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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 74.10.14.99 (talk) at 06:28, 10 August 2008 (→Comments). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Comments

There is no such city outside of New Orleans called Jefferson. There is a Parish, but not a city. The sister city section is totally gone.

I've never heard of Baton Rouge referred to as "Red Stick" in a serious manner. Is there a source for this?

Moreover, I've never heard anyone refer to Baton Rouge as "Beauregard Town", who added this in?
I've definitely heard it called "Red Stick" before, but I've never in my life heard it called "Beauregard Town," and I'm from Baton Rouge. --Bobster687 21:02, 11 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In French, the adjective comes after the noun. "Baton" is French for "stick" and "Rouge" is French for "red", thus "red stick". Berberry (talk) 15:27, 29 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you've never heard of baton rouge called Red Stick then you obviously have no buisness writing about Baton Rouge.

When did the east bank become known as the "left" bank?

It's on the left as you face downstream -- the standard way of describing the sides of a flowing river. --Michael K. Smith 15:00, 4 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've run out of steam for awhile. I'll add more to the 20th century section of "History" as I get the chance, and I have a number of pix and historical maps to add as well. If anyone thinks parts of this article (the Battle of Baton Rouge, for instance) would be better as separate articles, be my guest -- though I note that the history sections of much larger cities, like San Francisco and New Orleans are still embedded in their general articles. . . .

Also, several of the proper names on the page (Dunbar, Williams, and possibly others) need to be disambiguated.

Also also, this page needs sections on the city/parish form of government, recent events like the secession of Central, a separate article on the Louisiana State Capitol, and probably other stuff. --Michael K. Smith 15:00, 4 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The 2000s

Are there any references for the material in this section? If so, something should be cited in the text to keep it from looking like unchecked hopeful assumptions.

Dmk5717 23:26, 14 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There are numerous gramatical errors in that section as well.

Statistics

The "Statistics" section should be dropped in my opinion. It covers much of the same information as the "Demographics" section and takes up a lot more space. Funnyhat 23:32, 29 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]


    • What source provided this information:

New Orleans evacuee exodus Even though Baton Rouge held the most displaced citizens from the New Orleans area following the effects of hurricane Katrina and the levee failures that followed (around 250,000 evacuees resided in Baton Rouge in October 2005). The housing market in Baton Rouge was not stable enough to accommodate the evacuees and the infrastructure could not handle the possible "new residents" and therefore led to between 215,000 to 230,000 evacuees leaving the area. To date (October 2006) Baton Rouge has seen the largest decline of evacuee population out of all cities that had a major number of evacuees with most residents returning to the greater New Orleans area. To date Baton Rouge has between 20,000 to 35,000 evacuees with the majority claiming to be "temporary citizens" showing a "strong desire" to return to their home towns. The exodus of the large amounts of evacuees is the exact opposite of what the Baton Rouge chamber and Mayor-President Kip Holden anticipated. They anticipated most New Orleans evacuees to make Baton Rouge their permanent home but with so many evacuees having left the area it disputes their earlier claims and brings into question the truth about the "growth" in the area.

Is there any way to have an article refernce posted? Thanks

Hurricane Katrina Local Rumors

Because of all the recent additions (for which we certainly thank the contributors), I couldn't sort out who posted all that crap about "widespread riots and looting." It was only rumors, which the Adocate later reported as such, and I've deleted it and rewritten the remaining paragraphs. (I was downtown in my capacity as a city-parish employee while the supposed "riots" were going on, and while the area was crowded and bordering psychologically on chaotic, there were no violent incidents.)

