SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA

'Shreveport, Louisiana,' is the third-largest city and the third largest metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Louisiana and the 99th-largest city in the United States.
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It is the seat of Caddo Parish. Bossier City lies across the Red River in Bossier Parish and the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Area population exceeds 375,000. ^[4]
Shreveport is the commercial and cultural center of the Ark-La-Tex, the area where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas meet. Some call it the "Gateway to East Texas;" others have observed that Shreveport sits on the border between the South and the West. The city exercises a great pull over this region. Many people in the community refer to the two cities of Shreveport and Bossier City, which are separated only by the Red River, as "Shreveport-Bossier".

Contents

History

Early settlers

Twentieth century

Geography

Landscape

Climate

Neighborhoods

Demographics

Government and politics

Economy

Education

Culture

Visual and performing arts

Events and tourism

Recreation and attractions

Hollywood South (HoSo)

Sports

Media/press

Military installations

Transportation

Highways and roads

Airports

Notable Shreveporters

References

External links

History

Main articles: History of Shreveport

Early settlers

The town was founded in 1836 by the Shreve Town Company, a development corporation established to start a town at the meeting point of the Red River and the Texas Trail. The Red River was cleared and made newly navigable by Captain Henry Miller Shreve, who commanded the United States Army Corps of Engineers. A 180-mile (289 km) long natural logjam, the Great Raft, had previously obstructed passage to shipping. Shreve used a specially-modified riverboat the ''Heliopolis'' to remove the logjam. The company and the village of Shreve Town were named in Shreve's honor. ^[5]
Shreve Town was originally contained within the boundaries of a section of land sold to the company by the indigenous Caddo Indians in the year of 1835. In 1838, Caddo Parish was created from the large Natchitoches Parish (pronounced "NACK-a-dish") and Shreve Town became the parish seat. Shreveport remains the parish seat of Caddo Parish today. On March 20, 1839, the town was incorporated as "Shreveport". Originally, the town consisted of 64 city blocks, created by eight streets running west from the Red River and eight streets running south from Cross Bayou, one of its tributaries.
Shreveport soon became a center of steamboat commerce, mostly cotton and agricultural crops. Shreveport also had a slave market, though slave trading was not as widespread as in other parts of the state. Both slaves and freedmen worked on the river steamboats which plied the Red River, and as stevedores loading and unloading cargo. By 1860, Shreveport had a free population of 2,200 and 1,300 slaves within the city limits.

During the U.S. Civil War, Shreveport was a Confederate stronghold and the headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate Army. Isolated from events in the east, the Civil War continued in the Trans-Mississippi theater for several months after Robert E. Lee's surrender in April 1865, and Shreveport briefly became the last capital of the Confederacy. Confederate President Jefferson Davis attempted to flee to Shreveport when he left Richmond.
The Red River, opened by Shreve in the 1830s, remained navigable until 1914 when disuse, owing to the rise of the railroad, once again resulted in the river becoming unnavigable. In 1994, the Red River was restored to navigability by the Army Corps of Engineers with the completion of a series of lock and dam structures and a navigation channel. Today, Shreveport-Bossier City is again being developed as a port and shipping center.

Twentieth century

By 1903, Huddie William Ledbetter, aka "Leadbelly", a blues singer and guitarist who eventually achieved worldwide fame, was performing for Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottom, a notorious red light district in Shreveport. Ledbetter began to develop his own style of music after exposure to a variety of musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottoms.

Shreveport was also home to the "Louisiana Hayride" (radio program), broadcast from the city's Municipal Auditorium that, during its heyday from 1948 to 1960, spawned the careers of some of the greatest names in American music. The ''Hayride'' featured names such as Hank Williams, Sr. and Elvis Presley (who got his start at this venue).
The coming of riverboat gambling to Shreveport in the mid-1990s spurred a revitalization of the downtown and riverfront areas. Many downtown streets were given a facelift through the "Streetscape" project, where brick sidewalks and crosswalks were built and various artistic statues, sculptures, and mosaics were added. The Texas Street Bridge was lit up with controversial neon lights, initially accompanied by a green laser which was eventually abandoned.

Geography

Shreveport is located at (32.468003, -93.771115) and has an elevation of . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 305.1 km² (117.8 mi²). 267.1 km² (103.1 mi²) of it is land and 37.9 km² (14.6 mi²) of it (12.44%) is water.

Landscape

Shreveport's landscape sits on a low elevation overlooking the Red River. Pine forests, cotton fields, wetlands, and waterways mark the outskirts of the city.

