Spanish Town is the oldest neighborhood in the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Placed on the National Register in 1978 and becoming a Local Historic District in 2008, it has a history that is essential to the entire region. This significance is personified by an icon of a lion that appears all across Spanish Town, connecting it to the past and present of the neighborhood. However, this Spanish Town Lion icon has the potential to be so much more.
Founded in 1805, the surviving buildings in Spanish Town represent popular architectual styles from every period of Louisiana’s history. Those range from when the area was a Spanish outpost to the Civil War period to the time when it became a lively university neighborhood. Restorations of many of these homes continue to the present, cultivating attention that allows it to host an annual Mardi Gras parade that is one of the most popular in the state.
The Spanish Town Lion has become a symbol of this activity and history, being incorporated into many of the signs and markers located across the neighborhood. The lion is the symbol of the city of León in the northwest of Spain, connecting the modern neighborhood to the much bigger history of the region and of multiple nations.
However, numerous historic buildings have markers and signs that do not use the Spanish Town Lion icon and instead use imagery far less distinct. Various businesses could utilize the icon in a way that further cultivates the identity of Spanish Town. Rather than a means of identity, the Spanish Town Lion is often incorporated as an afterthought, not coming close to realizing the full potential that it represents for the entire community.
With a connection to the origin of the region, Spanish Town will always be an essential element of Baton Rouge. The Spanish Town Lion has the potential to represent this significance in a profound manner, further connecting the past and future of the entire community.
