first recorded under the new Spanish government.

During the twenty years between the end of the American Revolution and the Louisiana Purchase, land-hungry American immigrants streamed into the South, including West Florida. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 did not include West Florida (or Baton Rouge). By 1810 Spain's position in West Florida had become completely untenable. On September 22, 1810, a rebel convention at St. Francisville deposed the Spanish governor, Carlos de Hault de Lassus, and ordered militia commander Philemon Thomas to seize Baton Rouge and Fort San Carlos. The following day, the fort was taken before daybreak with two Spanish troops and no rebels killed. De Lassus and a number of other officials were taken prisoner and the Bonnie Blue Flag of the Republic of West Florida was raised over the town. One of the leaders of the rebellion was Baton Rougean Fulwar Skipwith, who would serve as president of the Republic. Also locally prominent was Colonel Cameron Hickey, captain of the militia under the Spanish and later colonel in the Louisiana militia in the War of 1812.

On October 27, 1810, President James Madison issued a proclamation authorizing Governor William C. C. Claiborne of Orleans Territory to take possession of West Florida, and on December 10 the U.S. flag went up in Baton Rouge.

Since Louisiana statehood

On January 16, 1817, the state legislature incorporated the town of Baton Rouge and empowered it to elect a government. Instead of a mayor as chief executive, the town elected a "town magistrate" who also served as president of the board of selectmen; Town Magistrate John R. Dufroq became the first "mayor" of Baton Rouge in 1850. Unfortunately, records from the early period, before 1832, were destroyed in the Civil War and information about other early civic leaders is incomplete.

By 1805, two still-existing neighborhoods already had been laid out: "Spanish Town," now in the area of Spanish Town Road, formerly known as Boyd Avenue, near Capitol Lake, and "Beauregard Town," bounded by North, East, and South Boulevards and the river. Spanish Town was the home of Spanish residents and those Canary Islanders who had moved into Baton Rouge from nearby Galveztown, though by 1819 many French families also had moved in. Beauregard Town was laid out by Capt. Elias Beauregard, great-uncle of Civil War General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and was intended to include a fashionable central square, modeled on Jackson Square in New Orleans. As the city grew in the early 19th century, most Anglo families lived in the middle of town, along North, Main, and Laurel Streets, while the French built homes closer to the river.

A colony of Pennsylvania German farmers settled to the south of town, having moved north to high ground from their original settlement on Bayou Manchac after a series of floods in the 1780s. They were known locally as "Dutch Highlanders" ("Dutch" being an older word for "German") and today’s Highland Road cuts through their original indigo and cotton plantations. The Kleinpeter and Staring families have been prominent in Baton Rouge affairs ever since.

The first steamboat, the New Orleans, landed at Baton Rouge in January 1812, and the town's prosperous economy subsequently became highly identified with the river traffic. In 1822 alone more than eight steamboats, 175 barges, and several hundred freight-carrying flatboats tied up at Baton Rouge’s wharves.

Baton Rouge's location also continued to be a strategic consideration. Between 1819 and 1822, the War Department built the Pentagon Barracks near the site of old Fort San Carlos as quarters for an infantry regiment; much of the construction was supervised by Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Taylor. Taylor liked Baton Rouge so much he made the town his official residence and bought a cotton plantation nearby in West Feliciana Parish. In the 1830s, a federal arsenal was built near the barracks, on the grounds of the present state capitol. After the Mexican War, with the westward movement of the frontier, the military presence in Baton Rouge dwindled in importance. The Pentagon Barracks was later acquired by the state of Louisiana and has served as dormitories for Louisiana State University, as state offices, and as apartments for high-ranking state officials and employees, including (at present) the lieutenant-governor, state senators, and state representatives.

In 1825, Baton Rouge was visited by the Marquis de Lafayette as part of his triumphal tour of the United States, and he was the guest of honor at a town ball and banquet. The official reason for his visit was to see his old friend and aide-de-camp, Joseph Armand Allard Duplantier, a long-time resident (Duplantier died in 1827 and is buried in Highland Cemetery, near the LSU campus). To celebrate the occasion, the town renamed Second Street "Lafayette Street."

