A Brief History | Baton Rouge, LA (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of the Baton Rouge? ›

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.

A: Baton Rouge is French for "Red Stick" . When exploring Louisiana more than three centuries ago, Sieur d'Iberville saw a cypress stick stained with blood along the Mississippi River bluff. The stick became the dividing line between the hunting grounds of the Bayougoula and Houma tribes.

Baton Rouge is French for "Red Stick." In 1699, French explorer Iberville was traveling up the Mississippi River and saw a bloodied, red pole on the shore. The "red stick" was marking the boundaries between hunting grounds of two Native American tribes. He named the location le bâton rouge, or the red stick.

Named by French explorers as "the Red Stick City," Baton Rouge is where Louisiana's capital, flagship university, and distinctive Cajun and Creole cultures all come together. Located in Southeast Louisiana, Baton Rouge is the fifth largest city on the Mississippi River and home to Louisiana's largest parish.

From 1992 to 2004, Baton Rouge was terrorized by Derrick Todd Lee, Sean Vincent Gillis and Jeffery Lee Guillory.

Nicknames: Red Stick, The Capital City, B.R.

Currently, Baton Rouge has four sister cities: Malatya, Turkey; Aix-en-Provence, France; Cordoba, Mexico; and Taichung, Taiwan. But what exactly does having a sister city mean? “You broaden your horizons,” Mayor-President Kip Holden says. “You learn more about what other cities are doing.

Baton Rouge ranks high for two types of crime — murder and burglary. According to data, the city has almost six times more murder crimes and four times more burglary crimes compared to the national average. The East Baton Rouge Coroner's website reported 106 homicides in 2023, down from 135 in 2022.

Cajun French is the term generally used to describe the variety of French spoken in South Louisiana.

In 1845 Louisiana lawmakers approved a new state constitution requiring them to select a location for a new state capitol “not less than sixty miles from the city of New Orleans.” Baton Rouge, located about 100 miles north of New Orleans, was selected as the location for the new state capitol.

What was the first capital of Louisiana? ›

Los Adaes. In 1699, Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville started the first French settlements along the Gulf. They built a fort on Mobile Bay that was the capital of the French Louisiana colony when Los Adaes was established. This was years before New Orleans was settled.

Derrick Todd Lee (November 5, 1968 – January 21, 2016), also known as The Baton Rouge Serial Killer, was an American serial killer. From 1992 to 2003, Lee murdered seven women in the Baton Rouge area.

The Houma natives lived about 104 miles upstream and hunted north of the red pole, while the Bayougoula remained south of the marker. The totem was called “le Bâton Rouge” (“Red Stick”) by the French and “Istrouma” by the Native Americans.

Around 1718, Basque officer Pierre d'Artaguiette and his two brothers established a plantation a few miles south on the river. They are considered the founders of Baton Rouge.

Union troops took Baton Rouge on May 7, 1862, as part of their campaign to gain full control of the Mississippi River. Many Baton Rouge citizens had evacuated days earlier, some of them to West Baton Rouge Parish. A few months later, Confederate General John C. Breckinridge planned to retake the city.

During British rule, Acadians were expelled from Acadia [Canada] and transported to France. The Acadians then settled in the areas West and South of Baton Rouge in an area that would become known as Acadiana. The Acadian settlers began calling themselves Cajuns shortly after the area was settled.