Climate

Shreveport has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification ''Cfa''). Rainfall is abundant with the normal annual rain just over 51 inches, with monthly averages ranging less than 3 inches in August to more than 5 inches in May and June. Severe thunderstorms with heavy rain, hail and occasional tornadoes occur in the area during the spring. The winter months are normally mild with an average of 39 days of freezing or below-freezing temperatures per year, though ice and sleet storms do occur. Summer months are very warm and humid, with maximum temperatures exceeding 95 degrees about 32 days per year, with high to very high relative average humidity sometimes exceeding the 90 percent level.
''Source: Weatherbase'' ^[6]

Neighborhoods

Shreveport has many different neighborhoods and districts, below is a list of the various areas of Greater Shreveport.


★ Allendale

★ Anderson Island

★ Blanchard

★ Broadmoor

★ Cedar Grove

★ Cross Lake

★ Downtown

★ Ellerbe Road

★ Greenwood

★ Highland

★ Jewella-South Park

★ Hyde Park

★ Lakeside

★ Ledbetter Heights

★ LSUS-University Area

★ Madison Park

★ Riverfront District

★ Shreve Island

★ Shreve City

★ South Highlands

★ Southern Hills

★ Southern Trace

★ Spring Lake

★ Texas Border

★ Queensborough

★ Ingleside

★ Pines Road

★ Mooretown

★ Hollywood

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 200,145 people, 78,662 households, and 50,422 families residing in the city limits. The population density was 749.2/km² (1,940.5/mi²). There were 86,802 housing units, at an average density of 324.9/km² (841.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 50.80% African American, 46.66% White, 0.79% Asian, 0.31% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.45% from other races, and 0.95% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.55% of the population. From 1990 to 2000, the city's white non-Hispanic population declined from 53.6% to 45.9%, a -7.7% decline. By 2004, among all groups, Shreveport lost 0.8% of its 2000 census population.
There were 78,662 households, out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.3% were married couples living together, 21.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.12. Population ages ranked as follows: 26.9% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. The city ranks third in the nation of cities over 100,000 population with significant gender disparity: for every 100 females there were only 87.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were just 82.1 males. According to 2005 FBI statistics, Shreveport ranks 18th in overall crime rate among cities of 100,000-250,000 persons, with a murder rate of 19.6 per 100,000 population.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,526, 72.4% of the national median of $42,148, and the median income for a family was $37,126. Males had a median income of $31,278 versus $21,659 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,759. About 18.7% of families and 22.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.3% of those under age 18 and 16.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government and politics

Shreveport City logo.

Main articles: Politics of Shreveport

Founded in 1836 and incorporated in 1871, Shreveport, is the parish seat of Caddo Parish. It is part of the First Judicial District, housing the Parish courthouse. It also houses the Second Circuit Court of Appeal, which is comprised of nine elected judges representing 20 Parishes in Northwest Louisiana. A portion of east Shreveport extends into Bossier Parish due to the changing course of the Red River.
The city of Shreveport has a mayor-council government. The City's elected officials are: the mayor, and members of the city council.
Under the mayor-council government, the mayor serves as the executive officer of the city. As the city's chief administrator and official representative, the mayor is responsible for the general management of the city and for seeing that all laws and ordinances are enforced.

Economy

Main articles: Economy of Shreveport

Regions Tower, the tallest building in Downtown Shreveport.

Shreveport was once a major player in United States oil business and at one time could boast Standard Oil of Louisiana as a locally based company. The Louisiana branch was later absorbed by Standard Oil of New Jersey. In the 1980s, the oil and gas industry suffered a large economic downturn, and many companies cut back jobs or went out of business, including a large retail shopping mall, South Park. Shreveport suffered severely from this recession, and many residents left the area.
Today the city has largely transitioned to a service economy. In particular, the area has seen a rapid growth in the gaming industry, hosting various riverboat gambling casinos, and is second only to New Orleans in Louisiana tourism. Nearby Bossier City is home to one of the three horse racetracks in the state, Harrah's Louisiana Downs. Casinos in Shreveport-Bossier include Sam's Town Casino, Eldorado Casino, Horseshoe Casino, Boomtown Casino, and Diamond Jacks Casino (formerly Isle of Capri). The Shreveport-Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau is the official tourism information agency for the region. The bureau maintains a comprehensive database of restaurants, accommodations, attractions and events at www.shreveport-bossier.org
In May 2005, the Louisiana Boardwalk, a 550,000 square foot (51,000 m²) shopping and entertainment complex, opened across the Red River in Bossier City, featuring outlet shopping, several restaurants, a 14 screen movie theater, a bowling complex, and a Bass Pro Shop.
A new 350,000 square-foot convention center was recently completed in downtown Shreveport with an 800 space parking garage. An adjoining 12-story Hilton Hotel was recently completed and opened in early June 2007. The hotel has been extremely controversial in that while it is managed by Hilton Hotels, it is actually owned by the city and paid for with public funds. The Shreveport Convention Center is managed by SMG.
Shreveport has started a film industry with its very own sound stage and the largest wave pool for movie production. (See Hollywood South section.)

