diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 84aaaa61e0c2..0dea7da2b2bc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -96,6 +96,8 @@ if the provided arguments are invalid.
 * (keys) [\#4941](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/4941) Initializing a new keybase through `NewKeyringFromHomeFlag`, `NewKeyringFromDir`, `NewKeyBaseFromHomeFlag`, `NewKeyBaseFromDir`, or `NewInMemory` functions now accept optional parameters of type `KeybaseOption`. These optional parameters are also added on the keys subcommands functions, which are now public, and allows these options to be set on the commands or ignored to default to previous behavior.
   * The option introduced in this PR is `WithKeygenFunc` which allows a custom bytes to key implementation to be defined when keys are created.
 * (simapp) [\#5419](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/5419) simapp/helpers.GenTx() now accepts a gas argument.
+* (baseapp) [\#5455](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/5455) An `sdk.Context` is passed into the `router.Route()`
+function.
 
 ### Client Breaking Changes
 
diff --git a/baseapp/baseapp.go b/baseapp/baseapp.go
index 46f3e2649907..3837a34ccc9a 100644
--- a/baseapp/baseapp.go
+++ b/baseapp/baseapp.go
@@ -654,7 +654,7 @@ func (app *BaseApp) runMsgs(ctx sdk.Context, msgs []sdk.Msg, mode runTxMode) (*s
 		}
 
 		msgRoute := msg.Route()
-		handler := app.router.Route(msgRoute)
+		handler := app.router.Route(ctx, msgRoute)
 		if handler == nil {
 			return nil, sdkerrors.Wrapf(sdkerrors.ErrUnknownRequest, "unrecognized message route: %s; message index: %d", msgRoute, i)
 		}
diff --git a/baseapp/baseapp_test.go b/baseapp/baseapp_test.go
index 01996e27ef40..179c80463bc4 100644
--- a/baseapp/baseapp_test.go
+++ b/baseapp/baseapp_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
+	"sync"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
@@ -416,6 +417,9 @@ func TestBaseAppOptionSeal(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Panics(t, func() {
 		app.SetFauxMerkleMode()
 	})
+	require.Panics(t, func() {
+		app.SetRouter(NewRouter())
+	})
 }
 
 func TestSetMinGasPrices(t *testing.T) {
@@ -1443,3 +1447,64 @@ func TestGetMaximumBlockGas(t *testing.T) {
 	app.setConsensusParams(&abci.ConsensusParams{Block: &abci.BlockParams{MaxGas: -5000000}})
 	require.Panics(t, func() { app.getMaximumBlockGas() })
 }
+
+// NOTE: represents a new custom router for testing purposes of WithRouter()
+type testCustomRouter struct {
+	routes sync.Map
+}
+
+func (rtr *testCustomRouter) AddRoute(path string, h sdk.Handler) sdk.Router {
+	rtr.routes.Store(path, h)
+	return rtr
+}
+
+func (rtr *testCustomRouter) Route(ctx sdk.Context, path string) sdk.Handler {
+	if v, ok := rtr.routes.Load(path); ok {
+		if h, ok := v.(sdk.Handler); ok {
+			return h
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func TestWithRouter(t *testing.T) {
+	// test increments in the ante
+	anteKey := []byte("ante-key")
+	anteOpt := func(bapp *BaseApp) { bapp.SetAnteHandler(anteHandlerTxTest(t, capKey1, anteKey)) }
+
+	// test increments in the handler
+	deliverKey := []byte("deliver-key")
+	routerOpt := func(bapp *BaseApp) {
+		bapp.SetRouter(&testCustomRouter{routes: sync.Map{}})
+		bapp.Router().AddRoute(routeMsgCounter, handlerMsgCounter(t, capKey1, deliverKey))
+	}
+
+	app := setupBaseApp(t, anteOpt, routerOpt)
+	app.InitChain(abci.RequestInitChain{})
+
+	// Create same codec used in txDecoder
+	codec := codec.New()
+	registerTestCodec(codec)
+
+	nBlocks := 3
+	txPerHeight := 5
+
+	for blockN := 0; blockN < nBlocks; blockN++ {
+		header := abci.Header{Height: int64(blockN) + 1}
+		app.BeginBlock(abci.RequestBeginBlock{Header: header})
+
+		for i := 0; i < txPerHeight; i++ {
+			counter := int64(blockN*txPerHeight + i)
+			tx := newTxCounter(counter, counter)
+
+			txBytes, err := codec.MarshalBinaryLengthPrefixed(tx)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			res := app.DeliverTx(abci.RequestDeliverTx{Tx: txBytes})
+			require.True(t, res.IsOK(), fmt.Sprintf("%v", res))
+		}
+
+		app.EndBlock(abci.RequestEndBlock{})
+		app.Commit()
+	}
+}
diff --git a/baseapp/options.go b/baseapp/options.go
index 632a97850664..ea3b42ac2451 100644
--- a/baseapp/options.go
+++ b/baseapp/options.go
@@ -135,3 +135,11 @@ func (app *BaseApp) SetStoreLoader(loader StoreLoader) {
 	}
 	app.storeLoader = loader
 }
+
+// SetRouter allows us to customize the router.
+func (app *BaseApp) SetRouter(router sdk.Router) {
+	if app.sealed {
+		panic("SetRouter() on sealed BaseApp")
+	}
+	app.router = router
+}
diff --git a/baseapp/router.go b/baseapp/router.go
index 96386e6eddca..77d2567c6cb2 100644
--- a/baseapp/router.go
+++ b/baseapp/router.go
@@ -36,6 +36,6 @@ func (rtr *Router) AddRoute(path string, h sdk.Handler) sdk.Router {
 // Route returns a handler for a given route path.
 //
 // TODO: Handle expressive matches.
-func (rtr *Router) Route(path string) sdk.Handler {
+func (rtr *Router) Route(_ sdk.Context, path string) sdk.Handler {
 	return rtr.routes[path]
 }
diff --git a/baseapp/router_test.go b/baseapp/router_test.go
index 1a6d999bcce6..86b727568d5d 100644
--- a/baseapp/router_test.go
+++ b/baseapp/router_test.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ func TestRouter(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 
 	rtr.AddRoute("testRoute", testHandler)
-	h := rtr.Route("testRoute")
+	h := rtr.Route(sdk.Context{}, "testRoute")
 	require.NotNil(t, h)
 
 	// require panic on duplicate route
diff --git a/docs/core/baseapp.md b/docs/core/baseapp.md
index 8ef2dbcdfdcc..04dbdfc61b47 100644
--- a/docs/core/baseapp.md
+++ b/docs/core/baseapp.md
@@ -184,9 +184,9 @@ When messages and queries are received by the application, they must be routed t
 
 ### Message Routing
 
-[`Message`s](#../building-modules/messages-and-queries.md#messages) need to be routed after they are extracted from transactions, which are sent from the underlying Tendermint engine via the [`CheckTx`](#checktx) and [`DeliverTx`](#delivertx) ABCI messages. To do so, `baseapp` holds a `router` which maps `paths` (`string`) to the appropriate module [`handler`](../building-modules/handler.md). Usually, the `path` is the name of the module.
+[`Message`s](#../building-modules/messages-and-queries.md#messages) need to be routed after they are extracted from transactions, which are sent from the underlying Tendermint engine via the [`CheckTx`](#checktx) and [`DeliverTx`](#delivertx) ABCI messages. To do so, `baseapp` holds a `router` which maps `paths` (`string`) to the appropriate module [`handler`](../building-modules/handler.md) using the `.Route(ctx sdk.Context, path string)` function. Usually, the `path` is the name of the module.
 
-+++ https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/blob/master/baseapp/router.go
+The [default router included in baseapp](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/blob/master/baseapp/router.go) is stateless.  However, some applications may want to make use of more stateful routing mechanisms such as allowing governance to disable certain routes or point them to new modules for upgrade purposes.  For this reason, the `sdk.Context` is also passed into the `Route` function of the [Router interface](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/blob/master/types/router.go#L12).  For a stateless router that doesn't want to make use of this, can just ignore the ctx.
 
 The application's `router` is initilalized with all the routes using the application's [module manager](../building-modules/module-manager.md#manager), which itself is initialized with all the application's modules in the application's [constructor](../basics/app-anatomy.md#app-constructor). 
 
diff --git a/types/router.go b/types/router.go
index c14255d4ec76..f3593f5530ff 100644
--- a/types/router.go
+++ b/types/router.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ var IsAlphaNumeric = regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$`).MatchString
 // Router provides handlers for each transaction type.
 type Router interface {
 	AddRoute(r string, h Handler) Router
-	Route(path string) Handler
+	Route(ctx Context, path string) Handler
 }
 
 // QueryRouter provides queryables for each query path.