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Shreveport, Louisiana is the third largest city and the third largest metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is in Caddo Parish, and as of 2004, the population given by the U.S. Census Bureau was 198,675. Bossier City lies across the Red River in Bossier Parish and the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Area population exceeds 375,000.
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 claim that Shreveport sits on the border between the South and the West. The city exercises a great pull over this region. A good example of this is that people in East Texas watch and donate money to the Louisiana Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) because no PBS station exists in northeast Texas. 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". In fact, they share an af2 arena football team, the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings, as well as a Central Hockey League team, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. The area is the intersection of three Interstate Highways: I-20, I-49, I-220 (loop). Shreveport is also the proposed hub for I-69 (NAFTA Highway) connecting the area to Houston, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee.
History
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 raft of debris had previously clogged passage by Shreve's riverboat, the Heliopolis, that was specially designed to remove river debris. In his honor, the company and the village of Shreve Town were named. On March 20, 1839, the town was incorporated as "Shreveport," and in 1871 it became a city.
Shreveport 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 (pronounced "NACK-a-dish") Parish and Shreve Town became the parish seat. Shreveport remains the parish seat of Caddo Parish today.
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. Today, the 64 block area is the city's central business district and is a National Register of Historic Places listed area.
Shreveport and Bossier City have six historic districts and numerous NR listed landmarks. Shreveport is second only to New Orleans among Louisiana cities in the number of historic landmarks. In particular, the McNeill Street Pumping Station, an 1887 waterworks that is still in use, is a unique example of its type. Also located near Shreveport is Barksdale Air Force Base, opened in 1933 as Barksdale Army Air Field. It came into national attention recently when President George W. Bush was taken there during the September 11, 2001 attacks. It also came into national attention when B-52 bombers based there participated in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their attacks on fixed hard targets and the famed Iraqi Republican Guard Medina Division using state of the art JDAM's and other munitions marked a new era in U.S. air power where precision guided munitions were used more than "dumb" bombs with devastating effect (see Shock and Awe).
The Red River, opened by Shreve in the 1830s, remained navigable until 1914 when disuse, owing to the rise of the railroad as the preferred means of transporting goods and people, allowed it to begin silting up. Not until the 1990's was navigation of the river again possible to Shreveport. Today the port of Shreveport-Bossier City is being developed once again as a shipping center.
Shreveport was home to the Louisiana Hayride, a radio broadcast from the city's Municipal Auditorium that, during its heyday from 1948 to 1960, spawned the careers of the some of the greatest names in American music. The Hayride boasted names such as Hank Williams Sr. and Elvis Presley (who got his start at this venue).
The coming of riverboat gambling 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. Also, the Texas Street Bridge was lit up with controversial neon lights, originally accompanied by a green laser beam which was eventually abandoned.
Geography
Shreveport is located at (32.468003, -93.771115). 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.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 200,145 people, 78,662 households, and 50,422 families residing in the city. 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.
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.
In the city the population was spread out with 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. For every 100 females there were 87.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,526, 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.
Economy
Shreveport was once the oil capital of the United States when Standard Oil moved its headquarters there in the early 20th century. Today the city is a very busy metropolitan city, hosting various riverboat casinos, and it 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, El Dorado Casino, Horseshoe Casino, Boomtown Casino, and Harrah's.
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 and nightclubs, a 14 screen movie theater, a bowling complex, and a marina. 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 is under construction and slated for completion in September 2006. The Shreveport Convention Center is managed by SMG, the world leader in private management of public facilities.
Shreveport was largely unaffected by Hurricane Katrina; however, it did accommodate many evacuees from Southern Lousiana. Since Shreveport is approximately 200 miles (300 km) inland, there has been speculation that some New Orleans residents and businesses who want to move away from the coast in fear of further hurricanes may relocate to the northern part of the state, centered around Shreveport.
In 2005, Steelscape announced it would open one of the largest steel plants in North America on the Port of Shreveport-Bossier and be operational in March 2006.
General Motors has established a large plant in Shreveport. The Shreveport plant manufactures the Hummer H3 SUV, and the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon trucks.
Softdisk, a software and Internet company, was founded in Shreveport in 1981 and published various disk magazines in the 1980s and 1990s, which occasionally included early games by the founders of Apogee Software. The founders of id Software also worked there and lived in Shreveport in the early 1990s.
Education
Higher education
Shreveport is home to four colleges: Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Centenary College of Louisiana, Southern University at Shreveport, and Louisiana Baptist University. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport is a medical school located in Shreveport. Bossier Parish Community College is located in Bossier Parish, across the Red River from Shreveport.Public schools
Public schools in Shreveport are operated by the Caddo Public Schools District.High schools in Shreveport include C.E. Byrd High School, Captain Shreve High School, Caddo Parish Magnet High School, Booker T. Washigton High School (the city's first black high school,) Green Oaks High School, Fair Park High School (which Strohmile Swift of the NBA attended,) Woodlawn High School (which famed NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw attended,) Southwood High School (which Alana Beard of the WNBA attended,) Northwood High School, and Huntington High School.
