ST. GEORGE — This week in WBRZ history, the City of St. George officially incorporated after years of legal battles.

On April 26, 2024, the Louisiana Supreme Court cleared the way for the incorporation of St. George as its own entity, joining Zachary, Central and Baker as East Baton Rouge Parish cities that started their own governments separate from the city of Baton Rouge.

This movement started in 2010 with talks of a Shenandoah neighborhood breaking out of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, but the creation of an independent school district was not introduced in the legislature until 2012, where it failed twice. A similar piece of legislation is currently being tossed around in the legislature.

The process of becoming a city dragged on for years with plenty of opposition.

In October 2019, residents in St. George voted to incorporate, but the city’s official incorporation as the fifth-largest city in Louisiana didn’t come until this week in WBRZ history.

Watch more of WBRZ’s celebration of 70 years of local and community-driven coverage on YouTube at the playlist below: