| OCTOBER 1-15 |
October 1, 1894
Today in 1894, St. Vincent's Academy was founded by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and opened at the
corner of North Street and Fourth Street. The school was named in recognition of the Society of St. Vincent de
Paul, who helped organize and establish the school. The original site of the school was an old frame building,
and the enrollment was 106 students, which grew to approximately three hundred students in the 1920’s. In
1929, St. Vincent’s would change its name to Catholic High School and move into a larger facility on North
Street. A state office building now occupies the site.
October 2, 1991
Today in 1991, Baton Rouge became a one-daily newspaper town. In 1904, William Hamilton of Shreveport
bought The Advocate, which had been publishing several issues during the course of the day since 1842. He
changed the name to the Times and began publishing in the afternoon. About the same time, another paper,
The State, secured the state printing contract, bought the Times and changed the name to the State-Times.
Charles P. Manship, Sr., who had been writing for the paper, bought the State-Times in 1909 and the Advocate
the next year. 133 employees of State-Times lost their jobs when the state's largest afternoon newspaper
folded.
October 3, 1931
Let there be light! LSU played its first night game at Tiger Stadium tonight in 1931. The Springhill Badgers from
Alabama provided the first nocturnal feeding for the Tigers, and five thousand fans turned out to watch the
game in a constant drizzle. LSU held its best players in reserve until the fourth quarter against the overmatched
opponent and pummeled the Badgers, 35-0. W. J. Spencer, the sports editor of The Advocate wrote the next
day, “But you can have your night football. The entire night layout has demoralized our office. But if the fans
take to it, we will be in there to suffer.”
October 4, 1943
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, born Hubert Gerold Brown and known as H. Rap Brown, was born in Baton Rouge
today in 1942. In the 1960’s, Brown was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,
and during a short-lived alliance between SNCC and the Black Panther Party, he served as their minister of
justice. He is perhaps most famous for his proclamations during that period that "violence is as American as
cherry pie" and that "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down." He is currently serving a life
sentence in Georgia for shooting two Fulton County Sheriff's deputies. One deputy, Ricky Kinchen, died in the
shooting.
October 5, 1997
The Grand Opening of the Mall of Louisiana was celebrated this month in 1997. The center cost $300 million to
build and was developed by Jim Wilson & Associates, who had earlier developed the Riverchase Galleria in
Birmingham. Prior to the grand opening of the mall, Sears and J. C. Penney jumped the gun and opened a
week before other stores. The other three anchor tenants, Maison Blanche, Dillard’s and McRae’s and 150
other stores opened a week later. Over the years, Maison Blanche would become Macy's, and McRae’s would
be bought by Dillard's, which it would remodel and operate separate stores in the mall for men’s and women’s
fashions.
October 6, 1975
Today in 1975, the State-Times reported that more than two hundred families of Vietnamese refugees had
made their way to Baton Rouge after the fall of Saigon and the South Viet Nam government earlier in the year.
These families were among the first of the 800,000 Vietnamese who would escape the country between 1975
and 1979. 130,000 of them would eventually settle in the United States. Pam Trahan, resettlement coordinator
for the Diocese of Baton Rouge said that the Catholic Church alone had resettled forty-two families of 199
refugees in the area. Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Seventh-Day Adventists also sponsored families
from refugee camps.
October 7, 1977
The Grand Opening of the Riverside Centroplex was celebrated with two days of festivities that began tonight
in 1977. Three thousand formally-clad guests shuffled across the floor and through the concourses of the
arena, thinking perhaps, of the rabbit ears and balloon hats they’d need to purchase before the Steve Martin
concert a couple of months later. The next day, Bishop Stanley Ott would bless the building, Earl Taylor of
Southern University would sing, dignitaries would be recognized, and Senator Russell Long and Governor
Edwin Edwards spoke and assisted in the cutting of the ribbons. Raising Cane’s would purchase naming rights
to the building in 2016.
October 8, 1988
Tonight in 1988, 79,431 delirious fans at Tiger Stadium (less a couple of thousand Auburn fans) erupted in
cheers when LSU scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Hodson to Eddie Fuller, and went ahead
of the fourth-ranked Tigers with less than two minutes left in the game. But it would be the next morning before
the game got its name. The “eruption” registered as an earthquake by a seismograph located in LSU’s Howe-
Russell Geoscience Complex around 1,000 feet from the stadium. The seismograph reading was discovered by
LSU seismologist Don Stevenson and student worker Riley Milner. The legend of "The Earthquake Game” was
born.