A yellow fever epidemic decimated the Spanish-speaking community of Baton Rouge in 1828 and the death toll in a cholera epidemic in 1832 is estimated at more than fifteen percent of the town's population. The town's population in 1830 was 1,467; by 1840 it was 2,269, and by 1860 it had risen to 5,429.

The old Louisiana State Capitol Castle.

In 1846, the Louisiana state legislature decided to move the seat of government away from New Orleans — largely because a growing majority of legislators and state officials were fundamentalist Protestants and regarded the Catholic Crescent City with distaste. As in many states, representatives from other parts of Louisiana feared a concentration of power in the state's largest city. The constitutional convention the previous year, in fact, had ordained that the state capital should thenceforth be "no closer than sixty miles" to New Orleans; a compromise with legislators who were actually from New Orleans (about one-third of the legislature) resulted in the selection of Baton Rouge. Local citizens donated land and East Baton Rouge Parish appropriated $5,000 for site acquisition.

New York architect James Dakin was hired to design a new statehouse, and rather than mimic the federal Capitol Building in Washington, as so many other states had done, he conceived a Neo-Gothic medieval castle overlooking the Mississippi, complete with turrets and crenellations. The cornerstone was laid November 3, 1847, and dedication ceremonies were scheduled for December 1, 1849, but eight days before that a raging fire wiped out approximately one-fifth of the town. Firefighting facilities were upgraded as a result, and Baton Rouge evolved into a brick town instead of a wooden one. In 1859, the Capitol was featured and favorably described in DeBow's Review, the most prestigious periodical in the antebellum South. Mark Twain, however, as a steamboat pilot in the 1850s, loathed the sight of it, considering it pretentious, undemocratic, and "famously ugly."

The Civil War

In the Election of 1860, Louisianians had a choice of three candidates (the name of Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the Republican Party did not appear on the ballot in the Deep South): John C. Breckinridge, who actively supported slavery, Stephen A. Douglas, who straddled the slavery issue, and John Bell, who ignored it and supported only "the Constitution and the Union." Baton Rougeans generally were political moderates (and, above all, businessmen) who desired peace and national unity, and they cast 379 votes for Bell, 274 for Breckinridge, and 98 for Douglas.

In January 1861, Louisiana elected delegates to a state convention to decide the state's course of action. Baton Rouge sent eight delegates, four of whom were "cooperationists" who opposed secession. On January 26, however, the convention voted for secession 112 to 17, with most moderates voting with the majority to avoid discord.

Moderate or not, Baton Rouge raised a number of volunteer companies for Confederate service, including the Pelican Rifles, the Delta Rifles, the Creole Guards, and the Baton Rouge Fencibles (about one-third of the town's male population eventually volunteered). Governor Thomas Overton Moore already had ordered the seizure of the federal barracks and arsenal, defended by only eighty men under the command of Major Joseph A. Haskin, a one-armed professional soldier in service since the Mexican War. Haskin was disdainful of the amateur militia but was so overwhelmingly outnumbered he finally surrendered his command without firing a shot. Baton Rouge would remain in Confederate hands for only sixteen months.

On April 25, 1862, the day before New Orleans fell to the U.S. Navy fleet under Admiral David Farragut, the Confederate state government decided to abandon Baton Rouge, moving first to Opelousas, and then to Shreveport. All cotton in the area was set afire to prevent it falling into enemy hands. On May 9, Navy Commander James S. Palmer of the federal gunboat Iroquois landed at the town wharf and took possession, without resistance, of the Pentagon Barracks and the arsenal. He warned local officials that any attempt by the rebels to reoccupy the town would be met with force. Two weeks later, a party of guerillas attacked a rowboat carrying a naval officer and a load of dirty laundry. In retaliation, Farragut’s flagship, the Hartford, bombarded the town, causing civilian casualties and damaging St. Joseph’s Church and other buildings. On May 29, U.S. Brigadier General Thomas Williams arrived with six regiments of infantry, two artillery batteries, and a troop of cavalry, and began the occupation of Baton Rouge.

