Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

in and the capital of the U.S. state of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

. Located the eastern bank of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

—the equivalent of counties in other U.S. states. Since 2020, it has been the 99th-most-populous city in the United States and the second-largest city in Louisiana, after

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

18th-most-populous state capital. According to the 2020 United States census, the city-proper had a population of 227,470; its consolidated population was 456,781 in 2020. The city is the center of the Greater Baton Rouge area—Louisiana's second-largest metropolitan area—with a population of 870,569 as of 2020, up from 802,484 in 2010. The Baton Rouge area owes its historical importance to its strategic site upon the Istrouma Bluff, the first natural bluff upriver from the Mississippi River Delta at the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...

. This allowed development of a business quarter safe from seasonal flooding. In addition, it built a levee system stretching from the bluff southward to protect the riverfront and low-lying agricultural areas. It is a culturally rich center, with settlement by immigrants from numerous European nations and African peoples brought to North America as slaves or indentured servants. It was ruled by seven different governments: French, British, and Spanish in the colonial era; the Republic of West Florida; as a United States territory and state; Confederate, and United States again since the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. Through the various occupying national governments of Baton Rouge, the city and its metropolitan area have developed as a multicultural region practicing many religious traditions from

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, and

and Haitian Vodou; the area has also become home to a sizeable lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and elected the first open LGBT politician for the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Baton Rouge is a major industrial,

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable ...

, medical, research, motion picture, and growing technology center of the American South. It is the location of

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

—the

LSU system The Louisiana State University System is a system of public colleges and universities in Louisiana. It is budgetarily the largest public university system in the state. William F. Tate IV is president of the LSU system, and also serves as chanc ...

's flagship university and the state's largest institution of higher education. It is also the location of Southern University, the flagship institution of the Southern University System—the nation's only historically black college system. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is the tenth-largest in the U.S. by tonnage shipped, and is the farthest upstream Mississippi River port capable of handling Panamax ships. Major corporations participating in the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area's economy include

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

, Lamar Advertising Company,

BBQGuys BBQGuys is a barbecue grill retailer headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was founded in 1998 by Air Force veteran Michael Hackley and his wife, Ladina Hackley, as the Grill Store & More, and later rebranded as BBQGuys as the store transitio ...

Marucci Sports Marucci Sports is an American sports equipment manufacturing company based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Marucci focuses on baseball equipment, specifically producing bats, balls, gloves, batting gloves, batting helmets, and chest protectors. ...

, Piccadilly Restaurants, Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, ExxonMobil, Brown & Root, Shell, and

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastic ...

History

Pre–history

Human habitation in the Baton Rouge area has been dated to 12000–6500 BC, based on evidence found along the Mississippi, Comite, and Amite rivers. Earthwork mounds were built by hunter-gatherer societies in the

Middle Archaic period In the classification of the archaeological cultures of North America, the Archaic period in North America, taken to last from around 8000 to 1000 BC in the sequence of North American pre-Columbian cultural stages, is a period defined by the ' ...

, from roughly the fourth millennium BC. The speakers of the Proto- Muskogean language divided into its descendant languages by about 1000 BC; and a cultural boundary between either side of Mobile Bay and the Black Warrior River began to appear between about 1200 BC and 500 BC—a period called the Middle "Gulf Formational Stage". The Eastern Muskogean language began to diversify internally in the first half of the first millennium AD. The early Muskogean societies were the bearers of the Mississippian culture, which formed around 800 AD and extended in a vast network across the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, with numerous chiefdoms in the Southeast, as well. By the time the Spanish made their first forays inland from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in the early 16th century, by some evidence many political centers of the Mississippians were already in decline, or abandoned. At the time, this region appeared to have been occupied by a collection of moderately sized native chiefdoms, interspersed with autonomous villages and tribal groups. Other evidence indicates these Mississippian settlements were thriving at the time of the first Spanish contact. Later Spanish expeditions encountered the remains of groups who had lost many people and been disrupted in the aftermath of infectious diseases, chronic among Europeans, unknowingly introduced by the first expedition.

Colonial period

French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville led an exploration party up the Mississippi River in 1698. The explorers saw a red pole marking the boundary between the Houma and Bayagoula tribal hunting grounds. The French name ''le bâton rouge'' ("the red stick") is the translation of a native term rendered as ''Istrouma'', possibly a corruption of the Choctaw ''iti humma'' ("red pole"); André-Joseph Pénicaut—a carpenter traveling with d'Iberville—published the first full-length account of the expedition in 1723. According to Pénicaut:

From there [ Manchacq] we went five leagues higher and found very high banks called ''écorts'' in that region, and in savage called ''Istrouma'' which means red stick 'bâton rouge'' as at this place there is a post painted red that the savages have sunk there to mark the land line between the two nations, namely: the land of the Bayagoulas which they were leaving and the land of another nation—thirty leagues upstream from the ''baton rouge''—named the Oumas.

The red pole was presumably at Scott's Bluff, on what is now the campus of Southern University. It was reportedly a painted pole adorned with fish bones. European settlement of Baton Rouge began in 1721 when French colonists established a military and trading post. Since then, Baton Rouge has been governed by France, Britain, Spain, Louisiana, the Republic of West Florida, the United States, the Confederate States, and the United States again. In 1755, when French-speaking settlers of Acadia in Canada's Maritime provinces were expelled by British forces, many took up residence in rural Louisiana. Popularly known as Cajuns, the descendants of the Acadians maintained a separate culture. During the first half of the 19th century, Baton Rouge grew steadily as the result of steamboat trade and transportation.

Incorporation and growth

Baton Rouge was incorporated in 1817. In 1822, the Pentagon Barracks complex of buildings was completed. The site has been used by the Spanish, French, British,

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

, and

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and was part of the short-lived Republic of West Florida. In 1951, ownership of the barracks was transferred to the state of Louisiana. In 1976, the complex was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

. Acquisition of Louisiana by the United States in 1803 was a catalyst for increased

Anglo-American Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

settlement, especially in the northern part of the state. In 1846, the state legislature designated Baton Rouge as Louisiana's new capital to replace "sinful"

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

James Dakin was hired to design the

old Louisiana State Capitol The Old Louisiana State Capitol, also known as the State House, is a historic government building, and now a museum, at 100 North Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.A. It housed the Louisiana State Legislature from the mid-19th century u ...

, with construction beginning in late 1847. Rather than mimic the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the Legislature, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is form ...