Education

Main articles: Caddo Public Schools (Louisiana)

'Caddo Public Schools' is a school district based in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States. The district serves all of Caddo Parish.
Its founding superintendent was Clifton Ellis Byrd, a Virginia native, who assumed the chief administrative position in 1907 and continued until his death in 1926. C.E. Byrd High School, which was established in 1925 and is located on Line Avenue in Shreveport, bears his name.
Shreveport has two principal colleges, the Methodist-affiliated Centenary College (originally in Jackson, Louisiana) and Louisiana State University at Shreveport, which opened as a two-year institution in 1967. It became four-year in 1976. There is also the only medical school in north Louisiana: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, which opened in 1969 Shreveport also has one of the largest nursing schools in North Lousiana: the Northwestern State University College of Nursing.

Culture

Visual and performing arts

The R.W. Norton Art Gallery houses incomparable collections of American and European paintings, sculptures and decorative arts spanning more than four centuries.

★ Shreveport Symphony Orchestra

★ Shreveport Opera

★ Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet

★ The Strand Theatre

★ R.W. Norton Art Gallery

★ Multicultural Center of the South

★ Louisiana State Exhibit Museum

★ Robinson Film Center

★ Barnwell Memorial Garden and Art Center

★ East Bank Theatre - Bossier City

★ Shreveport Little Theatre

★ Artspace (Shreveport) Directed by William Joyce

★ Meadows Museum of Art - Centenary College

★ Southern University Museum of Art

Events and tourism

★ Cinca De Mayo fiesta Shreveport

★ Red River Revel is a yearly event featuring local music, food and entertainers.

★ Mudbug Madness a celebration of the crawfish

★ Holiday in Dixie

★ Louisiana State Fair

★ Independence Bowl

★ Louisiana Film Festival - Centenary College

★ Shriner's Circus

Recreation and attractions

★ Louisiana Boardwalk - Bossier City

★ J.Bennett Johnston Waterway Regional Visitor Center - history of Red River

★ Sci-Port Discovery Center and IMAX Theater

★ Water Town USA (Shreveport)|Water Town USA

★ Riverwalk Park

★ Clyde Fant Park named for Mayor Fant (1946-1954; 1958-1970) along the Red River.

★ Cross Lake

★ The Gardens of the American Rose Center

★ The National Rose Garden the world's largest rose garden.

★ 'Azalea Gardens of the' R.W. Norton Art Gallery

★ Touchstone Wildlife & Art Museum - Haughton, Louisiana

★ Yogie and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary

★ Chimp Haven

★ Barnwell Garden & Art Center

★ Shreveport Municipal Auditorium first performance of Elvis Presley

★ Spring Street Museum

★ Pioneer Heritage Center at LSUS

★ 8th Air Force Museum - Barksdale Airforce Base, Bossier City

★ Antique, Classic Vehicle and Firefighters Museum of Shreveport

★ Spirit of the Red River

Hollywood South (HoSo)

Shreveport is among the areas in Louisiana chosen by film production companies to shoot movies, helping it to garner the title of Hollywood South. Currently Louisiana is ranked only behind California and New York in volume of film production. The cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge have also seen more movies filmed in their metropolitan areas:

★ Road House 2: Jake Busey

★ The Guardian: Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner

★ Thief (TV Series)

★ Factory Girl: Sienna Miller and Guy Pierce

★ Premonition: Sandra Bullock

★ Not Like Everyone Else (TV Movie)

★ More Than You Know (originally titled Homeland Security): Antonio Banderas and Meg Ryan

★ Mr. Brooks: Kevin Costner and Demi Moore

★ The Year Without A Santa Claus: (TV Movie) John Goodman, Ethan Suplee and Eddie Griffin

★ Ruffian (TV Movie)

