Baton Rouge, LA news and local guide

French colonists set up a military and trading post in 1721. Since then Baton Rouge has been ruled by France, Britain, Spain, Louisiana, the Republic of West Florida, the United States and the Confederacy. Acadians expelled by the British from 1755 settled in rural Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, where they became known as Cajuns. From 1763 to 1783 the town was part of British West Florida, though Spanish forces captured it in September 1779. Steamboat trade fed steady growth in the early 19th century. Baton Rouge was incorporated in 1817, and the Pentagon Barracks were finished in 1822. The barracks served several governments and both armies in the Civil War, and they are now on the National Register. In 1846 the legislature made Baton Rouge the state capital in place of New Orleans, and work began in late 1847 on James Dakin's Old State Capitol. Sources Wikipedia: Baton Rouge, Louisiana