Crime Scene & Biohazard Cleanup Near Progress Baton Rouge, LA

Baton Rouge takes its name from the French 'le baton rouge,' meaning 'the red stick' - a red cypress pole that marked the boundary between the Houma and Bayougoula hunting grounds, noted by the French explorer Iberville's expedition in 1699.

Baton Rouge became a French military post in 1719 and was incorporated on January 16, 1817.

Baton Rouge has been Louisiana's state capital since 1849 (restored permanently in 1882 after the Civil War) and is the seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, the most populous parish in Louisiana.

Baton Rouge is Louisiana's second-most populous city, with 227,470 residents in the 2020 census and an estimated 222,795 in 2025, across about 88,205 households averaging 2.37 people each.

Baton Rouge sits on the Istrouma Bluff, the first natural bluff upriver from the Mississippi River Delta, a high site on the river's east bank that historically protected it from flooding.

Baton Rouge is one of the few American cities to have been ruled under seven different governments: French, British and Spanish colonial rule, the Republic of West Florida, the United States as territory and state, and the Confederacy.

The Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge is the tallest state capitol in the United States at 450 feet and 34 stories; built under Governor Huey P. Long for $5 million in just 14 months, it was dedicated on May 16, 1932, and Long was assassinated inside it on September 8, 1935.

Baton Rouge's Old State Capitol, a Gothic Revival castle on the river built between 1847 and 1852, now houses the Museum of Political History.

The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is one of the largest ports in the United States by tonnage and the farthest upstream port on the Mississippi River capable of handling Panamax ships.

Baton Rouge is home to Louisiana State University, founded in 1860, the state's flagship university and largest institution of higher education, with more than 30,000 students.