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Baton Rouge

Deep-water port in East Baton Rouge Parish on the Mississippi River, the capital of Louisiana; population (2000 est) 227,800. Industries include oil refining, petrochemicals, and iron; the port is the fourth largest in the country. Baton Rouge was incorporated in 1817 and became the state capital in 1849.

History

The first Europeans to discover the area were the French, led by the explorer Pierre le Moyne in 1699. Baton Rouge was settled in 1719 and was, successively, under French, British, Spanish, French, and Spanish rule until the residents rebelled against Spain in 1810, and Baton Rouge joined the USA. In 1862 it was the site of the Battle of Baton Rouge, when the Confederates tried to retake the city in the American Civil War. Its growth as a modern city owes much to the establishment of oil refineries, the first of which was built in 1909.

Features The city's first state capitol, which is now a museum, was built in 1847 by US architect James Dukin. It is one of Baton Rouge's 67 entries on the National Register of Historic Places, which also include school and university buildings, houses, and historic districts. The current state capitol was built in 1932 under the governorship of US politician Huey Long. Long was later shot in the capitol in 1935. The city also contains the Louisiana Naval War Memorial (1983) which focuses on USS Kidd, a World War II destroyer. Baton Rouge is the seat of several colleges, including Louisiana State University (1860), which contains the Museum of Rural Life and the Museum of Natural Science (1936), and Southern University (1888).

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