October 9, 1763
This week in 1763, British monarch George III proclaimed the British colony of West Florida. The province
would consist of parts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Parishes of Louisiana. George
proclaimed that henceforth, the French fort at Baton Rouge would be called Fort New Richmond. For all of his
grand words and plans to strengthen the fort, George and the British weren’t much interested in Baton Rouge.
Their interest in West Florida began and ended at the harbor at Pensacola which was declared to be a perfect
base for their Caribbean fleet. Fort New Richmond would fall to the Spanish sixteen years later in 1779.
October 10, 1973
This week in 1973, OPEC announced an oil boycott of the United States due to America’s support for Israel in
the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The price of a barrel of oil soared from $3.00 to over $12.00 and a gallon of
gasoline spiked from 38 to 55 cents. In Baton Rouge and across the country, lines of cars waiting to buy gas,
rationing and harsh words ensued. President Nixon urged conservation and signed legislation to establish
permanent daylight savings time, and Governor Edwards suggested that maybe Louisiana should think about
requiring that the gasoline produced in Louisiana should stay here.
October 11, 1926
Today in 1926, Baton Rouge native Governor Henry L. Fuqua died in office, halfway into his term. After
working in the engineering and hardware industry, he established his own business, the Fuqua Hardware
Company. From 1916 to 1924, he served as the warden of the Louisiana State Prison at Angola. Fuqua
entered politics in 1924, winning the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and defeating Public Service
Commissioner Huey Long and House Speaker Hewitt Bouanchaud to succeed Governor John M. Parker.
During his tenure, Anti- Klan legislation was sanctioned that secured harsh penalties for anyone wearing a
mask or anyone committing a crime while masked.
October 12, 1943
Today in 1943, Baton Rougeans were given a weather forecast. For the past year, newspapers and radio
stations were limited to providing weather conditions in their own state and up to four surrounding states. As
the Americans’ situation in World War II improved, the Office of Censorship relaxed restrictions on the
publication and radio broadcast of weather forecasts. The office emphasized that only official forecasts could
be provided, ruling out prognosticators and their long-range predictions. Also, mentioning wind direction and
barometric pressure would still be prohibited, except in emergencies. On the next day, newspaper readers were
delighted to be informed that it was unseasonably warm in Chicago.
October 13, 1903
F. G. Clark was born in Baton Rouge today in 1903. Felton Grandison Clark was the son of Joseph Samuel
Clark, the first president of Southern University. He received his early education on the Baton Rouge
Academy, where both of parents worked. After college, he taught at Wiley College in Texas for a couple of
years before coming to Southern to teach child psychology, philosophy and sociology in 1927. In 1938, he
would succeed his father as president of the university. Over the fifty-four tenure of father and son, Southern’s
faculty would grow from seven to over a thousand, and the student body would grow from 70 to over 14,000.
October 14, 1980
Before it was NoGo or SoGo, it was just Beauregard Town, and it was added to National Register of Historic
Places today in 1980. In 1806, Captain Elias Beauregard subdivided his plantation into 60' x 120' lots, which he
originally called Beauregard Village. With a unique street configuration, it was envisioned as a new
administrative center for the growing city as well as its elite new residential area. Original plans called for a
cathedral square in the middle of what would become Government Street, roughly where the parking lot of the
Wesley United Methodist Church is now. Beauregard Town contains the Old State Capitol and other significant
government buildings.
October 15, 1960
Today in 1960, Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy touched down in Baton Rouge in the last weeks
leading up to the Presidential election. The South was not a one-party region that year, and Kennedy
strategized that Louisiana might be one of the few states in the region where his Catholic religion might actually
benefit him. The trip was significant, in that Kennedy came to Baton Rouge on his family’s plane, the Caroline,
on its maiden voyage. He spoke at the Capitol House Hotel on Lafayette Street to a sellout crowd. In the
election, he would carry Louisiana with 50.2 percent to 28.5 percent for Nixon.