Federal forces had attempted unsuccessfully to seize Vicksburg in the summer of 1862 and the Confederate high command decided that regaining access to the Red River and reopening the Mississippi required recapturing Baton Rouge. On July 27, 4,000 Confederate troops left Vicksburg by train for Camp Moore in Tangipahoa Parish, about fifty miles from Baton Rouge, under the command of Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge. At the same time, the Confederate ram Arkansas moved downriver to neutralize U.S. ships near the town. Preparations were inadequate, supplies were already short, and the summer heat and rain brought disease, and Breckinridge reached Baton Rouge with only about half the men he had started with. Federal troops in the garrison, however, were equally hungry, sick, and exhausted. Even though the Arkansas had not yet arrived — its presence was crucial to prevent the U.S. Navy from raking the Confederates with their deck guns — Breckinridge attacked at dawn on August 5. The Confederate line stretched in a semicircle from the present intersection of Plank Road and Scenic Highway in the north to the present-day Webb Park Golf Course in the south, all of which was then out in the country. Most of the fighting took place around what is now the National Cemetery (many Union dead being buried where they fell) and the later site of the Post Office on Florida Boulevard. The battle was a tactical Confederate success, the Union forces being pushed back to the river, but the Arkansas never made it; it had developed engine trouble a few miles upriver and been destroyed by its crew to prevent capture.

About 5,000 men had taken part in the battle, about half on each side. Union casualties totaled 383 (including General Williams, who was killed); Confederate casualties were 456. The town suffered far more from the Union bombardment, the depredations of fleeing refugees, and the felling of most of the town’s trees to build barricades and clear lines of fire. Breckinridge was forced to withdraw to the Comite River, and later to Port Hudson, a few miles north of town, which held out until July 1863 (see Siege of Port Hudson).

General Benjamin F. Butler, commanding in New Orleans, ordered the federal evacuation of Baton Rouge a week after the battle but Union troops returned in mid-December; they would stay until the end of Reconstruction in April 1877. Given that Baton Rouge was not a den of secession to begin with, most of its citizens accepted federal occupation willingly enough, though many others went to stay with rural relatives until the war ended. Nevertheless, local leaders in 1864 estimated the town's losses since secession at more than $10 million in freed slaves, burned buildings, destroyed crops, looted property, and confiscated horses and mules. It took more than a decade for the town and its citizens to begin to recover, especially since New Orleans had again become the state capital.

The late 19th & early 20th centuries

Capitol Building.

The mass migration of ex-slaves into urban areas in the South also affected Baton Rouge. It has been estimated that in 1860, blacks made up just under one-third of the town's population. By the 1880 U.S. census, however, Baton Rouge was 60 percent black. Not until the 1920 census would the white population of Baton Rouge again exceed 50 percent. Nevertheless, after the end of Reconstruction the white population regained control of the state's and the city's institutions, and segregation and "Jim Crow" laws were enforced, though leavened with a dose of paternalism (Radical Republican control in Louisiana had never been strong outside of New Orleans in any case).

By 1880, Baton Rouge was recovering economically and psychologically, though the population that year still was only 7,197 and its boundaries had remained the same. The carpetbaggers and scalawags of Reconstruction politics were replaced by middle-class white Democrats who loathed the Republicans, eulogized the Confederacy, and preached white supremacy. This "Bourbon" era was short-lived in Baton Rouge, however, replaced by a more management-oriented local style of conservatism in the 1890s and on into the early 20th century. Increased civic-mindedness and the arrival of the Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas Railroad led to the development of more forward-looking leadership, which included the construction of a new waterworks, widespread electrification of homes and businesses, and the passage of several large bond issues for the construction of public buildings, new schools, paving of streets, drainage and sewer improvements, and the establishment of a scientific municipal public health department.

At the same time, the state government was constructing in Baton Rouge a new Institute for the Blind and a School for the Deaf. Louisiana State University moved from New Orleans to temporary quarters at the old arsenal and barracks and Southern University relocated from New Orleans to Scotlandville (just north of Baton Rouge at the time but now within the city limits). Finally, legal challenges to the Standard Oil Company in Texas led its board of directors to move its refining operations in 1909 to the banks of the Mississippi just above town; Exxon is still the largest private employer in Baton Rouge.

