re: Older Baton Rouge residents. What lead to the decline of NBR?

The number one cause was white flight due to integration of the schools.

NBR was not a bad place to live in even in the early and mid 60s.

They had a big street program around that time funded by a parish tax and NBR received major street improvements and most of the bigger streets were four laned and the result was a nice grid pattern that you see today.

SBR never got the upgrade and phase II of the plan was defeated at the polls. If memory serves in that plan included the widening of Lee Drive and Dalrymple. Two projects which never happened.

Evidence of SBR neglect of roadways remained until Kip's Green Light plan helped things a lot, but some areas were never fixed (Lee/Dalrymple for example).

Istrouma High use to rival BRHS and was a big deal as was Glen Oaks. Belaire came along strong too but only for a short while. All of these NBR schools declined quickly as the neighborhoods declined.