Photos, video: Take a Huey P. Long walking tour in downtown Baton Rouge
You can't talk about Louisiana's history without an entire chapter dedicated to Gov.-turned-U.S. Sen. Huey P. Long.
Long was gunned down in 1935, but his presence still lingers throughout downtown Baton Rouge. Interested in learning more about Long's legacy in the Capitol City? Why not take a walking tour?
Here are a few photos of places you can visit on your own. Call it a living classroom, where you can still see where Long actually lived and worked.
Enjoy!
An animated display of Huey P. Long in Louisiana's Old State Capitol delivers a loop of several of the governor's famous campaign speeches, including the 'Hipopalorum-Lopopahirum' speech.
In this Nov. 12, 1934 file photo, Sen. Huey P. Long addresses students at LSU. The fiery former governor, U.S. senator and potential presidential candidate was 42 when he was fatally shot on Sept. 8, 1935, and died early on Sept. 10. More than seven decades later, his legacy still stirs debate and mystery endures about the manner of his death.
The Old Louisiana Governor’s Mansion on North Boulevard. Gov. Huey P. Long ordered the former mansion on this spot torn down and built this mansion in its place. It's said that he modeled it after the White House in Washington, showing his aspirations to ascend to the presidency.
The winding staircase in the entryway at Louisiana's Old Governor's Mansion, built by Gov. Huey P. Long. It's said he modeled the mansion after the White House in Washington, DC.
Looking down at the entryway from atop the winding staircase in Louisiana's Old Governor's Mansion, built by Gov. Huey P. Long.
An energy company is looking at building a $426 million "green" hydrogen plant in Ascension Parish. Monarch Energy said it expects the plant would create 44 jobs with an average annual salary of more than $63,000.
Louisiana's Gov. and U.S. Sen. Huey Long's grave is topped by a statue of his likeness in the center of Capitol Park, which fronts the Louisiana State Capitol, of which he spearheaded the construction. Long was shot in the capitol on Sept. 8, 1935, and died in the old Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, which stood on Capitol Lake behind the capitol building, on Sept. 10, 1935.
Looking from the Senate Chambers in Memorial Hall in the Louisiana State Capitol in downtown Baton Rouge. The "new" Louisiana State Capitol building was the brainchild of Gov. and U.S. Sen. Huey P. Long. The Old State Capitol was moving quickly toward obsolescence, and a new building was in order. Long first approached the State Board of Liquidation in January 1930 to obtain $5,000 to employ the architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous, and Seiferth to draw up plans for the building. The capitol was constructed in 14 months, opening in 1932.
In this Sept. 8, 1935 file photo, Sen. Huey P. Long, second from right, turns toward Speaker Allen Ellender, at the Speakers Rostrum in the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge 15 minutes before he was shot down. The fiery former governor, U.S. senator and potential presidential candidate was 42 when he died early on Sept. 10. More than seven decades later, his legacy still stirs debate and mystery endures about the manner of his death.
The display at the site of the shooting of Huey Long at the Louisiana State Capitol.
One of the bullet holes that remains visible in the Louisiana State Capitol since the 1935 shooting of Huey Long.
Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, seen from the terrace just outside Tsunami Restaurant atop the Shaw Center for the Arts, was known as the Heidelberg Hotel when Huey P. Long maintained a suite of rooms on the fifth floor there while governor. It's said he kept the suit to monitor what was happening at the Old State Capitol across the street, the train station within view on River Road the Mississippi River traffic.
Gov. Huey P. Long, wearing pajamas, signing the "Bolton Bill" in his suite on the fifth floor of the Hotel Heidelberg, now the Baton Rouge Hilton Capitol Center.
A linen postcard of the Heidelberg Hotel in Baton Rouge, now known as the Baton Rouge Hilton Capitol Center, where Huey P. Long maintained a suite of rooms on the fifth floor there while governor. It's said he kept the suit to monitor what was happening at the Old State Capitol across the street, the train station within view on River Road the Mississippi River traffic.
Gov. Huey Long and Castro Carazo, his handpicked director for the LSU Tiger Marching Band, penned LSU's fight songs, along with Long's campaign song, 'Every Man a King,' in his Heidelberg suite and played them on the piano in the hotel's top floor ballroom.
A framed photograph stands on one end of a long dining table near the entrance of the tunnel beneath Lafayette Street that once connected the Heidelberg and The King hotels. Gov. Huey P. Long often used the tunnel to cross between the hotels incognito. The Heidelberg is now the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, which opened its side of the tunnel. The King's side, now the Hotel Indigo, has been sealed.