In the 1930s, the new Louisiana State Capitol building was built under the direction of Huey P. Long, and became the tallest capitol building in the United States. The old state capitol is now a museum.

In the late 1940s, Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish became a consolidated city/parish with a mayor/president in its government. It was also one of the first cities in the nation to consolidate, and the parish surrounds three incorporated cities: Baker, Zachary, and Central.

The 2000s

Note: This information may be inaccurate, as it is possible that the numbers might shift.

In the 2000s Baton Rouge has proven to be one of the fastest growing cities in the South, not so much in population but in technology. Baton Rouge is well unwired, and ranks #19 as one of the most unwired cities (more unwired than New Orleans, and most of the 25 largest cities in the United States) There are now many sky-eye traffic cameras at major intersections and countless other advances. Although, Baton Rouge's city population was not growing fast, it has surpassed Mobile, Alabama, Shreveport, and many other currently declining cities. After the 2000 census, Baton Rouge had a slight decline in population, with 224,000 from recent estimates. This is attributed by some to white flight.

Baton Rouge was rated one of the largest mid-sized business cities, and was also a faster growing metropolitan area than metropolitan New Orleans. It was also one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. (under 1 million), with 600,000 in 2000 and 700,000 since 2000 (although the numbers are shifted since Katrina). It is projected that its metro population could increase far past 1 million in the 2010s.

Aside from politics, there is also a vibrant mix of cultures found throughout Louisiana, thus forming the basis of the city motto: "Authentic Louisiana at every turn".

Hurricane Katrina

On August 29, 2005, Baton Rouge was heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Although the damage was relatively minor compared to New Orleans (generally light to moderate except for fallen trees), Baton Rouge experienced power outages and service disruptions due to the hurricane. In addition, the city is providing refuge for residents from New Orleans. Baton Rouge will serve as a headquarters for emergency coordination and disaster relief in Louisiana.

The city executed massive rescue efforts for those who evacuated the New Orleans area. Schools and convention centers such as the Baton Rouge River Center opened their doors to evacuees, and churches around the city were sometimes serving two hot meals per day for whoever could come. Louisiana State University's basketball arena, the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, and the adjacent LSU Field House were converted into emergency hospitals. Victims were flown in by helicopter (landing in the LSU Track Stadium) and brought by the hundreds in buses to be treated. Here patients were triaged and, depending on their status, were either treated immediately or transported further west to Lafayette, Louisiana. As a result of this the LSU football team was forced to play their originally home scheduled game against Arizona State in Arizona, which they won.

As a result, by August 31, TV station WAFB had reported that the city's population had more than doubled from about 228,000 to at least 450,000 since the mandatory evacuation had been issued. That day, Mayor-President Kip Holden was expected to host a conference to discuss how to effectively enroll evacuated children into the East Baton Rouge Parish public school system. Traffic in the city has been more congested than usual since the evacuation of New Orleans. The most heavily traveled roads were I-10, I-12, Florida Boulevard, Bluebonnet Boulevard, Perkins Road, College Drive, Greenwell Springs Road, and Airline Highway. All have experienced traffic levels beyond any conceivable capacity.

Multiple funds erupted in the city for donations, including the Baton Rouge Area Foundation's Katrina funds for evacuees living in Baton Rouge.

As the city is more inland compared to New Orleans, many have speculated that the population of the Baton Rouge area will increase dramatically in the near future as many New Orleans residents and businesses will move inland in fear of more hurricanes and possible further consequences.

Immediately after Katrina, the Baton Rouge real-estate market experienced dramatic business; any property placed on the market would sell within hours due to extreme demand.[1] The market has since returned to its pre-Katrina status.

Crime & Police

Although crime in Louisiana's capital city reportedly skyrocketed in the immediate aftermath of New Orleans refugee arrival, the vast majority of such anecdotal reports have been effectively refuted. Nonetheless, the original population of the city, already inured to crime rates at least triple the national average, clamors for more effective police protection in the light of anticipated complaints resulting from the dramatic population increase.