I hadn't heard about the supposed armed hold-up at the Walmart. Can anyone confirm whether that incident did or did not take place? --Michael K. Smith 15:39, 6 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Population speculation

About the population issue, the population given out by the U.S. Census Bureau is for permenant residents living in the city only (not the temporarily transients). Unless these people take up residence elsewhere, the census will likely assume that they still live in New Orleans, as long as they reside and pay taxes within the city limits. Moreau36; 2136, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

Article name

Why is this article on Baton Rouge, Louisiana when there are no other Baton Rouges? Jon Harald Søby \ no na 17:20, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Standard policy. All articles on cities and towns have their name followed by their province/nation name even if the city name is unique. It would have to be something likeLlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to lose the appendage. - Cuivienen 04:44, 20 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
According to Rand McNally, there is also a Baton Rouge, South Carolina. -- BuzzDog 06:06, 28 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Baton Rouge's population

temporarily, or not, i hear that many people will want to stay in baton rouge. new orleans is just gonna have to get used to being in the shadow baton rouge was in. :)

We should at least wait until the U.S. Census Bureau release the city population estimates of 2005 in June before amending any information about population and rank. If New Orleans is the 2nd largest city by the time of the release, then it will be changed, but until then, leave it as is. As I explained before, these numbers are publised by the U.S. Census Bureau, which do not cover temporary transient population. only permanent residents who pay taxes within the city. --Moreau36; 1944, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

well, maybe your right, but either with the hurricane, or without the hurricane, baton rouge would probably still have surpassed new orleans in the upcoming decades. Im an baton rougeon, and i beleive that even if all the people return to new orleans, and try to make it "bigger and better" than before, it will suffer major decline, as Detroit is.

I've fixed up the first paragrph to explain why Baton Rouge is temporarily the largets city in Louisiana. Whether this is permanent or not, we can't say, but it is indisputable that New Orleans currently has fewer residents than Baton Rouge. However, a note was made that the situation is uncertain. - Cuivienen 04:41, 20 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I'm updating the latest population estimates, based on the state's figures published in today's Advocate. Even though these are not "official" (i.e., Census Bureau figures), they are being treated as such because of the necessity of adjusting public services to accommodate the new more-or-less permanent residents. --Michael K. Smith 18:35, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Baloney U.S Census Estimates

Now you know how un exact population estimates are. the 2005 estimates showed baton rouge's population as 224,000 (less than what it exactly is), but it could be alot more that it actually looks. they just probably did an tax payer count, and some people didnt participate.

yeah, but that's only within the city limits. not many people who live in east baton rouge parish actually live within city limits; just drive downtown, and you'll see what i mean. the metropolitan population i think is at about 700,000 people or so. sadly, 224,000 is probably right. the population of baton rouge should increase soon, though, with all the revamping they're doing.

Civil War

Whoever wrote "Most of the fighting took place around what is now the National Cemetery (many Union dead being buried where they fell)" has their facts wrong. The U.S. Military Cemetery was established in 1867, five years after the battle. Much of the fighting took place at Magnolia Cemetery, which was dedicated as Baton Rouge's official burial ground in 1852, ten years before the battle. Magnolia Cemetery is located on the land on the north side of Florida Blvd between 19th and 22nd, not too far from the U.S. Military Cemetery. Anyway, I cut the whole section about the Battle of Baton Rouge, refering readers to the main article ([[Battle of Baton Rouge (1862)), which is an example of excellent writing and well-cited research) Wikiwopbop 04:39, 9 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Neighborhoods

Corrected the entry for Sherwood Forest, as the article stated that it is west of Broadmoor. It is actually located EAST of Broadmoor. -- BuzzDog 06:06, 28 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think it would be grat if there were a section on the politics of the city. It is known around the state, as is the state around the country, for its corruption.

  • Being known for something doesn't make it true. Louisiana is trying to shake the country's antiquated view of its political system. Of course there is still corruption, but it remains to be proven if the present corruption in Louisiana is any more common than in other states. It seems as if it is just more widely-known in Louisiana. --Bobster687 15:24, 8 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I, too, agree that a politics section would be boss. However, we should clarify, Baton Rouge Politics are pretty staid. Not too many elected to the City-Parish Government, their appointees or employees are cooling their heels with the likes of the Edwardses. You might be confusing corruption with balkanizing tensions. Or maybe you're confusing the corruption of the State Government that meets in Baton Rouge with Baton Rouge's homegrown polity. I'm not sure. But considering that Dardenne is the first Baton Rouge politician to hold a state-wide elective office in many, many decades, you'd be hard pressed to make the Baton Rouge as corrupt force in Louisiana government case, all Cleos and Fields notwithstanding.