Middle schools include Caddo Parish Middle Magnet School, Youree Drive Middle School, Broadmoor Middle School, Ridgewood Middle School,and Turner Middle School.
Private schools
Calvary Baptist Academy
Calvary Baptist Academy is a K-12, private Baptist school located on Linwood Avenue in south Shreveport. The school was founded by W.D. "Step" Martin in 1969 as a ministry of Calvary Baptist Church [http://www.calvaryshreveport.org. It graduated over 200 students to post-secondary success from 1969 through 1987. But due to the rising popularity of other schools' magnet programs in the 1980s, Calvary was forced to close its high school program. However, in 2003, Calvary Baptist's Senior Pastor and the school's Board President, Rick Edmonds, petitioned the staff of CBA to begin reinstating the high school grades one by one every year. After the first year of adding the 9th grade, interest in the school skyrocketed, the original plan was amended, and all grades were installed in the 2004-2005 school year thanks to the experience of Calvary Superintendent Ed Hearron and Principal Rhonda Honea.Evangel Christian Academy
Evangel Christian Academy is a private, coeducational K-12 Christian school located on two campuses in West Shreveport.On the Iowa standardized tests, Evangel students scored 10 to 20% above the statewide public school norm, with many students working one to two years above grade level in reading and math.
Graduates from the last few classes have consistently qualified for over $1.5 million in academic, arts, and athletic scholarships to major universities, pursuing such studies as law, politics, languages, business, communications, Christian service, scientific research, and medicine.
Loyola College Prep
Loyola College Prep is Shreveport's Catholic high school for boys and girls. Founded as an all-boys school called St. John's College in 1902 by the Rev. John F. O'Connor, S.J., from the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the school's original location was on Texas Avenue. It relocated to its present location on Jordan Street in 1938. During World War II, the school was a military academy. In 1960 the school's name was changed to Jesuit High School. In 1972 the Board of Trustees hired the first lay principal. In 1982, the Jesuits relinquished control of the school to the Catholic Diocese of Shreveport [http://www.dioshpt.org/ and the school took on its present name in honor of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. In 1987 the school admitted girls for the first time, following closure of St. Vincent's Academy, a Catholic high school for girls.The school has won Louisiana state championships in baseball (1964 and 1974), soccer (1996), football (1967 and 1976) and girls softball (1996). Boys athletic teams are known as the Blue Flyers, girls teams are the Lady Flyers, and the mascot is Snoopy from the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. Loyola is the only school that Schulz gave permission to use Snoopy as its mascot. Recently the school built Messmer football stadium at an athletic complex on Clyde Fant Parkway. Additional facilities to be constructed there will be a baseball field, soccer field and tennis courts.
The academic campus on Jordan Street consists of a three level classroom building constructed in 1938 (including a cafeteria), a four level classroom building formerly serving as a residence for priests, a gymnasium including boys' dressing rooms, and the newest building on campus, a girls' dressing room adjacent to the gymnasium. There is also an alumni office/development center located in a converted doctor's office to the east of the main classroom building.
Regular student print publications are the newspaper, The Flyer, and the annual yearbook, Flight. The development office produces the electronic E-Flyer and ParentFlyer.
Fair Park High School
Fair Park High School is a national historic high school, on record with the United States Department of the Interior. First opened in 1929, Fair Park has seen many changes as a result of the natural course of history. Predominantly an all-white school from 1929 to the 1970s, mandatory desegregation orders forced students, particularly African-American students, into the school by bus. This became known as "busing".Today, Fair Park High is a school of ever-increasing excellence. Each year, the school makes progress in the areas of math, English, science, and the arts. In addition, the school emphasizes medicine. Medical Careers Magnet is a program based at Fair Park that is separate from the actual high school. The program has its own set of admission requirements, as one does not have to attend the high school to attend the program for a half-day for the medical classes. The program became active in 1982. It currently is a member of the Vocational and Technical Industrial Association of America. The program produces leaders in the field of medicine, especially in the Shreveport area. Graduates from the program go on to attend Howard University Medical School, Louisiana State University Medical School, and Tulane University Medical School. The program also produces those who follow different paths to public service, such as politics and law.
Beginning in the 1990s, Fair Park's band has become known as one of the top bands in the state. The band is referred to as a Discipline Pride Organization (DPO). The Sequoyah Indian mascot is a regular at the athletic events.
The school's graduates go on to attend top universities, such as Loyola University-New Orleans and Tulane University. Many notables in the community have graduated from there, including Reverend Theron Jackson, Reverend Timothy Jones, and Reverend Patrick Dennis.