★ The Great Debaters: Forrest Whitaker and Denzel Washington

★ The Mist: Thomas Jane

★ The Initiation of Sarah: (TV Movie) Jennifer Tilly and Morgan Fairchild

★ Harold and Kumar Go to Amsterdam: Kal Pen

★ Blonde Ambition: Jessica Simpson

★ The Better Man: Michael Clarke Duncan

★ Major Movie Star: Jessica Simpson

★ Mad Money: Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes

★ Cleaner: Samuel L. Jackson

★ The Last Lullaby: Tom Sizemore

★ The Pardon: Jaime King

Sports

Shreveport and Bossier City share an af2 arena football team, the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings, as well as a Central Hockey League team, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.
Baseball in Shreveport has an extensive past. The current team is a Minor League Baseball team know as the Shreveport Sports. Baseball teams in Shreveport have gone through 8 different name changes and 7 different leagues all since 1895.
Shreveport had an expansion team , the Shreveport Steamer, of the defunct World Football League in 1974. They played in State Fair Stadium (now known as Independence Stadium) from Sept 1974 till October 1975. The Shreveport Steamer were orginally the Houston Texans and moved to Shreveport in September 1974. In 1974 they had a record of 7-12-1 and in 1975 5-7. Shreveport also had a professional football team in the mid-1990's under the CFL Canadian Football League know as the the Shreveport Pirates. Bernard Glieberman, a Detroit real estate developer owned the Ottawa Rough Riders and in 1994, he sold the team and then purchased the expansion franchise that ultimately wound up in Shreveport. He was allowed to take a handful of Ottawa players with him, including quarterback Terrence Jones. However, the Pirates were another American CFL team that ultimately became unsuccessful. Their first victory didn't come until the 15th week of their initial season, and in 1995, all their victories were against Canadian teams. By 1996 the team had folded.
Shreveport was also mentioned as a potential city to temporarily house the NFL's New Orleans Saints in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, but was passed over for San Antonio and LSU Stadium. The Saints did play a preseason game here against the Dallas Cowboys during the 2006 NFL preseason.
Shreveport has a rugby team the Shreveport Rugby Football Club. It was founded in 1977 and participates in the Texas Rugby Football Union.
Shreveport is also home to an International Women's Football League team. This team, the Shreveport Aftershock, was founded in 2006.

Media/press

The Shreveport Times

Shreveport is served by a variety of print publications. The major daily newspaper serving the Shreveport-Bossier and Ark-La-Tex area is ''The Shreveport Times''. Its headquarters are located in downtown Shreveport. Other smaller non-daily newspapers in the area include ''The Shreveport Sun'', the ''Caddo Citizen''. Bossier City is served by the bi-weekly ''Bossier Press-Tribune''. ''The Bombardier'' is the weekly newspaper of record for the Barksdale Air Force Base. In addition alternative publications include, ''The Forum Newsweekly'', ''City Lights'', and ''SB Magazine''.
Shreveport and Bossier City are served by two major cable television systems: Shreveport is served by Comcast and Bossier City is served by Suddenlink.
Shreveport also is home to several radio and television stations that serve the metropolitan area.

Military installations

Barksdale Air Force Base is located in Bossier City. Headquartered here are the 8th Air Force, 2d Bomb Wing, and 917th Wing. The primary plane housed here is the Boeing B52 Stratofortress. In earlier years, the base was the home to other famous planes, including the B-47.
Shreveport is home to the 2-108th Cavalry Squadron, the reconnaissances element of the 256th Infantry Brigade. Three of the squadron's four Cavalry Troops are located at 400 East Stoner Ave. in a historic armory known as "Fort Humbug".

Transportation

Main articles: Transportation in Shreveport

Shreveport Regional Airport in western Shreveport.

Highways and roads

Shreveport's past reflects the need for mass transit and public roads. As far back as the 1870s, residents used mule drawn street cars that were later converted to electric-motorized cars by 1890. Commuter rail systems in Shreveport flourished for many decades, and rail car lines extended out to rural areas. In 1930, trolleys and and rail cars began to be replaced by buses, although motor buses did not finally replace all trolley service until the 1960s. In the 1960s the Federal Interstate system came to the area with construction of Interstate 20.
The local public transportation provider, Sportran, provides moderately extensive bus service throughout Shreveport and Bossier City. Sportran operates 7 days a week on 17 bus routes (5 night routes) from 6:00 AM to 1:00AM, with no night service on Sunday.
The highway system has a cross-hair and loop freeway structure similar to that of Texas cities like Houston and Dallas. The loop consists of The Outer Loop Freeway Interstate 220 on the north and The Inner Loop Freeway, Louisiana Highway 3132 on the south, forming approximately a 8 mile diameter semi-loop around downtown. Another loop is formed by the Bert Kouns Industrial Loop, (Louisiana Highway 526) and circles further south bisecting Interstate 49.
Shreveport lies along the route of the proposed Interstate 69 NAFTA superhighway that will link Canada, the U.S. industrial Midwest, Texas, and Mexico.

