BATON ROUGE - WBRZ had only been on the air for about a year when tragedy struck the capital city: Mayor Jesse Webb and three others died in a plane crash in Lansing, Michigan. 

Webb left Ryan Field en route to Michigan State University for a national metropolitan conference when the plane crashed and caught fire, killing everyone on board. 

The 33-year-old mayor was three years into his first term. 

WBRZ was there three weeks later — May 15, 1956 — when the Metro Council appointed Webb's wife Mary Jones Webb to finish the remainder of his term. 

She was the first female mayor of Baton Rouge, serving for seven months. 

BREC named the Westdale Country Club as the "Webb Memorial Golf Course" the next year in honor of Webb, Mary, and their family. 

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