Caddo Parish Middle Magnet School
Caddo Parish Middle Magnet School, a performing arts school serving sixth through eighth graders from across Caddo Parish, is commonly known as Caddo Middle Magnet. Caddo Middle Magnet, home of the Stallions, ranked first among public middle schools in Louisiana on state standardized test scores for 2003-2004. Annual festivals include Colonial Days, Oktoberfest, Mardi Gras, and the Renaissance Fair.Media
Television
Shreveport and Bossier City are served by two major cable television systems: Shreveport is served by Time Warner Cable and Bossier City is served by Cox Communications.Shreveport is served by several local television stations including:
| Call Letters | Channel | Network | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| KTBS | 3 | ABC | KTBS, Inc. |
| KTAL | 6 | NBC | Nexstar Broadcasting |
| KSLA | 12 | CBS | Raycom Media |
| KLTS | 24 | PBS | Louisiana Public Broadcasting |
| KPXJ | 21 | UPN | KTBS, Inc. |
| KMSS | 33 | Fox | Communications Corp of America |
| KADO-LP | 40 | ACN | |
| K42FE | 42 | 3AB | |
| KSHV | 45 | WB | Communications Corp of America |
| K54CB | 54 | Independent | |
| K59GO | 59 | TBN | Trinity Broadcasting Network |
In 2004, KPXJ became a UPN affiliate. It was originally an affiliate of PAX (now known as i). Shreveport is now one of a few markets which the i network does not have an afilliate station. i's national feed can be seen on Cox Communications in Bossier City and on Time Warner Cable in Shreveport.
Previously, UPN was broadcast on KSHV, sharing an affiliation with The WB network. UPN programming aired from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m.. Syndicated programming currently airs at that time on channel 45.
KTBS broadcasts a newscast for KPXJ on Monday through Friday nights at 9:00 p.m.. Before becoming a UPN affiliate in 2004, KPXJ aired rebroadcasts of KTBS 3 News daily at 5:30 p.m. (rebroadcast of the 5:00 p.m. newscast) and 11:00 p.m. (rebroadcast of the 10:00 newscast).
Radio
The following is a list of radio stations in Shreveport.AM Stations
| Frequency | Callsign | Nickname | Format | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 710 | KEEL | Talk | ||
| 980 | KOKA | Black Gospel | ||
| 1070 | KBCL | Contemporary Christian | ||
| 1130 | KWKH | Classic Country | ||
| 1240 | KASO | Adult Standards | ||
| 1300 | KSYB | Black Gospel | ||
| 1340 | KRMD | News/Talk | ||
| 1480 | KIOU | Black Gospel | ||
| 1590 | KGAS | Southern Gospel | ||
FM Stations
| Frequency | Callsign | Nickname | Format | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89.9 | KDAQ | Classical | ||
| 91.3 | KSCL | College Rock/Various Genres | ||
| 92.1 | KSYR | Adult Contemporary | ||
| 92.9 | KTKC | Black Gospel | ||
| 93.7 | KXKS | Country | ||
| 94.5 | KRUF | Top 40 | ||
| 94.9 | KSBH | Country | ||
| 95.7 | KLKL | Oldies | ||
| 96.5 | KVKI | Adult Contemporary | ||
| 98.1 | KTAL | Classic Rock | ||
| 98.9 | KTUX | Active Rock | ||
| 99.7 | KMJJ | R&B/Hip-Hop | ||
| 101.1 | KRMD | Country | ||
| 102.1 | KDKS | R&B/Hip-Hop | ||
| 102.9 | KVMA | Adult R&B | ||
| 103.7 | KBTT | R&B/Hip-Hop | ||
| 104.3 | KGAS | Country | ||
| 104.7 | KORI | Country | ||
| 105.3 | KNCB | Country | ||
| 106.7 | KYLA | Classic Country | ||
| 107.9 | KQHN | TBA | ||
Events and points of interest
The Red River Revel is a yearly event featuring local music, food and entertainers, drawing in hundreds of thousands of individuals from across the tri-state area. Other annual festivals include Mudbug Madness, a celebration of the crawfish; Holiday in Dixie; and the Louisiana State Fair. Shreveport hosts the NCAA football Independence Bowl each December.
Shreveport has several points of interest, including:
- The Gardens of the American Rose Center
- The National Rose Garden — the world's largest rose garden.
Famous Residents
Shreveport was the home of concert pianist Van Cliburn, winner of the 1958 Tchiakovsky competition. Cliburn later left the area. It is also the home of football stars Terry Bradshaw and Joe Ferguson, as well as legendary guitarist James Burton.
The character actress and comedian Pat Carroll was born in Shreveport in 1927.
The famous criminal defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran was born in Shreveport in 1937. He died in Los Angeles in 2005.
From November 1972-January 1987, Shreveport was the birthplace of both of Louisiana's then sitting United States senators, Russell B. Long and J. Bennett Johnston, Jr. Today, neither senator comes from Shreveport, but both hail from Greater New Orleans.
Other famous residents include
- Kix Brooks of country music act Brooks and Dunn
- Bill Joyce, a children's author
- Hal Sutton, professional golfer
- David Toms, professional golfer
- Albert Belle, Former Major League Baseball Player
External links
- Official city site
- The Times newspaper
- Shreveport/Bossier Page
- National Weather Service Shreveport office
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