, as many other states had done, he designed a capitol in Neo-Gothic style, complete with turrets and crenellations, and stained glass; it overlooks the Mississippi. It has been described as the "most distinguished example of Gothic Revival" architecture in the state and has been designated as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. By the outbreak of the

, the population of Baton Rouge was nearly 5,500. The war nearly halted economic progress, except for businesses associated with supplying the Union Army occupation of the city, which began in the spring of 1862 and lasted for the duration of the war. The Confederates at first consolidated their forces elsewhere, during which time the state government moved to Opelousas and later Shreveport. In the summer of 1862, about 2,600 Confederate troops under generals John C. Breckinridge (the former

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...

) and

Daniel Ruggles Daniel Ruggles (January 31, 1810 – June 1, 1897) was a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was a division commander at the Battle of Shiloh. Early life and military service Ruggles was born in Bar ...

attempted to recapture Baton Rouge. After the war, New Orleans temporarily served as the seat of the Reconstruction era state government. When the

Bourbon Democrat Bourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States in the later 19th century (1872–1904) to refer to members of the Democratic Party who were ideologically aligned with fiscal conservatism or classical liberalism, especially those who supp ...

s regained power in 1882, after considerable intimidation and voter suppression of black Republicans, they returned the state government to Baton Rouge, where it has since remained. In his 1893 guidebook, Karl Baedeker described Baton Rouge as "the Capital of Louisiana, a quaint old place with 10,378 inhabitants, on a bluff above the Mississippi". In the 1950s and 1960s, the petrochemical industry boomed in Baton Rouge, stimulating the city's expansion beyond its original center. The changing market in the oil business has produced fluctuations in the industry, affecting employment in the city and area. A building boom began in the city in the 1990s and continued into the 2000s, during which Baton Rouge was one of the fastest-growing cities in the Southern United States in terms of technology. Metropolitan Baton Rouge was ranked as one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. (with a population under 1 million), with 602,894 in 2000 and 802,484 people as of the 2010 U.S. census. After the extensive damage in New Orleans and along the coast from Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, the city took in as many as 200,000 displaced residents. In 2010, Baton Rouge started a market push to become a test city for

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

's new super high speed fiber optic line known as GeauxFiBR. In July 2016, the Greater Baton Rouge metropolitan area was heavily affected by the shooting of Alton Sterling; their death led to multiple protests and the shooting of police officers. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

also made remarks on the shooting of Alton Sterling. By February 2021, Sterling's family was given a $4.5 million settlement to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. In August 2016, the city and metropolitan area were severely flooded. During the runoff for District 3 of the Louisiana Public Service Commission in December 2022, many Baton Rougeans helped elect Davante Lewis—the first openly LGBT politician to the state government.

Geography

The city of Baton Rouge lies on the banks of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana's Florida Parishes region. The city is about from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

, from Lafayette and from Shreveport. It is also from Jackson,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

and from

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Baton Rouge lies on a low elevation of 56 to a little over 62 feet above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana and the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy An economy is an area of th ...

, the city has an area of , of which are land and (2.81%) are covered by water. The city is on the first set of bluffs north of the Mississippi River Delta's coastal plains. Because of its prominent location along the river and on the bluffs, which prevents flooding, the French built a fort in the city in 1719. Baton Rouge is the third-southernmost capital city in the continental United States, after

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, and Tallahassee, Florida. It is the cultural and economic center of the Greater Baton Rouge metropolitan area.

Climate

Baton Rouge Flood August 2016 20160815-OC-DOD-0010

Baton Rouge has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen ''Cfa''), with mild winters, hot and humid summers, moderate to heavy rainfall, and the possibility of damaging winds and tornadoes yearlong. The area's average precipitation is 61.94 inches (141.1 cm) of rain and 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) of snow annually. With ample precipitation, Baton Rouge is fifth on the list of wettest cities in the United States. Snow in the Baton Rouge area is usually rare, although it snowed in three consecutive years at the first decade of the 21st century: December 11, 2008, December 4, 2009, and February 12, 2010; in 2017, Baton Rouge received snow again. The yearly average temperature for Baton Rouge is while the average temperature for January is and July is . The area is usually free from extremes in temperature, with some cold winter fronts, but those are usually brief. Baton Rouge's proximity to the

exposes the city and metropolitan area to hurricanes. On September 1, 2008, Hurricane Gustav struck the city and became the worst hurricane ever to hit the Baton Rouge area. Winds topped , knocking down trees and powerlines and making roads impassable. The roofs of many buildings suffered tree damage, especially in the Highland Road, Garden District, and Goodwood areas. The city was shut down for five days and a curfew was put in effect. Rooftop shingles were ripped off, signs blew down, and minor structural damage occurred.

Demographics

Prior to colonization, American Indians were once the primary residents of present-day Baton Rouge. With the coming of European colonization, and the migration of American settlers after the Louisiana Purchase, European and African-descended peoples became the predominant groups in the area by birth rates and immigration to a 1860 population of 5,428. Since reaching its first historic high of 220,394 residents at the 1980 U.S. census, the city's population has expanded and contracted twice: from 219,531 in 1990, to 227,818 in 2000—the second historic high—and 229,493, the city-proper's third historic high in 2010, to 227,470 at the 2020 census. Including the consolidated city–parish of Baton Rouge in 2019 ( East Baton Rouge Parish), the American Community Survey estimated 443,763 people lived in the area. In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau determined 456,781 people lived in the consolidated city–parish. The metropolitan population of Baton Rouge increased to 3.6% as a result of suburbanization in 2019, to an estimated 854,884. In 2020, the metropolitan population increased to 870,569 residents, reflecting southern Louisiana's population growth in contrast with northern Louisiana's decline. In 2019, the city of Baton Rouge had a population density of 2,982.5 people per square mile.

Racial and ethnic composition

With the population growth of European and African-descended peoples in present-day Baton Rouge, the American Indian population declined to one of the smallest minority groups in the area. With the increase among people of color during the 20th century, Baton Rouge has also declined as a predominantly non-Hispanic white city, hastened by suburbanization and white flight. In 1970, non-Hispanic whites represented 70.5% of the population; by 2010, they represented 37.8% of the total population. According to the 2020 United States census, Black or African Americans made up 53.55% of the city-proper's population; according to census estimates in 2021, Black or African Americans made up the largest share of youths. The remaining racial and ethnic makeup for the city in 2020 was 34.22%

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Am ...

, 0.17% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.21% Asian, 0.03% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 2.89% two or more races, and 5.95% Hispanic and Latino American of any race; the growing Hispanic and Latino population reflected increasing trends of nationwide diversification. Among the population of the city and metropolitan area, a substantial number also identify as Cajun or Louisiana Creole.