  • Baton Rouge, still very much so, has a definite good-old-boy bent to it's political and social structure. Any outsider looking in will tell you that and that is why people around the nation still think this way about Baton Rouge. This is never more prevalent than in Baton Rouge's neighborhoods. In fact, the catch phrase for 'Southdowns' (the bar) is: "Where the elite meet". Also, this exclusionary attitude is more plainly illustrated by the notation that 'Spanish Town' is "one of the city's trendiest neighborhoods". This statement is highly debatable and what's not mentioned is that the 'Spanish Town' demographic is made up of some of Baton Rouge's most wealthy citizenry and it has yet to be illustrated that wealth in and of itself can instigate any trends, locally or nationally. It's not like there are any Peggy Guggenheim's living in Baton Rouge and even less so in 'Spanish Town'. The working class neighborhoods of Baton Rouge are getting a short shrift in the article and I hope that some people will expand them and point out their interesting qualities as I have. --Jeffrey Beary 14:47, 14 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  • I admire your zealous neighborhood pride, but you must understand the significance of areas like Downtown, Spanish Town, Beauregard Town, etc. This is not a battle between the "elite" and the working man, as you suggest. These neighborhoods receive precedence over the more modern, suburban ones like Broadmoor because they are essential in understanding the history and development of Baton Rouge. These are the oldest areas in the city - most being represented on the National Register of Historic Places - and embody the very foundation of Baton Rouge in terms of history, culture, diversity, architecture, and so on. The Neighborhood section is not a popularity contest nor is it a place for promotion of your own neighborhood. Grahamattacks 00:54, 15 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hurricane Katrina

Before my edit" Baton Rouge will serve as a headquarters for emergency coordination and disaster relief in Louisiana.

Edited sentence: Baton Rouge will serve as a headquarters for Federal (on site) and State emergency coordination and disaster relief in Louisiana.

My inclusion: [Federal (on site) and State]

Is that exceptable?

the sister city section is totally gone.

Publications

Took out, "weekly alternative." The LSU Reveille is LSU's _official_ college newspaper, it's published on a _daily_ basis when classes are in. 225 is a _monthly_ magazine. Nitpicky, sure. But this article needs TLQC. 199.80.65.98 19:59, 13 January 2007 (UTC)Brandon[reply]

NOT GOOD

I see that people are adding things about Baton Rouge which arent true, or have 0 proof and no sources, yet moderators are warning me and threatning to block me whenever i try to fix this article.

"As of October 2006 between 15,000 and 30,000 displaced citizens remain in Baton Rouge and many consider themselves to be temporary residents. Ed Kramer of Palm Hills Development LLC and D.R. Horton a Fort Worth, Texas, homebuilder who was thinking about building some homes in Baton Rouge, Ascension and Livingston parish questioned just how stable the Baton Rouge market is and what the demand would be the for new homes being built in the three parish metro area by saying "The conventional wisdom was that Baton Rouge was going to gain 100,000 in population (post-Katrina), then 60,000, then 30,000 so the number of displaced citizens have decreased dramatically. But I see the New Orleans recovery, (while) slow to pick up momentum, coming back faster and stronger than people are giving credit for," and more New Orleanians leaving the Baton Rouge area for New Orleans or elsewhere, Kramer said. Are there that many people looking for that type of product? I don't know," he said. The mass exodus of displaced citizens from the Baton Rouge area is the opposite of what Mayor-President Kip Holden and the Baton Rouge area Chamber believed, they believed that the majority of the displaced residents would make Baton Rouge their permanent home but with the mass exodus it really brings into question the truth about the "growth" in the Baton Rouge area. Some argue whether Baton Rouge should even be called a "growing" city seeing as hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens have left the Baton Rouge area by saying the statement is contradictory to the true declining state of Baton Rouge's population nearly a year and half removed from Katrina and say that since that first mass migration after Hurricane Katrina to the Baton Rouge area Baton Rouge's population has declined"

The above seems to be written by an New orleans natice who fails to accept the FACT that Baton Rouge has really changed, and the city's citizens have been through alot to improve Baton Rouge, and at the same time provide great hospitality to storm evacuees from places such as New Orleans.