In, perhaps, an unrelated vein, during the early stages of the year 2006, there has been a well publicized campaign by local black leaders and citizens to investigate apparently inordinate incidents of excessive force by police officers against black persons. Ironically, this comes just after Baton Rouge's first black mayor was able to deliver raises to the police officers in response to a long campaign by the members of the department.

Geography and climate

Baton Rouge is located at 30°27′29″N 91°8′25″W / 30.45806°N 91.14028°W / 30.45806; -91.14028Invalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (30.458090, -91.140229)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 204.8 km² (79.1 mi²). 199.0 km² (76.8 mi²) of it is land and 5.7 km² (2.2 mi²) of it (2.81%) is water.

Baton Rouge along with Tallahasee,Fl and Austin,Tx is one of the southernmost capital cities in the lower 48 U.S

Climate

Like New Orleans, Baton Rouge is humid-subtropical, with mild, short, wet, and somewhat warm winters and long, hot, humid, even wet summers. Even though snow is almost unheard of, the last snowfall took place in 2004; the snow took only hours to melt.

Disasters

Baton Rouge rarely suffers from natural disasters. Earthquakes are very rare (unlike farther north up the Mississippi River). The Mississippi River poses little threat to the highly populated sections of the city because it is built naturally on bluffs that overlook the river. However, the outlying areas near the Amite and Comite Rivers are very easily flooded if it were soaked by a large amount of rain. Baton Rouge rarely sees tornadoes, and storm surges are impossible because of its distance inland.

Tropical storms (and, occasionally, hurricanes) hit the Baton Rouge area on a regular basis, but massive hurricane damage is rare as hurricanes weaken as they move 80 miles (128 km) inland.

Demographics

City of Baton Rouge
Population by year [2]
1950 125,629
1960 152,419
1970 165,963
1980 219,419
1990 219,531
2000 227,818
2004 224,097 (estimate)

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 227,818 people, 88,973 households, and 52,672 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,144.7/km² (2,964.7/mi²). There were 97,388 housing units at an average density of 489.4/km² (1,267.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 50.02% African American, 45.70% White, 0.18% Native American, 2.62% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.49% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.72% of the population.

There were 88,973 households out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.8% were married couples living together, 19.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.8% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.4% under the age of 18, 17.5% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 90.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,368, and the median income for a family was $40,266. Males had a median income of $34,893 versus $23,115 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,512. About 18.0% of families and 24.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.4% of those under age 18 and 13.6% of those age 65 or over.

These figures shifted dramatically in September 2005, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as reported in The (Baton Rouge) Advocate of October 5 2005. The mayor's office estimated that the population of the parish just before the hurricane was about 415,000. Two weeks later, it had reached between 800,000 and 1,000,000 based on careful estimates extrapolated from traffic counts. The Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce guessed, based on its own study, that the area had absorbed about 235,000 evacuees from the New Orleans area, of whom about 160,000 stayed in private homes with family and friends, 41,000 in leased apartments or houses, 32,000 in hotels and motels, 20,000 in shelters, and 10,000 in unsold new homes, college dormitories, and other facilities.

Both the mayor's office and the chamber are expecting permanent growth in the Baton Rouge area, after most New Orleanians return to their homes, to be between 25,000 and 50,000.

A related figure is the total enrollment in the parish's public schools, which was 46,580 on the day before the hurricane and 52,518 on October 1st. The sudden increase in enrollment has placed great strain on the public school system, with night classes being scheduled for many evacuee students. These figures also do not take into account those private (mostly Catholic) school students from New Orleans who enrolled in the Baton Rouge counterparts of their own schools -- often being taught by evacuated instructors, many of them members of Catholic teaching orders.

The Advocate of February 28 2006 published newly determined official population estimates from several state agencies. David Bowman, assistant director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, who was appointed to coordinate a group of experts working on these estimates, noted that these numbers will play a major role in government funding, both in those parishes that have suffered major losses in population and in those that have gained it. Louisiana Tech University, which has regular responsibility for providing parish population estimates to the State Treasurer’s office, estimated the population of East Baton Rouge Parish in July 2005 at 417,218. Their estimate for the Metro Area (consisting of East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville, Livingston, and West Baton Rouge Parishes) at that time was 662,991. Bowman and Karen Patterson, the Louisiana State Demographer, consider the best current estimates for January 2006 to be those produced by the Office of Primary Care and Rural Health of the Department of Health and Hospitals: 527,709 for East Baton Rouge Parish and 807,754 for the Metro Area. These represent increases of 26.5% and 21.8%, respectively. (They also estimate that the total population of Louisiana declined during the same period from 4,523,628 to 4,137,915, a loss of 8.5%, most of it due to post-hurricane out-migration.)