Sexual orientation and identity

During the middle of the 20th century, ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

'' and other region-wide newspapers discriminated against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. In 1969, the Krewe of Apollo—an LGBT social club originating from nearby New Orleans—developed a sister branch for Baton Rouge; its annual drag balls were targets of further discrimination. Since then, other organizations have been established such as Capital City Alliance, and the area has grown a sizeable LGBT community, holding festivals such as Baton Rouge Pride.

Religion and spirituality

Native American religions and Afrodiasporic religions were commonplace alongside

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

in Baton Rouge's early history. Due to French, Spanish, and British colonialism and missionary work, however, in addition to American settlement, Baton Rouge became a predominantly Christian city and metropolitan area. According to a study by the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020, Christianity has remained the most-practiced religion for the Baton Rouge area, being influenced by

and

. In 2020, ARDA reported there were 61 congregations and 174,410 Catholics within the metropolitan area; its Catholic population is primarily served by the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...

Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge (Latin ''Dioecesis Rubribaculensis''; French ''Diocèse de Bâton-Rouge''; Spanish: ''Diócesis de Baton Rouge'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church spanning Asc ...

—a suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of New Orleans. The

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wo ...

was the second largest individual Christian denomination with 208 congregations and 91,293 members; following, the

United Methodists The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicali ...

had 28,924 members and the National Baptist Convention had 15,532 adherents in 25 churches. Non-denominational Protestants were spread out in 270 churches numbering 102,500. According to separate studies by Sperling's BestPlaces, other notable Christian bodies in the area have included Anglicans or Episcopalians, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Latter-Day Saints, and

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

. Christians including Jehovah's Witnesses, the Metropolitan Community Church, Christian Unitarians, and the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...

among others collectively make up 14% of the Sperling's other Christian demographic. Notable Anglican or Episcopalian jurisdictions operating throughout the Greater Baton Rouge area have included the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, and the Anglican Church in North America. Baton Rouge's Pentecostals are mainly affiliated with the Assemblies of God USA and the Church of God in Christ, and Presbyterians are mainly members of the Presbyterian Church (USA). According to ARDA in 2020, the Church of God in Christ is the area's largest Pentecostal denomination by membership. Sperling's BestPlaces reported that the second-largest religion in Baton Rouge and its metropolitan area was Islam (0.4%). There are currently over six mosques in the Baton Rouge area, primarily affiliated with Sunni Islam. The

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...

is also another prominent branch of the religion practiced. The Muslim population has grown out of Middle Eastern immigration and African American Muslim missionary work. The first Islamic private school in Baton Rouge was established in 2019. As of 2019, Orthodox Jews made up 0.2% of Baton Rouge's religious population, and 0.6% identified with eastern faiths including

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global po ...

according to Sperling's. New religious movements including contemporary paganism have small communities in the area, and a minority practice Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo, and Hoodoo. At Sperling's study in 2019, a minority of Baton Rouge's population (31.9%) identifies as either

spiritual but not religious "Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not regard organized religion as the sole or most valuable ...

, agnostic, or

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

Economy

Baton Rouge enjoys a strong economy that has helped the city be ranked as one of the "Top 10 Places for Young Adults" in 2010 by portfolio.com and one of the top 20 cities in North America for economic strength by the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

. In 2009, the city was ranked by CNN as the 9th-best place in the country to start a new business. Lamar Advertising Company has its headquarters in Baton Rouge. Other notable companies headquartered in the city include

, Piccadilly Restaurants, and Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers. Notable corporations which have established offices or distribution centers in the Baton Rouge area have included

in 2021, and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

. Chicago Bridge & Iron Company had an office in Baton Rouge before being sold in 2017. Baton Rouge is the farthest inland port on the Mississippi River that can accommodate ocean-going tankers and cargo carriers. The ships transfer their cargo (grain, oil, cars, containers) at Baton Rouge onto rails and pipelines (to travel east–west) or barges (to travel north). Deep-draft vessels cannot pass the Old Huey Long Bridge because the clearance is insufficient. In addition, the river depth decreases significantly just to the north, near Port Hudson. ExxonMobil Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge's largest industry is petrochemical production and manufacturing. ExxonMobil's

Baton Rouge Refinery ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge Refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the fifth-largest oil refinery in the United States and thirteenth-largest in the world, with an input capacity of per day as of January 1, 2020. The refinery is the site of the first ...

complex is the fifth-largest

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt, asphalt ...

in the country; it is the world's tenth largest. Baton Rouge also has rail, highway, pipeline, and deep-water access.

has a large plant in Iberville Parish near Plaquemine, south of Baton Rouge. Shaw Construction, Turner, and Harmony all started with performing construction work at these plants. In addition to being the state capital and parish seat, the city is the home of

, which employs over 5,000 academic staff. One of the largest single employers in Baton Rouge is the state government, which consolidated all branches of state government downtown at the Capitol Park complex. The city has a substantial medical research and clinical presence. Research hospitals have included Our Lady of the Lake, Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital (affiliated with

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, pa ...

), Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, and Earl K. Long (closed 2013). Together with an emerging medical corridor at Essen Lane, Summa Avenue and Bluebonnet Boulevard, Baton Rouge is developing a medical district expected to be similar to the Texas Medical Center. LSU and Tulane University have both announced plans to construct satellite medical campuses in Baton Rouge to partner with Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center and Baton Rouge General Medical Center, respectively. Southeastern Louisiana University and Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University both have nursing schools in the medical district off Essen Lane. Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, which conducts clinical and biological research, also contributes to research-related employment in the area around the Baton Rouge medical district. The

film industry in Louisiana The film industry in Louisiana has grown dramatically in recent yearsMike Scott"Louisiana outpaces Los Angeles, New York and all others in 2013 film production, study shows" ''Times-Picayune'', March 10, 2014. largely due to the state's 2002 tax ...

has increased dramatically since the beginning of the 21st century, aided by generous tax incentives adopted by the state in 2002. In September 2013, the Baton Rouge Film Commission reported that the industry had brought more than $90 million into the local economy in 2013. Baton Rouge's largest production facility is the Celtic Media Centre, opened in 2006 by a local group in collaboration with Raleigh Studios of Los Angeles. Raleigh dropped its involvement in 2014.

Culture and arts

Baton Rouge is a culturally distinct area of Louisiana, where Cajun and Creole Catholic culture from Greater New Orleans and Acadiana is syncretized with the African American Baptist culture of the Florida Parishes and South

. The city of Baton Rouge is a "college town" with

Baton Rouge Community College Baton Rouge Community College is a public community college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Established on June 28, 1995, the college settled into a permanent location in 1998. The campus consists of six main buildings: Governors Building, Louisian ...

, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, and Southern University located throughout the city limits; the students of Louisiana State University alone make up 20% of the city population. In a sizable international population of over 11,300 as of 2008, the largest groups were people of Hispanic and Latino, or Vietnamese descent. This contributes to Baton Rouge's unique culture and diversity.

Arts and theater

Krewe of Southdowns, BR LA Flambeaux Group

Baton Rouge has an expanding visual arts scene, which is centered downtown. Professional performing arts organizations include Theatre Baton Rouge, the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, Opera Louisiane and Playmakers—a professional Children's Theatre. This increasing collection of venues includes the Shaw Center for the Arts. Opened in 2005, the facility houses the Brunner Gallery,

LSU Museum of Art Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...

; the Manship Theatre; a contemporary art gallery; traveling exhibits; and several eateries. Another prominent facility is the

Louisiana Art and Science Museum Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, which contains the Irene W. Pennington Planetarium, traveling art exhibits, space displays, and an ancient Egyptian section. Several smaller art galleries, including the Baton Rouge Gallery, offering a range of local art, are scattered throughout the city. The city has several designated arts and cultural districts, the most prominent of which are the Mid-City Cultural District and the Perkins Road Arts District. These districts provide tax incentives, mostly in the form of exempting state tax on purchases, to promote cultural activity in these areas. A performing arts scene is emerging. LSU's

Swine Palace Swine Palace is a non-profit professional theatre company associated with the Louisiana State University Department of Theatre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The theatre companies home is located in the Reilly Theatre on the campus of LSU. History I ...

is the foremost theatre company in the city, largely made up of students of LSU's MFA acting program, as well as professional actors and stage managers. A group of physical theatre and circus artists from LSU traveled to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland, in summer 2012 to perform ''Dante'' in what has become the world's largest Fringe Festival. The show ran in Baton Rouge before going to Fringe, and featured movement, acrobatics, and

aerial silk Aerial silks (also known as aerial contortion, aerial ribbons, aerial tissues, fabric, ribbon, or ''tissu'') is a type of performance in which one or more artists perform aerial acrobatics while hanging from a specialist fabric. The fabric may b ...

. Theatre Baton Rouge offers a diverse selection of live theatre performances. Opera Louisiane is Baton Rouge's only professional opera company. The Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre is Baton Rouge's professional ballet company. ''The Nutcracker– A Tale from the Bayou'' sets the familiar holiday classic in 19th-century Louisiana and has become a Baton Rouge holiday tradition. ''A Tale from the Bayou'' features professional dancers, a live orchestra, and more than 300 area children. Baton Rouge is also home to Forward Arts, a youth writing organization. Forward Arts won the international youth poetry slam, Brave New Voices in 2017, and was the first team from the Southern United States to ever win the competition. Forward Arts is the only youth spoken-word organization in the state of Louisiana. It was founded by Dr. Anna West in 2005, and first housed in the Big Buddy Program. Baton Rouge is also home to Of Moving Colors Productions, the premier contemporary dance company in the city. For more than 30 years it has brought in internationally established choreographers to create stunning performances. In addition, they conduct extensive community outreach to children and young adults. Performing venues include the Baton Rouge River Center, Baton Rouge River Center Theatre for the Performing Arts, which seats about 1,900; the Manship Theatre, which is located in the Shaw Center for the Arts and seats 350; and the Reilly Theater, which is home to

, a nonprofit professional theater company associated with the Louisiana State University Department of Theatre. The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra has operated since 1947 and currently performs at the River Center Music Hall downtown. Today, it presents more than 60 concerts annually, directed by Timothy Muffitt and David Torns. The BRSO's educational component, the Louisiana Youth Orchestra, made its debut in 1984. It includes almost 180 musicians under the age of 20.

Miss USA pageants

Miss Louisiana Brittany Guidry Miss USA 2014

Baton Rouge was chosen to host the Miss USA 2014 Pageant. It took over downtown Baton Rouge as Nia Sanchez, Miss Nevada USA, took home the crown, with Miss Louisiana USA Brittany Guidry coming in fourth. Veteran pageant host Giuliana Rancic and MSNBC news anchor Thomas Roberts introduced the 51 contestants; there were 20 semifinalists. ''Cosmo'' weighed in on the contest, complimenting Guidry. Celebrity judges included actress Rumer Willis, NBA star Karl Malone, singer Lance Bass, and actor Ian Ziering. Baton Rouge hosted Miss USA 2015 again on July 12, 2015, which was won by actress and Miss Oklahoma USA Olivia Jordan. Baton Rouge was also the site of the 2005 Miss Teen USA Pageant.

Tourism and recreation

USS Kidd at sunset, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge's many architectural points of interest range from antebellum to modern. The neo-gothic

Old Louisiana State Capitol The Old Louisiana State Capitol, also known as the State House, is a historic government building, and now a museum, at 100 North Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.A. It housed the Louisiana State Legislature from the mid-19th century u ...

was built in the 1850s as the first statehouse in Baton Rouge. It was later replaced by the 450-ft-tall, art deco New Louisiana State Capitol, the tallest building in the South when it was completed. Several plantation homes in the area, such as

Magnolia Mound Plantation House The Magnolia Mound Plantation House is a French Creole house constructed in 1791 near the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Many period documents refer to the plantation as ''Mount Magnolia''. The house and several original outbuildi ...

, Myrtles Plantation, and

Nottoway Plantation Nottoway Plantation, also known as Nottoway Plantation House is located near White Castle, Louisiana, United States. The plantation house is a Greek Revival- and Italianate-styled mansion built by enslaved people and craftsmen for John Hampde ...