Today in 1894, St. Vincent's Academy was founded by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and opened at the
corner of North Street and Fourth Street. The school was named in recognition of the Society of St. Vincent de
Paul, who helped organize and establish the school. The original site of the school was an old frame building,
and the enrollment was 106 students, which grew to approximately three hundred students in the 1920’s. In
1929, St. Vincent’s would change its name to Catholic High School and move into a larger facility on North
Street. A state office building now occupies the site.
October 2, 1991
Today in 1991, Baton Rouge became a one-daily newspaper town. In 1904, William Hamilton of Shreveport
bought The Advocate, which had been publishing several issues during the course of the day since 1842. He
changed the name to the Times and began publishing in the afternoon. About the same time, another paper,
The State, secured the state printing contract, bought the Times and changed the name to the State-Times.
Charles P. Manship, Sr., who had been writing for the paper, bought the State-Times in 1909 and the Advocate
the next year. 133 employees of State-Times lost their jobs when the state's largest afternoon newspaper
folded.
October 3, 1931
Let there be light! LSU played its first night game at Tiger Stadium tonight in 1931. The Springhill Badgers from
Alabama provided the first nocturnal feeding for the Tigers, and five thousand fans turned out to watch the
game in a constant drizzle. LSU held its best players in reserve until the fourth quarter against the overmatched
opponent and pummeled the Badgers, 35-0. W. J. Spencer, the sports editor of The Advocate wrote the next
day, “But you can have your night football. The entire night layout has demoralized our office. But if the fans
take to it, we will be in there to suffer.”
October 4, 1943
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, born Hubert Gerold Brown and known as H. Rap Brown, was born in Baton Rouge
today in 1942. In the 1960’s, Brown was the fifth chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,
and during a short-lived alliance between SNCC and the Black Panther Party, he served as their minister of
justice. He is perhaps most famous for his proclamations during that period that "violence is as American as
cherry pie" and that "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down." He is currently serving a life
sentence in Georgia for shooting two Fulton County Sheriff's deputies. One deputy, Ricky Kinchen, died in the
shooting.
October 5, 1997
The Grand Opening of the Mall of Louisiana was celebrated this month in 1997. The center cost $300 million to
build and was developed by Jim Wilson & Associates, who had earlier developed the Riverchase Galleria in
Birmingham. Prior to the grand opening of the mall, Sears and J. C. Penney jumped the gun and opened a
week before other stores. The other three anchor tenants, Maison Blanche, Dillard’s and McRae’s and 150
other stores opened a week later. Over the years, Maison Blanche would become Macy's, and McRae’s would
be bought by Dillard's, which it would remodel and operate separate stores in the mall for men’s and women’s
fashions.
October 6, 1975
Today in 1975, the State-Times reported that more than two hundred families of Vietnamese refugees had
made their way to Baton Rouge after the fall of Saigon and the South Viet Nam government earlier in the year.
These families were among the first of the 800,000 Vietnamese who would escape the country between 1975
and 1979. 130,000 of them would eventually settle in the United States. Pam Trahan, resettlement coordinator
for the Diocese of Baton Rouge said that the Catholic Church alone had resettled forty-two families of 199
refugees in the area. Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Seventh-Day Adventists also sponsored families
from refugee camps.
October 7, 1977
The Grand Opening of the Riverside Centroplex was celebrated with two days of festivities that began tonight
in 1977. Three thousand formally-clad guests shuffled across the floor and through the concourses of the
arena, thinking perhaps, of the rabbit ears and balloon hats they’d need to purchase before the Steve Martin
concert a couple of months later. The next day, Bishop Stanley Ott would bless the building, Earl Taylor of
Southern University would sing, dignitaries would be recognized, and Senator Russell Long and Governor
Edwin Edwards spoke and assisted in the cutting of the ribbons. Raising Cane’s would purchase naming rights
to the building in 2016.
October 8, 1988
Tonight in 1988, 79,431 delirious fans at Tiger Stadium (less a couple of thousand Auburn fans) erupted in
cheers when LSU scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Hodson to Eddie Fuller, and went ahead
of the fourth-ranked Tigers with less than two minutes left in the game. But it would be the next morning before
the game got its name. The “eruption” registered as an earthquake by a seismograph located in LSU’s Howe-
Russell Geoscience Complex around 1,000 feet from the stadium. The seismograph reading was discovered by
LSU seismologist Don Stevenson and student worker Riley Milner. The legend of "The Earthquake Game” was
born.
