Louisiana State University Campus

The Louisiana General Assembly founded the university in 1853 near Pineville in Rapides Parish. It opened January 2, 1860, with five professors and nineteen cadets. William Tecumseh Sherman served as superintendent. He resigned January 26, 1861, when Louisiana seceded. The school closed June 30, 1861. Sherman donated two cannons to the institution after the war, captured from Confederate forces after they were used in the initial firing on Fort Sumter. The cannons are displayed in front of LSU's Military Science/Aerospace Studies Building. The seminary burned October 15, 1869. The institution resumed in Baton Rouge November 1, 1869. In 1870, the name was changed to Louisiana State University. Land for the present campus was purchased in 1918. Construction started in 1922. The move began in 1925 but was not completed until 1932. The present campus was formally dedicated April 30, 1926. The campus consists of more than 250 buildings constructed in the style of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, occupying a 650-acre plateau on the banks of the Mississippi River. Under Huey Long, governor from 1928 to 1932, LSU more than doubled its enrollment despite the Great Depression. Dormitories and buildings for departments of music, dramatic arts, and physical education had been completed. The campus is known for the 1,200 live oak trees that shade the ground. Fifty-seven resources were listed in the 95-acre Louisiana State University Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places September 15, 1988. The LSU Campus Mounds were built an estimated 5,000 years ago. They were enlisted in the National Register of Historic Places March 1, 1999. In 2021, the university enrolled over 28,000 undergraduate