Louisiana - Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge



This is neither a rocketship nor a torpedo. It's a 110-foot tall wrought iron standpipe for the Baton Rouge water works, dating to 1888. Now you know why a random chunk of metal is a national historic site. It's still active and can hold nearly 150,000 gallons.


This 1950s-era sign stands at 3rd and Florida Streets. Unlike most of the old signs on my site, I don't have to fear this one getting taken down just by posting its location.


The old train station, now a museum, is on the riverfront across from the Old State Capitol.


Welcome to the Old State Capitol, a Gothic Revival (if ever there was an archetype for Gothic, it's this) castle erected in 1847 when the capital was moved from New Orleans to be in a more central location. It burned twice during the Civil War while being held by Union troops and was reconstructed as a result, reopening in 1882.


Eagles on the gate, which now predates most of the old Capitol (1854), and friendly lions by the staircase.


The exterior wasn't destroyed in the fire because it's made of stone, so the original 1847 etchings are intact. Around a different door, see the reconstruction history, the politicians, and the politically connected of the early 1880s.


Details on the left and right as I walk in, then further down the hall. Like all good Old State Capitols, this one's had a lot of restoration. But look at these dates: 1938, 1946-7, 1956, 1967-8. That's a lot of work in very little time.


Details of the elegant interior. The spiral staircase and stained glass dome were added during the 1880-1882 restoration and are my favorite parts of the structure. Click on the last photo for an extra stainy and glassy closeup.


The House of Representatives Chamber. The room is actually brightly lit as in the third photo, but a shorter exposure, which darkens the room, also brings out the colors and avoids blurring the shapes of the windows.


Bits in another room, since this building is also a museum: door handle, Willis Reed jersey (since he went to Grambling State - there are other jerseys, but I'm a Knicks fan), combination fireplace and mirror. This was a functional fireplace for heating, given the metal grate in front.


Some historical signs around the Old Capitol. Click on the Beauregard Town map to see a closeup. Here's the text I cut off: On July 22, 1806, Elias Toutant Beauregard (1759-1809), retired military captain of Spanish Louisiana, auctioned off the first lots of his large plantation, subdivided by Ira C. Kneeland, whose plan was soon rejected for Arsène Lacarrière-Latour's formal "Complete City" concept. Beauregard's village, with grid and radial streets around a proposed cathedral square, was bounded by north, south and east boulevards and by the Mississipppi River.


The current Capitol, which took over in 1932, looks like a combination of the Empire State Building and Alcatraz. It's impressive, in the sense of a 6'-6" linebacker five inches from your face at 20 mph or "Wow, that was an impressive fall from a 300 foot tall cliff." The angels and the eagles look like they've just witnessed the massacre of an entire nation of cute babies and want to take it out on the next visitor to this building.


St. Joseph's Cathedral, within eyesight of the Capitol and far more welcoming.

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