October 9, 1763
This week in 1763, British monarch George III proclaimed the British colony of West Florida. The province
would consist of parts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Parishes of Louisiana. George
proclaimed that henceforth, the French fort at Baton Rouge would be called Fort New Richmond. For all of his
grand words and plans to strengthen the fort, George and the British weren’t much interested in Baton Rouge.
Their interest in West Florida began and ended at the harbor at Pensacola which was declared to be a perfect
base for their Caribbean fleet. Fort New Richmond would fall to the Spanish sixteen years later in 1779.
October 10, 1973
This week in 1973, OPEC announced an oil boycott of the United States due to America’s support for Israel in
the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The price of a barrel of oil soared from $3.00 to over $12.00 and a gallon of
gasoline spiked from 38 to 55 cents. In Baton Rouge and across the country, lines of cars waiting to buy gas,
rationing and harsh words ensued. President Nixon urged conservation and signed legislation to establish
permanent daylight savings time, and Governor Edwards suggested that maybe Louisiana should think about
requiring that the gasoline produced in Louisiana should stay here.
October 11, 1926
Today in 1926, Baton Rouge native Governor Henry L. Fuqua died in office, halfway into his term. After
working in the engineering and hardware industry, he established his own business, the Fuqua Hardware
Company. From 1916 to 1924, he served as the warden of the Louisiana State Prison at Angola. Fuqua
entered politics in 1924, winning the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and defeating Public Service
Commissioner Huey Long and House Speaker Hewitt Bouanchaud to succeed Governor John M. Parker.
During his tenure, Anti- Klan legislation was sanctioned that secured harsh penalties for anyone wearing a
mask or anyone committing a crime while masked.
October 12, 1943
Today in 1943, Baton Rougeans were given a weather forecast. For the past year, newspapers and radio
stations were limited to providing weather conditions in their own state and up to four surrounding states. As
the Americans’ situation in World War II improved, the Office of Censorship relaxed restrictions on the
publication and radio broadcast of weather forecasts. The office emphasized that only official forecasts could
be provided, ruling out prognosticators and their long-range predictions. Also, mentioning wind direction and
barometric pressure would still be prohibited, except in emergencies. On the next day, newspaper readers were
delighted to be informed that it was unseasonably warm in Chicago.
October 13, 1903
F. G. Clark was born in Baton Rouge today in 1903. Felton Grandison Clark was the son of Joseph Samuel
Clark, the first president of Southern University. He received his early education on the Baton Rouge
Academy, where both of parents worked. After college, he taught at Wiley College in Texas for a couple of
years before coming to Southern to teach child psychology, philosophy and sociology in 1927. In 1938, he
would succeed his father as president of the university. Over the fifty-four tenure of father and son, Southern’s
faculty would grow from seven to over a thousand, and the student body would grow from 70 to over 14,000.
October 14, 1980
Before it was NoGo or SoGo, it was just Beauregard Town, and it was added to National Register of Historic
Places today in 1980. In 1806, Captain Elias Beauregard subdivided his plantation into 60' x 120' lots, which he
originally called Beauregard Village. With a unique street configuration, it was envisioned as a new
administrative center for the growing city as well as its elite new residential area. Original plans called for a
cathedral square in the middle of what would become Government Street, roughly where the parking lot of the
Wesley United Methodist Church is now. Beauregard Town contains the Old State Capitol and other significant
government buildings.
October 15, 1960
Today in 1960, Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy touched down in Baton Rouge in the last weeks
leading up to the Presidential election. The South was not a one-party region that year, and Kennedy
strategized that Louisiana might be one of the few states in the region where his Catholic religion might actually
benefit him. The trip was significant, in that Kennedy came to Baton Rouge on his family’s plane, the Caroline,
on its maiden voyage. He spoke at the Capitol House Hotel on Lafayette Street to a sellout crowd. In the
election, he would carry Louisiana with 50.2 percent to 28.5 percent for Nixon.
