page_title: Spanish Town, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
section_title: History of Spanish Town, Baton Rouge
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish Town, Baton Rouge, Louisiana / History of Spanish Town, Baton Rouge
caption_attribution_description: English: Stewart-Dougherty House This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 73000865
context_page_description: Spanish Town is a historic district anchored by Spanish Town Road in Baton Rouge, the capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is well known for its annual Mardi Gras parade, which is the largest in Baton Rouge.
  Spanish Town was commissioned in 1805. It is the oldest neighborhood in Baton Rouge, and its 49.4 acres area, comprising 258 contributing properties, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 31, 1978. The area has gone through many developmental changes, and its surviving structures range in date from 1823 to 1975. The oldest structure is the Pino House. The individually listed Potts House and Stewart-Dougherty House are also part of the historic district since the time of its creation.
  The area is home to a variety of people from many different social classes. Spanish Town was at one time particularly renowned for possessing a higher-than-average proportion of gay residents, though this has waned over the years with urban gentrification.
context_section_description: The neighborhood of Spanish Town was commissioned in 1805 by Don Carlos de Grand Pré. According to the Baton Rouge State Times (Oct. 18, 1980), "When Galvez Town, twenty miles southeast of Baton Rouge, was ceded in the Louisiana Purchase to the United States in 1803, the Canary Islanders who lived there asked to come to Baton Rouge in order to continue living on Spanish soil. In 1805, Carlos de Grand Pré (Charles Grandpre), administrator of the Baton Rouge District, drew up the layout of an area east of the fort 'out of cannon shot' that became known as Spanish Town."
  Much of Spanish West Florida, though part of New Spain after about 1780, was actually inhabited by people of English descent, who disliked being under Spanish rule. The city of Baton Rouge was a mainly Anglo area, but the settling of Spanish Town allowed the Spanish citizens a place for their culture and language to thrive.
  The American Civil War brought destruction to the area and left only a few homes and buildings standing, and the area was mostly abandoned. In the years following the Civil War, Spanish Town was mostly populated by African Americans, many of them freed slaves looking for work in Baton Rouge. Homes and churches were built, and the neighborhood grew busier.
  The founding of Louisiana State University had an influence on the area, which, between 1890 and 1920, grew to inhabit and cater to students and faculty of the university.
caption: Stewart-Dougherty House at 741 North Street
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot S2 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.3", "Image DateTime": "2008:01:11 17:21:22", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.4.9", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "252", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2324", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10603", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:01:11 09:31:44", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:01:11 09:31:44", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "133/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "23/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "6", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "81920/9", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "64000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}