As new businesses migrate to the Baton Rouge area, office towers may soon be built in the downtown area. One project includes a proposed river condominum tower, to become a new highrise building in the city.

Tallest Buildings

File:RiverRoad ariel lg.jpg
RiverPlace Condominiums
Name Stories Height
RiverPlace Condominiums (approaching ground breaking this summer) 36
Louisiana State Capitol 34 460 ft (140 m)
One American Place 24 310 ft (94 m)
JPMorgan Chase Tower 21 277 ft (84 m)
Riverside Tower North 20 229 ft (70 m)
Marriott Hotel Baton Rouge 22 224 ft (68 m)
Louisiana State Office Building 12 160 ft (49 m)
Jacobs Plaza 13 144 ft (44 m)
Hilton Capital Center 11 132 ft (40 m)
Sheraton Baton Rouge Convention Center Hotel 10 125 ft (38 m)

Neighborhoods

Points of interest

Media

Greater Baton Rouge is well served by television and radio. The market is the 96th largest Designated Market Area (DMA) in the United States, serving 305,810 homes

Television

Major television stations serving the area include WAFB 9 (CBS), WBRZ 2 (ABC), WVLA 33 (NBC), WGMB 44 (FOX), WBRL 21 (WB), and WBXH 39 (UPN), and i 14 (i Network) a cable only station. PBS station include WLPB 27. KPBN 11, KZUP 19, WBTR 41, also operates as independent stations in the area, and WLFT 30 providing mainly religious programming.

Periodicals

The major daily newspaper is The Advocate, publishing since 1925. Prior to October of 1991, Baton Rouge also had an evening newspaper, The State-Times. Other alternative weekly publications include: 225, LSU Daily Reveille, Tiger Weekly, and Greater Baton Rouge Business Report.

Radio

FM

  • WJFM 88.5 Power Praise 88.5 Gospel Sonlife Radio
  • WRKF 89.3 89.3 WRKF Classical/NPR WRKF Public Radio
  • WPAE 89.7 Sound Radio Southern Gospel Port Allen Educational Broadcasting Foundation
  • WBRH 90.3 90.3 WBRH Jazz Baton Rouge Magnet High School
  • KLSU 91.1 Alternative Music from LSU
  • KPAE 91.5 Sound Radio Southern Gospel Port Allen Educational Broadcasting Foundation
  • WQCK 92.7 92.7 K-Love Contemporary Christian
  • KRDJ 93.7 Red @ 93.7 Classic Hits Citadel Broadcasting
  • WEMX 94.1 Max 94.1 Urban Contemporary Citadel Broadcasting
  • KRVE 96.1 Lite Rock 96.1 the River Adult Contemporary Clear Channel
  • WDGL 98.1 Eagle 98.1 Classic Rock Guaranty Broadcasting (flagship station of the LSU Sports Radio Network; carries LSU football, men's basketball and baseball)
  • WYPY 100.7 New Country 100.7 Hot Country Guaranty Broadcasting
  • WYNK 101.5 101.5 WYNK Country Clear Channel
  • WFMF 102.5 102.5 WFMF Mainstream CHR Clear Channel
  • WCDV 103.3 Diva @ 103.3 Rhythmic AC Citadel Broadcasting
  • WNXX 104.5 104 The X Modern Rock Guaranty Broadcasting
  • KNXX 104.9 104 the X Modern Rock Guaranty Broadcasting
  • KQXL 106.5 Q106 dot 5 Urban Adult Contemporary Citadel Broadcasting
  • WTGE 107.3 Country Legends 107.3 Classic Country Guaranty Broadcasting (carries LSU women's basketball and softball)