Airports

Shreveport is served by two airports—the larger of which is the Shreveport Regional Airport (SHV). The second airport is Shreveport Downtown Airport (DTN). The Downtown Municipal Airport is a general aviation/reliever airport located north of the Downtown Business District. The airport is located along the Red River and is the original Shreveport commercial airport, dating back to 1931.

Notable Shreveporters

★ Shreveport is the birthplace of many musicians, such as Hank Williams, Jr., famous blues guitarist/singer Huddie William Ledbetter ('Leadbelly'), legendary guitarist James Burton, composer Claibe Richardson, master of blues guitar, John Campbell and the home of concert pianist Van Cliburn, winner of the 1958 Tchiakovsky competition.

★ It is also the home of football stars Terry Bradshaw, Charlie Hennigan, Joe Ferguson, and former football star and actor Alan Autry.

★ Chris Dooley Jr. (born 1989) is an American rapper from Shreveport, Louisiana, who raps under the name Hurricane Chris, or Hurricane. He is best known for his hit single A Bay Bay.

★ Jonathan H. Carter, a North Carolina native, defended Shreveport from Union attack in the Red River campaign of the American Civil War (1864-1865) and became a cotton planter in Bossier Parish thereafter. He died in Virginia in 1887.

★ The criminal defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran was born in Shreveport in 1937. He died in Los Angeles in 2005.

★ The character actress and comedian Pat Carroll was born in Shreveport in 1927.

★ Shreveport was the home of a father-and-son team of newspaper publishers. Robert Ewing and John D. Ewing were publishers of the ''Shreveport Times'' from 1908-1931 and 1931-1952, respectively. John Ewing was also an early owner of KWKH Radio.

★ Dr. Joe E. Holoubek (1915-2007), a Nebraska native, was one of the founders of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, the only medical school in north Louisiana opened in 1969. Holoubek also wrote the best seller ''Letters from Luke'', a biblical novel.

★ Andy Sidaris (1931-2007), a television director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, though a Chicago native, graduated from C.E. Byrd High School and often visited Shreveport long after he had left the city.

★ Less conventional was Thomas H. Welch (1977-2007), the guitarist and vocalist of the radical punk rock group "Raised Under Reagan" which was formed in Shreveport and moved to Colorado Springs and then Los Angeles.

★ Vernon Wells (b.1978) is a Major League Baseball Player with the Toronto Blue Jays who has appeared on two all star teams and been awarded three Gold Gloves for his stellar play in centre field.

★ Albert Belle, former Major League Baseball player.

★ William Joyce (b. December 11, 1957) is an American author, illustrator, and filmmaker. He currently lives with his wife and their two children in Shreveport, Louisiana.]

★ Betsy Boze CEO and Dean of Kent State University Stark (b. September 18, 1953) attended Southfield School and graduted from Byrd High School, 1971.

★ Hal Sutton (b. April 28, 1958) in Shreveport,Louisiana is an American golfer and captain of the 2004 American Ryder Cup team.

★ Todd Walker Baseball player from Airline High School in Bossier City,Louisiana.

★ Chris Elrod, Christian comedian and writer was born in Shreveport in 1966. [1]

★ Country star Kix Brooks is from Shreveport.

★ Television and film actor Kevin Rahm grew up in Shreveport/Bossier, attending Loyola College Prep and later attending Brigham Young University in Utah. He maintains residences in Shreveport and Los Angeles.

★ Avant-Garde musicians The Residents lived in Shreveport until the mid 1960s when they moved to San Francisco.

References

1.
"Shreveport, Louisiana (LA) Detailed Profile" (notes),
''City Data'', 2007, webpage:
C-Shrv.

2.
"Census 2000 Data for the State of Louisiana" (town list),
US Census Bureau, May 2003, webpage:
C2000-LA.

3.
"2005 Census of Governments;" U.S. Census Bureau, webpage:
CB-2005,
p. 9
4. United States Census
5. City of Shreveport's City History
6. Historical Weather for Shreveport

External links

★ City of Shreveport

★ ''The Times'' newspaper

★ Shreveport/Bossier Page

★ National Weather Service Shreveport office

★ Shreveport Retrospective: history in photographs and postcards

★ The Shreveport Rugby Team Official Site

★ Shreveport - Southern Hills Area Weather