, showcase antebellum-era architecture. Louisiana State University has more than 250 buildings in

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the tra ...

style, one of the nation's largest college stadiums, and many live oaks. The downtown has several examples of modern and contemporary buildings, including the Capitol Park Museum. A number of structures, including the Baton Rouge River Center, Louisiana State Library, LSU Student Union, Louisiana Naval Museum, Bluebonnet Swamp Interpretive Center, Louisiana Arts and Sciences Center, Louisiana State Archive and Research Library, and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, were designed by local architect John Desmond. The Pentagon Barracks Museum and Visitors Center is within the barracks complex and the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Company Depot houses the Louisiana Art and Science Museum. Museums around town offer a variety of genres. The Capitol Park Museum and the Old Louisiana State Capitol Museum display information on state history and have many interactive exhibits. The Shaw Center for the Arts and the Louisiana Art and Science Museum showcase varied arts. LASM also includes science exhibits and a planetarium. Other museums include the LSU Museum of Natural Science and the USS'' Kidd''. The

Odell S. Williams Now And Then African-American Museum The Odell S. Williams Now And Then African-American History Museum or the Baton Rouge African-American Museum, is a non-profit museum of African-American history and heritage located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The museum is named for ...

chronicles the progression and growth of African-Americans. Other attractions include the

Mall of Louisiana The Mall of Louisiana is a mid-scale shopping mall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, between I-10 and Bluebonnet Blvd. It is the largest mall in Louisiana and contains the third largest indoor carousel in the world. It is the only regional mall in Bat ...

and Perkins Rowe, amusement parks of Dixie Landin'/Blue Bayou, and dining at the Louisiana-cuisine restaurants. The 2nd Annual Slam'd & Cam'd Car Show, slated for July 10, 2021, was scheduled to begin after the cancellation of the 2020 show due to the pandemic. The 2021 show planned to present than 300 muscle cars and include TV personality Courtney Hansen and MotorTrend Group's, Iron Resurrection stars, Joe and Amanda Martin.

Sports

College sports play a major role in the culture of Baton Rouge. The LSU Tigers and the

Southern University Jaguars The Southern Jaguars and Lady Jaguars represent Southern University in NCAA intercollegiate athletics. Southern University's 13 athletic teams participate in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) which is a part of the NCAA Division I. Footb ...

are NCAA Division I athletic programs with the LSU Tigers football and Southern Jaguars football teams being the local college

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

teams. College baseball, basketball, and gymnastics are also popular. Much of the city's sport's attention is focused on the professional teams in Greater New Orleans. Baton Rouge has had multiple minor-league baseball teams (the Baton Rouge Red Sticks), soccer teams ( Baton Rouge Bombers), indoor football teams, a basketball team, and a hockey team ( Baton Rouge Kingfish). The

Baton Rouge Rugby Football Club The Baton Rouge Rugby Football Club (also known as BRRFC), founded in 1977, is a men's rugby union team based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The club competes in and is governed by the True South and USA Rugby. History Founded in 1977 ...

or Baton Rouge Redfish 7, which began playing in 1977, has won numerous conference championships. Currently, the team competes in the Deep South Rugby Football Union. The city also has an Australian rules football team, the Baton Rouge Tigers, which began playing in 2004 and competes in the USAFL. In addition, Baton Rouge is home to

Red Stick Roller Derby Red Stick Roller Derby (RSRD) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Founded in 2007, the league currently consists of two teams which compete against teams from other leagues. Red Stick is a member of the W ...

, a WFTDA Division 3 roller derby league. Baton Rouge is also home to the Baton Rouge Soccer Club in the Gulf Coast Premier League and the Baton Rouge Rougarou, a college summer league baseball team and member of the Texas Collegiate League; in 2022, it was announced USL League Two would establish a team in Baton Rouge named

LA Parish AC LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on Figure 8 ( ...

, following the establishment of other teams in Lafayette and Shreveport.

Parks and recreation

Baton Rouge has an extensive park collection presided over by the Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC). The largest park is City Park near the Louisiana State University flagship campus. Another notable park is Highland Road Community Park, spanning over . The Baton Rouge Zoo is also run through BREC and includes over 1,800 species.

National protected areas

The city is home to 7 national protected areas, and at least 15 places on the

. * Atchafalaya National Heritage Area * Baton Rouge National Cemetery *

Independence Park Botanic Gardens The Independence Park Botanic Gardens are botanical gardens located in Independence Park at 7950 Independence Boulevard, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They are open during daylight hours without admission fee. The Gardens contain displays of blooming w ...

Laurens Henry Cohn, Sr. Memorial Plant Arboretum The Laurens Henry Cohn Sr. Memorial Plant Arboretum (or Cohn Arboretum), 16 acres (6.5 hectares), is an arboretum located at 12206 Foster Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is open to the public daily. The Arboretum contains more than 120 species o ...

* LSU Hilltop Arboretum * Magnolia Cemetery * Port Hudson National Cemetery

Government

The city of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge have been run by a consolidated government since 1947. It combined the City of Baton Rouge government with the rural areas of the parish, allowing people outside the limits of the City of Baton Rouge to use city services. Though the city and parish have a consolidated government, this differs slightly from a traditional consolidated city-county government. The cities of Zachary, Baker, and Central operate their own city governments within East Baton Rouge Parish. Under this system, Baton Rouge has the uncommon office of "mayor-president", which consolidates the executive offices of "mayor of Baton Rouge" and "president of East Baton Rouge Parish". Though Zachary, Baker, and Central each have their own mayors, citizens living in these municipalities are still a part of the constituency who can vote and run in elections for mayor-president and metro council. The mayor-president's duties include setting the agenda for the government and managing the government's day-to-day functions. They are also responsible for supervising departments, as well as appointing the department heads. The mayor does not set the city's public policy because that is the Metropolitan Council's role, but the mayor-president does have some influence on the policy through appointments and relationships with Council members. The current mayor-president of Baton Rouge is Sharon Weston Broome, a former Louisiana State legislator. A Democrat, Broome succeeded Kip Holden, also a Democrat, on January 2, 2017, after defeating Bodi White in a close runoff on December 10, 2016. She served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 2004, and in the Louisiana State Senate from 2004 to 2016. She was elected by the senate to serve as the Senate President Pro Tempore from 2008 to 2016.

Metropolitan council

Baton Rouge City Council partisan map 2019

When the city and parish combined government, the city and parish councils consolidated to form the East Baton Rouge Parish Metropolitan Council. The Metro Council is the legislative branch of the Baton Rouge government. Its 12 district council members are elected from single-member districts. They elect from among themselves the mayor-president'' pro tempore''. The Mayor-President Pro Tempore presides over the council's meetings and assumes the role of the Mayor-President if the Mayor-President is unable to serve. The council members serve four-year terms and can hold office for three terms. In the late 1960s, Joe Delpit, a local African-American businessman who owns the successful and still operating Chicken Shack, was elected as the first black council member in Baton Rouge. As in other cities of Louisiana and the South, African Americans had been largely disenfranchised for decades into the 20th century.Thomas A. Johnson, "Louisiana Negroes Seek Power"
''New York Times,'' 29 September 1971; accessed 20 March 2019 The Chicken Shack, with multiple locations, in 2015 was reported as the oldest continually operating business in Baton Rouge.Annie Ourso Landry, "The Delpit family's Chicken Shack is still going strong after eight decades"
, ''Business Report'', 22 July 2015 The Metro Council's main responsibilities are setting the policy for the government, voting on

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

, and approving the city's budget. The Council makes policies for the following: the City and Parish General Funds, all districts created by the council, the Greater Baton Rouge Airport District, the Public Transportation Commission, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sewerage Control Commission and the Greater Baton Rouge Parking Authority.