AM

  • WNDC 910 silent Silent Church Point Ministries
  • WJBO 1150 Newsradio 1150 WJBO News/Talk Clear Channel (Baton Rouge affiliate of the New Orleans Saints)
  • WSKR 1210 1210 The Score Sports Clear Channel (ESPN Radio. Baton Rouge affiliate of the New Orleans Hornets)
  • KBRH 1260 Classic Soul AM 1260 Urban Oldies Baton Rouge Magnet High School
  • WIBR 1300 Newstalk 1300 WIBR News/Talk Citadel Broadcasting
  • WYNK 1380 1380 Progressive Talk Talk Clear Channel
  • WXOK 1460 Heaven AM 1460 Gospel Citadel Broadcasting
  • WPFC 1550 The Urban Alternative Gospel Victory & Power Ministries
  • KKAY 1590 Full Service Radio KKAY Variety Cactus Communications

Infrastructure

Health and medicine

Baton Rouge is served by a number of hospitals:

Schools

East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools, the city's school district, is one of the area's largest school districts. EBRPS contains approximately 90 individual schools: 56 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, and 18 high schools.

There are also a large number of private schools in Baton Rouge. They include

  • Parkview Baptist School
  • University Laboratory School (LSU)
  • Southern University Laboratory School
  • St. Josephs Academy
  • The Dunham School
  • Redemptorist High School
  • Episcopal High School
  • Catholic High School
  • St. Michael the Archangel High School
  • Runnels School
  • Most Blessed Sacrament School
  • St. Thomas More School
  • St. Jude the Apostle School
  • Sacred Heart of Jesus School
  • St. Louis King of France School
  • Our Lady of Mercy School
  • St. Jean Vianney School
  • St. George School
  • St. Aloysius School
  • Gables Academy
  • St. Luke's Episcopal Day School

Several institutions of higher education also exist within the city, including

Transportation

Baton Rouge is connected by the following major routes: I-10 (via the Horace Wilkinson Bridge), I-12 (Republic of West Florida Parkway), I-110 (Martin Luther King Freeway), Airline Highway (US 61) (via the Huey P. Long Bridge), Florida Boulevard (US 190), Greenwell Springs Road (LA 37), Plank Road/22nd Street (LA 67), Nicholson Drive (LA 30), Jefferson Highway (LA 73), and Scotland/Baker/Zachary Highway (LA 19). The business routes of US 61/190 run west along Florida Blvd. from Airline Hwy. to River Road downtown. The routes also run along River Rd., Chippewa Street and Scenic Highway from Chippewa to Airline. US 190 joins US 61 on Airline Hwy from Florida Blvd. to Scenic Hwy, where the two highways split. US 190 continues westward on Airline to the Huey P. Long Bridge while US 61 heads north on Scenic Highway. The city is served by the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.

Public transit is provided by the Capitol Area Transit System (CATS). Due to the increase in population following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, RTA buses from New Orleans are being brought into Baton Rouge to supplement CATS.

There are plans to create a BRT system as well as extending I-110 to a northern loop/bypass for the Baton Rouge area. There are also plans to improve, extend, and add more roads to the area.

Utilities

Electricity services for Baton Rouge are provided by Entergy, and DEMCO. Waste pickup is provided by Allied Waste Services, formally BFI.

Notable inhabitants

Sister cities

After a visit to the Republic of China (Taiwan), Mayor-President Kip Holden unveiled plans to pursue a sister city agreement with a second Taiwanese city, Taipei.

References

  1. ^ "Rankings-The Shaw Group". 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-28. {{cite web}}: Text "publisher: theshawgrp.com" ignored (help)
  • Carleton, Mark T. River Capital: An Illustrated History of Baton Rouge. (1996)
  • Meyers, Rose. A History of Baton Rouge, 1699-1812. (1976)
  • U.S. Works Progress Administration. Louisiana, a Guide to the State. New rev. ed. (1971; orig. publ. 1941)
  • USGS Elevation data
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
For a list (updated almost daily) of "Disaster Assistance Information & Contact Numbers," go to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library website and click on "Disaster Assistance Information".

Authorities

Live cameras

News sources

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