The Tunnel is accessible by both stairs and elevator at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center. Gov. Huey P. Long often used the tunnel to cross between the Heidelberg, now the Hilton, and the King Hotel, now the Hotel Indigo.
The tunnel, for which the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center's The Tunnel events space is named, was called Peacock Alley because of the peacock-colored tiles that covered its floor. Gov. Huey Long often used the tunnel to cross between what is now the Hilton and Hotel Indigo.
Louisiana's Old State Capitol offers probably the most comprehensive history of Huey P. Long in its permanent exhibit dedicated to the governor.
The reception room to Governor's Office used by Huey P. Long in Louisiana's Old State Capitol. The reception area now is home to Louisiana sculptor Angela Gregory's plaster model for the Bienville monument, which stands on the edge of the French Quarter in New Orleans.
The Governor's Office used by Huey P. Long in Louisiana's Old State Capitol when he was first elected to office in 1928.
The Governor's Office used by Huey P. Long in Louisiana's Old State Capitol when he was first elected to office in 1928. Long also used the desk seen here.
A photo of Gov. Huey P. Long at the desk now standing in the Governor's Office in Louisiana's Old Governor's Mansion hangs in the Old Capitol's permanent exhibit dedicated to the governor.
The entrance to Louisiana's Old State Capitol's permanent exhibit highlighting the life and legacy of Gov. Huey P. Long.
An artist's interpretation of the Deduct Box in Louisiana's Old State Capitol's Huey P. Long exhibit. Many claim that every employee who received a job from Huey P. Long was required to contribute a percentage of his or her salary to his campaign fund. Legend has it that the cash was collected and locked in the Deduct Box, which was never found after Long's death in 1935.
Gerald L.K. Smith, Huey P. Long's national campaign organizer, spearheaded a bronze statue of Long after his death. This is the model for the statue by sculptor Robert Edward McCart. It stands in Louisiana's Old State Capitol's exhibit dedicated to Long. The actual statue stands on the grounds of the Winn Parish Courthouse.
An animated display of Huey P. Long delivers the Louisiana governor's famous "High Popalorum-Low Popalorum' speech from a campaign platform in the Louisiana Old State Capitol's permanent exhibit highlighting Long's life, history and death as both governor U.S. senator. Staff video by Robin Miller
A sign for Huey P. Long's U.S. Senate campaign hangs in Louisiana's Old State Capitol's exhibit on the life and legacy of the Louisiana governor.
The .32 caliber, semi-automatic Fabrique Nationale pistol allegedly used by Dr. Carl Weiss to gun down then-U.S. Sen. Huey P. Long is on display in a section of Louisiana's Old State Capitol's Huey Long exhibit dedicated to examining his assassination.
A wrist watch worn by one of Huey P. Long's bodyguards, Murphy Roden, is on display in Louisiana's Old State Capitol's exhibit on Long. Roden said the bullet allegedly fired by Dr. Carl Weiss at Long tore the watch from his wrist. A dent on the watch is said to have been caused by the bullet.
A wrist watch worn by one of Huey P. Long's bodyguards, Murphy Roden, is on display in Louisiana's Old State Capitol's exhibit on Long. Roden said the bullet allegedly fired by Dr. Carl Weiss at Long tore the watch from his wrist. A dent on the watch is said to have been caused by the bullet.
The Louisiana Old State Capitol's permanent exhibit on Huey P. Long includes a room dedicated to his assassination. The room is filled with artifacts from that day, including the gun that Dr. Carl Weiss allegedly used to shoot the governor-turned-U.S. Senator in the new capitol building. Staff video by Robin Miller
The spent .32 caliber bullet, left, was discovered with Dr. Carl Weiss' gun in a safe deposit box years after Long's death. The other bullet was fired in a ballistics test from Weiss' gun. The bullets did not match, leaving the source of the first bullet unknown. Both are on display in the Louisiana Old State Capitol's exhibit dedicated to Huey P. Long.
The front page of The Times-Picayune on the day of Huey P. Long's funeral at the Louisiana State Capitol is on display in Louisiana's Old State Capitol's exhibit dedicated to Long.
The 1935 memorial address delivered in Congress after Huey P. Long's death is on display in Louisiana's Old State Capitol's exhibit dedicated to Long.
Gov. Huey P. Long's painted portrait hangs among portraits of all of Louisiana's governors on the second floor of Louisiana's Old State Capitol.
Does Huey P. Long's ghost linger in Louisiana's Old State Capitol? Well, only in the animated display featured in the Old Capitol's exhibit dedicated to Louisiana's governor-turned-U.S. senator.