Education

Baton Rouge is home to many universities. Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, generally known as Louisiana State University or LSU, is a public, coeducational university that is the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...

campus of the Louisiana State University System. LSU is Louisiana's largest university, with over 30,000 students and 1,300 full-time faculty members. Southern University and A&M College, generally known as Southern University or SU, is the

institution of the Southern University System, the nation's only historically black land-grant university system. SU is the largest HBCU and second-oldest public university in Louisiana. Virginia College opened in October 2010 and offers students training in areas such as cosmetology, business, health, and medical billing. Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University is an independent Catholic institution also in the Baton Rouge medical district that has programs in nursing, health sciences, humanities, behavioral sciences, and arts and sciences. It has an associated hospital, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. Tulane University is also opening a satellite medical school at Baton Rouge General's Mid City Campus in 2011. Southeastern Louisiana University School of Nursing is located in the medical district on Essen Lane in Baton Rouge. Southeastern offers traditional baccalaureate and master's degree programs, as well as LPN and RN to BSN articulation.

is an open-admission, two-year post-secondary public

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

, established on June 28, 1995. The college settled into a permanent location in 1998. The college's enrollment is more than 8,000 students. The Pennington Biomedical Research Center houses 48 laboratories and 19 core research facilities.

Primary and secondary schools

East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools operates primary and secondary schools serving the city. The city of Baton Rouge is also home to 27 charter schools with a total enrollment of an estimated 11,000 students as of 2020. One of the latest includes the Mentorship Academy in downtown Baton Rouge, which leverages its location downtown to establish internship opportunities with local businesses as well as provide a high-tech classroom environment to focus on a digital animation curriculum. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System is the second-largest public school system in the state and contains nine U.S. Blue Ribbon schools and a nationally renowned Magnet program. The school system serves more than 42,850 students and with the help of 6,250 teachers and faculty, the district has shown growth and increase in its District Performance Score. The East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools serve East Baton Rouge Parish and has 90 schools with 56 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, and 18 high schools.

Libraries

The State Library of Louisiana is in Baton Rouge. The Louisiana Legislature created the Louisiana Library Commission in 1920. This later became the State Library of Louisiana. The State Library provides Louisiana residents with millions of items with its collections, electronic resources, and the statewide network for lending.Hours and Location
." State Library of Louisiana. Retrieved on August 20, 2010. The

East Baton Rouge Parish Library System East Baton Rouge Parish Library (EBRPL) is the public library system of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. It serves Baton Rouge and other cities in the parish. History The East Baton Rouge Public Library was established in 1939 with the donat ...

has 14 local libraries with one main library and 13 community libraries. The main library at Goodwood houses genealogy and local history archives. The library system is an entity of the city-parish government. The system has been in operation since 1939. It is governed by the EBR Parish government and directed by the Library Board of Control. The Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council appoints the seven-member board and then the board appoints a director. According to its website, all branches are open seven days a week to assist the public with reference and information and computer access. The Louisiana State Archives' Main Research Library is located in Baton Rouge, as well. It houses general history books, census indices, immigration schedules, church records, and family histories. The library also has a computerized database of more than two million names that has various information about these people including census, marriage, and social security filing information.

and the Louisiana State University Law Center have libraries on their respective Baton Rouge campuses. Southern University and A&M College and the Southern University Law Center also have libraries on their respective Baton Rouge campuses.

Media

The major daily newspaper for the Greater Baton Rouge metropolitan area is ''

'', publishing since 1925. Until 1991, Baton Rouge also had an evening newspaper, ''The State-Times''—at that time, the morning paper was known as ''The Morning Advocate''. Other publications include: ''Baton Rouge Parents Magazine'', ''Pink & Blue Magazine'', '' The Daily Reveille'', '' The Southern Review'', ''225 magazine'', ''DIG'', ''Greater Baton Rouge Business Report'', ''inRegister magazine'', ''10/12 magazine'', ''Country Roads'' magazine, ''225Alive'', ''Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge'', ''Southern University Digest'', and ''The South Baton Rouge Journal''. Other newspapers in East Baton Rouge Parish include the ''Central City News'' and ''The Zachary Post''. The Greater Baton Rouge area is well served by television and radio. The market is the 95th-largest

designated market area A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

in the U.S. Major television network affiliates serving the area include: * 2 WBRZ-TV ( ABC) * 9 WAFB ( CBS) * 20 KZUP-CD (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

) * 21 WBRL-CD ( The CW) * 27 WLPB ( PBS/ LPB) * 30

WLFT-CD WLFT-CD, virtual and UHF digital channel 30, is a low-powered, Class A flagship SonLife-affiliated television station serving Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States that is licensed to Baker. The station is owned by Jimmy Swaggart's Family ...

(Independent) * 33

WVLA WVLA-TV (channel 33) is a television station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by White Knight Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexstar Media Gr ...

( NBC) * 36 KBTR-CD ( This TV) * 39 WBXH-CD (

My Network TV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

) * 44 WGMB (

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

) Baton Rouge also offer local government-access television-only channels on Cox Cable channel 21.

Infrastructure

Health and medicine

Baton Rouge is served by several hospitals and clinics: *

Baton Rouge General Medical Center – Mid-City Campus Baton Rouge General - Mid City, also known as Mid City or The General, is a long term care, not-for-profit, community-owned hospital located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This hospital, established in the early 1900s, was the first official hospital ...

, 3600 Florida Boulevard * Baton Rouge General Medical Center – Bluebonnet Campus, 8585 Picardy Avenue * HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, 8595 United Plaza Boulevard * Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, 5000 Hennessy Boulevard * Ochsner Medical Center, 1700 Medical Center Drive *Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital, 5000 Hennessy Boulevard *Ochsner Medical Complex – The Grove, 10310 The Grove Boulevard

Communication

Most of the Baton Rouge area's high-speed internet, broadband, and fiber optic communications are provided by Eatel, AT&T Inc., Charter Communications, or Cox Communications. In 2006, Cox Communications linked its Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans markets with fiber-optic infrastructure. Other providers soon followed suit, and fiber optics have thus far proven reliable in all hurricanes since they were installed, even when mobile and broadband services are disrupted during storms. In 2001, the Supermike computer at Louisiana State University was ranked as the number-one computer cluster in the world, and remains one of the top 500 computing sites in the world.

