| | Shreveport, Louisiana, weathered the [[Great Depression]] better than most towns. The city's civic improvement projects, begun in the 1920s and completed by 1930, helped to sustain the optimistic view that prosperous times awaited. Transportation and educational improvements, supported by federal dollars, continued even in hard times. The Chamber of Commerce waged a publicity campaign to boost retail sales and project optimism. The Chamber also established a farmer's market and lobbied for state road funds. Construction at Barksdale Field, at the time the largest airfield in the world, began in 1931. Barksdale provided jobs and injected cash into the local economy.<ref>Tom R. Thomas, "A Look at Shreveport's Reaction to the Great Depression, 1929-1935," ''North Louisiana History'' 1995 26(4): 125-145.</ref> | | Shreveport, Louisiana, weathered the [[Great Depression]] better than most towns. The city's civic improvement projects, begun in the 1920s and completed by 1930, helped to sustain the optimistic view that prosperous times awaited. Transportation and educational improvements, supported by federal dollars, continued even in hard times. The Chamber of Commerce waged a publicity campaign to boost retail sales and project optimism. The Chamber also established a farmer's market and lobbied for state road funds. Construction at Barksdale Field, at the time the largest airfield in the world, began in 1931. Barksdale provided jobs and injected cash into the local economy.<ref>Tom R. Thomas, "A Look at Shreveport's Reaction to the Great Depression, 1929-1935," ''North Louisiana History'' 1995 26(4): 125-145.</ref> |