You guys are very ungrateful, trying to setup an bad image for a city of hard work and sacrafice. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.203.137.204 (talk) 06:07, 27 February 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Ungrateful or not, the numbers simply aren't true. Census figures more up-to-date than 2000(they don't just sit on their asses for 10 years, the bureau collects information in between) gathered BEFORE Katrina contraindicate population loss - this is probably due to the housing and construction boom in Baton Rouge (largest since the 60s) underway before the hit, that attracted an enormous amount of migrant and contract labor from Texas and elsewhere. You can also call the city's DPW, school board, the state's DOTD, and any of the public social services agencies, and the public information officer, and just about any other metric you want to ring up, to show that the city's population was increasing and continues to increase, albeit not with the meteoric rate observed after the hurricane and somewhat incautiously extended into the future. There's no reason to hate. The population is what it is, it isn't some pissing match or a contest. I hate to burst anyone's New Orleans loving bubble, but of the primary large city's that little girls and boys dreamed about growing up and marrying here, New Orleans weren't it, not even the Top 5. Baton Rouge's large yankee and non-resident population, engorged by petro-chemical dollars, fantasized about Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, the East Coast, even Austin and St. Louis before dimmed eyes alighted on suitor number 11 from the secondary bracket. In general, New Orleans was always someone you'd get ripped up with and f*ck, not someone you take home to meet mom and invite into the family. You see, you have to be siblings first for sibling rivalry to take effect. 72.207.239.115 04:42, 7 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Article length

The article is currently 68K, which is about twice as long as is generally recommended. Most of the problem is the history section, which is definitely too long. I would suggest spinning off the current text into a separate sub-article, and replacing it in this article with a summary no more than 3 paragraphs in length. The lists near the end of the article are also getting somewhat long; it might be worth considering creating an article like "Notable residents and buildings of Baton Rouge, Louisana" to move this information out. Or perhaps other editors have more elegant ideas. -- Beland 16:23, 23 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

City name

The article says "Baton Rouge" means "red stick", and that a French explorer saw a bloody cypress tree — and then stops there. So was the town named after that red tree, or what? — Loadmaster 03:39, 2 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Basically, yes. The names appears in the notebook of the French explorer Pierre Le Moyne Sieur d'Iberville's engineer, Penicault, when they passed in 1699. The site was allegedly near Southern University's campus, where a work by the scupture Frank Hayden stand commemorating the spot (Frank Hayden is also responsible for most of the installations at Galvez plaza, celebrating Galvez, Oliver Pollock (inventor fo the dollar sign, allegedly why Master P and Lil' Boosie have at different times chosen Baton Rouge to reside) and the only Revolutionary War Battle to occur in what became the Louisiana territory. Another name for adopted for Baton Rouge by white settlers was Istrouma, a Choctaw word meaning "Red Stick", which shows up a lot locally. The city has had a couple of other names, too. Briefly, and speculatively, Dironbourg, after an early functionary who was given some arpents here. Under the British, New Richmond, though it is not clear if that referred to the British fort that was here or the surrounding town. Also, the area grew up from a ton of different settlements, most of which no longer exist, were annexed, or exist today only as names of neighborhoods, or semi-autonomous suburbs. So, names float around, that or more or less synonymous on a much, much smaller scale with typical neighborhoods in larger cities. These should not be mistaken as names locals use for the area - no one ever refers to Baton Rouge as Spanish town (though there's a lot of reason to do exactly that, historically, outside of the very small art district by that name) or Southdowns, or Shenandoah - as someone had previously edited this article. That's just not the case.


The marker and game drying theories of the red stick are the most prevalent. There's also an account from a Mississippi based paper around in the 1830s that suggests a more sensational origin of the red stick. It's complete nonsense and total rubish, but it alludes to child murder, cannabalism, and of course, savage Indians rubbing a child's innards all over a pole. Those crazy Indians, what villainous antics will they dream up next? 72.207.239.115 —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 04:30, 7 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Southeastern Louisiana University is in the city of Hammond, Louisiana.

Good number students at Southeastern Louisiana University commute from however it is in the city of Hammond, Louisiana I do not think it gose well in the Baton Rouge article--Looktothis (talk) 00:38, 30 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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