Military installations

Baton Rouge is home station to the Louisiana Army National Guard 769th Engineer Battalion, which recently had units deployed to

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and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

. The armory near LSU has three company-sized units: 769th HSC (headquarters support company); 769th FSC (forward support company); and the 927th Sapper Company. Other units of the battalion are located at Napoleonville (928th Sapper Company); Baker, Louisiana (926th MAC mobility augmentation company); and Gonzales, Louisiana (922nd Horizontal Construction Company). The 769th Engineer Battalion is part of the

225th Engineer Brigade The 225th Engineer Brigade is a combat heavy engineer brigade of the Louisiana Army National Guard. It is one of the largest engineer formations in the United States Army National Guard. The 225th Engineer Brigade is headquartered at Camp Beaure ...

, headquartered in Pineville, Louisiana, at Camp Beauregard. Four engineer battalions and an independent bridging company are in the 225th Engineer Brigade, making it the largest engineer group in the

US Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

. Baton Rouge is also home to 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment (3/23), a reserve infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps located throughout the Midwestern United States consisting of about 800 marines and sailors. The battalion was first formed in 1943 for service in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, taking part in a number of significant battles including those at Saipan and Iwo Jima before being deactivated at the end of the war. In the early 1960s, the unit was reactivated as a reserve battalion. The battalion is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri, with outlying units throughout the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. 3/23 falls under the command of the 23rd Marine Regiment and the 4th Marine Division. Recent operations have included tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Transportation

Shipping

The Port of Baton Rouge is the ninth-largest in the United States by tonnage shipped, and is the farthest upstream Mississippi River port capable of handling Panamax ships.

Highways and roads

Huey P Long Bridge Baton Rouge northwest 1 (cropped)

Interstates

Baton Rouge has three interstate highways: I-10, I-12 ( Republic of West Florida Parkway), and I-110 ( Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway). Interstate 10 enters the city from the

Horace Wilkinson Bridge The Horace Wilkinson Bridge (locally known as the New Bridge) is a cantilever bridge carrying Interstate 10 in Louisiana across the Mississippi River from Port Allen in West Baton Rouge Parish to Baton Rouge in East Baton Rouge Parish. Aroun ...

over the Mississippi River, curving at an interchange with Interstate 110 southeast, crossing the LSU lakes and Garden District before reaching an interchange with I-12 (referred to as the 10/12 split). It curves further southeast toward

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Republic of West Florida Parkway) begins in the city at the I-10/I-12 split east of College Drive, and proceeds eastward, crossing Essen Lane, Airline Hwy, Sherwood Forest Blvd, Millerville Road, and O'neal Lane before leaving the city when crossing the Amite River. Interstate 110 (The Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway) stretches 8 miles in a north–south direction from the east end of the Horace Wilkinson Bridge to Scenic Highway in Scotlandville, Louisiana. It passes through downtown, North Baton Rouge, and Baton Rouge Metro Airport before ending at Scenic Highway.

US highways and major roads

Baton Rouge has two US highways, along with their business counterparts: Airline Highway ( US 61) and Florida Boulevard. US 190 enters the city from the Huey P. Long Bridge, beginning a concurrency with US 61 after an interchange with Scenic Highway, near Scotlandville. Its name is Airline Highway from this interchange to the interchange with Florida Blvd. At this interchange, US 190 turns east to follow Florida Blvd through Northeast Baton Rouge, exiting the city at the Amite River. US 61 enters Baton Rouge as Scenic Highway until it reaches Airline Highway (US 190). It becomes concurrent with US 190 until Florida Blvd, where it continues south, still called Airline Highway. It passes through Goodwood and Broadmoor before an interchange with I-12. It continues southeast past Bluebonnet Blvd/Coursey Blvd, Jefferson Hwy, and Sherwood Forest Blvd/Siegen Lane before exiting the city at Bayou Manchac. US 61/190 Business runs west along Florida Boulevard (known as Florida Street from Downtown east to Mid City) from Airline Highway to River Road in downtown. The cosigned routes run from Florida St. north along River Road, passing the Louisiana State Capitol and Capitol Park Complex before intersecting with Choctaw Drive. North of this intersection River Road becomes Chippewa Street and curves to the East. US 61/190 Business leaves Chippewa Street at its intersection with Scenic Highway. The route follows Scenic Highway to Airline Highway, where it ends. North of Airline on Scenic and East of Scenic Highway on Airline is US 61. US 190 is East and West of Scenic on Airline Highway. These are important surface streets with designated state highway numbers: Greenwell Springs Road ( LA 37), Plank Road/22nd Street ( LA 67), Burbank Drive/Highland Road ( LA 42), Nicholson Drive ( LA 30), Jefferson Highway/Government Street (

LA 73 Louisiana Highway 73 (LA 73) is a state highway in Louisiana stretching from Geismar to Baton Rouge. LA 73 was built as a bypass to the backbends of River Road. It was soon after bypassed itself in a more complete way with U.S. Route 61 ( Airli ...

), Scotlandville/Baker/Zachary Highway ( LA 19), Essen Lane ( LA 3064), Bluebonnet Blvd/Coursey Blvd ( LA 1248), Siegen Lane/Sherwood Forest Blvd (

LA 3246 LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

), and Perkins Road/Acadian Thruway (

LA 427 LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

Traffic issues and highway upgrades

According to the 2008 INRIX National Traffic Scorecard, which ranks the top 100 congested metropolitan areas in the U.S., Baton Rouge is the 33rd-most congested metro area in the country. At a population rank of 67 out of 100, it has the second-highest ratio of population rank to congestion rank, higher than even the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

- Long Beach- Santa Ana metropolitan area, indicating a remarkably high level of congestion for the comparatively low population. According to the Scorecard, Baton Rouge was the only area out of all 100 to show an increase in congestion from 2007 to 2008 (+ 6%). The city also tied for the highest jump in congestion rank over the same period (14 places). Interstate 12 used to have a major bottleneck at O'Neal Lane. The interstate was three lanes wide in each direction to the O'Neal Lane exit, where the interstate abruptly became two lanes in each direction and crossed the narrow Amite River Bridge. This stretch of road, called "a deathtrap" by one lawmaker, had become notorious for traffic accidents, many with fatalities. In 2007, ten people died in traffic accidents within a three-month period on this section of road. In 2009, Governor Bobby Jindal and the Baton Rouge legislative delegation allocated state and federal funding to widen I-12 from O'Neal Lane to Range Avenue (Exit 10) in Denham Springs. The construction was completed in 2012 and has significantly improved the flow of traffic. In 2010, The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act provided committed federal funds to widen I-12 from the Range Avenue Exit to Walker, Louisiana. Noticing the significant improvement in commute times, Jindal further funded widening to Satsuma, Louisiana. Interstate 10 West at Bluebonnet Road also ranked within the top 1000 bottlenecks for 2008, and I-10 East at Essen Lane and Nicholson Drive ranked not far out of the top 1000. A new exit to the

was created in 2006, and the interstate was widened between Bluebonnet Blvd and Siegen Lane. But the stretch of I-10 from the I-10/I-12 split to Bluebonnet Blvd was not part of these improvements and remained heavily congested during peak hours. In response, a widening project totaling at least $87 million began in late 2008. Interstate 10 was widened to three lanes over a five-year period between the I-10/I-12 split and Highland Road. In 2010, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act provided supplemental funding for this project to extend to the Highland Road exit in East Baton Rouge Parish. Commute times have since plummeted for this section of interstate. Surface streets in Baton Rouge are prone to severe congestion. But roads are beginning to handle the number of vehicles using them after years of stagnation in road upgrades. Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden has instituted an extensive upgrade of East Baton Rouge Parish roads known as the Green Light Plan, geared toward improving areas of congestion on the city's surface streets. With its first project completed in 2008, it has seen numerous others reach completion as of 2015, with several more under construction and still others yet to break ground. A circumferential loop

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

was proposed for the greater Baton Rouge metro area to help alleviate congestion on the existing through-town routes. The proposed loop would pass through the outlying parishes of Livingston (running alongside property owned and marketed as an industrial development by Al Coburn, a member of President Mike Grimmer's staff), Ascension, West Baton Rouge, and Iberville, as well as northern East Baton Rouge Parish. This proposal has been subject to much contention, particularly by residents living in the outer parishes through which the loop would pass. Other suggestions considered by the community are upgrading Airline Highway ( US 61) to freeway standards in the region as well as establishing more links between East Baton Rouge Parish and its neighboring communities.

Commuting

The average one-way commute time in Baton Rouge is 26.5 minutes, slightly less than the US average of 27.1 minutes. Interstates 10, 110 and 12, which feed into the city, are highly traveled and connected by highways and four-lane roads that connect the downtown business area to surrounding parishes. According to the 2016 American Community Survey, 81.9% of working Baton Rouge residents commuted by driving alone, 8.5% carpooled, 3% used public transportation, and 2.4% walked. About 1.2% used all other forms of transportation, including taxi, bicycle, and motorcycle. About 3.1% worked at home. The city of Baton Rouge has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 10.4 percent of Baton Rouge households lacked a car, and increased slightly to 11.4 percent in 2016. The national average is 8.7 percent in 2016. Baton Rouge averaged 1.55 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.

Airport

Located 10 minutes north of downtown near Baker, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport connects the area with the four major airline hubs serving the southern United States. Commercial carriers include American Eagle, United Airlines, and

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along wi ...

. Nonstop service is available to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, Dallas-Ft. Worth,

, and Charlotte.

Rail

Three major rail lines, Kansas City Southern, Union Pacific, and

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

provide railroad freight service to Baton Rouge. The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley station had passenger service until the mid-1960s. The Kansas City Southern depot hosted the '' Southern Belle,'' the final train to serve the city, until 1969. Since 2006, Baton Rouge and New Orleans leaders as well as the state government have been pushing to secure funding for a new high-speed rail passenger line between downtown Baton Rouge and downtown New Orleans, with several stops in between.

Buses and other mass transit

Capital Area Transit System (CATS) provides urban transportation throughout Baton Rouge, including service to Southern University,

, and

. Many CATS buses are equipped with bike racks for commuters to easily combine biking with bus transit. Greyhound Bus Lines, offering passenger and cargo service throughout the United States, has a downtown terminal on Florida Boulevard.

Sister cities

Cairo, Cairo Governorate Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt (since 1951) *

Rouen, Seine-Maritime Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population o ...

, France (since 1963) *

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

, Taiwan (since 1976) * Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico (since 1977) *

Port-au-Prince, Ouest Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defined ...

, Haiti (since 1978) * Liège, Liège Province, Belgium (since 1985) *

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label=Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

, Bouches-du-Rhône, France (since 1987) * Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico (since 2002) *

Heze Heze, formerly known as Caozhou, is the westernmost prefecture-level city in Shandong province, China, it borders Jining to the east and the provinces of Henan and Anhui to the west and south respectively. History Caozhou was at the cent ...

, Shandong, China (since 2008) * Malatya, Malatya Province, Turkey (since 2009) * Guiyang, Guizhou, China (since 2010)

Explanatory notes

References

Citations

General sources

* Frey, Fred Jr. ''Above Baton Rouge: A Pilot's View Then and Now''. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2008. .

External links

City of Baton Rouge official website

Visit Baton Rouge Convention & Visitor's Bureau

The Baton Rouge Digital Archive from the East Baton Rouge Parish Library

Selected Economic Data, Baton Rouge Area, 2012

Geology and geological hazards

* Heinrich, P. V., and W. J. Autin, 2000
''Baton Rouge 30 × 60 minute geologic quadrangle''
Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. * McCulloh, R. P., 2001
''Active Faults in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana''
Public Information Series, no. 8, Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. * McCulloh, R. P., 2008a
''The Scotlandville, Denham Springs, and Baton Rouge Faults—A Map Guide for Real Estate Buyers, Sellers, and Developers in the Greater Baton Rouge Area''
Public Information Series, no. 13, Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. * McCulloh, R. P., 2008b
''Field Trip Guide to Selected Locations Along the Baton Rouge Fault Trace Spanning the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition in Western East Baton Rouge Parish''
Public Information Series, no. 8, Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. {{Authority control 1699 establishments in New France Cities in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Cities in Louisiana Cities in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area Inland port cities and towns of the United States Louisiana populated places on the Mississippi River B Populated places established in 1699

History

Pre–history

Colonial period

Incorporation and growth

Geography

Climate

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

Sexual orientation and identity

Religion and spirituality

Economy

Culture and arts

Arts and theater

Miss USA pageants

Tourism and recreation

Sports

Parks and recreation

National protected areas

Government

Metropolitan council

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Libraries

Media

Infrastructure

Health and medicine

Communication

Military installations

Transportation

Shipping

Highways and roads

Interstates

US highways and major roads

Traffic issues and highway upgrades

Commuting

Airport

Rail

Buses and other mass transit

Sister cities

See also

Explanatory notes

References

Citations

General sources

External links

Geology and geological hazards