Shreveport

Shreveport is the third largest city in the state of Louisiana. The metropolitan city had a population of 392,302 in 2000. Shreveport is located in the north west corner of the state where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas meet. The city is named after Capt. Henry Miller Shreve, a river boat captain credited with clearing a major logjam from the Red River in the 1830s, allowing trade to flourish in the region. Barksdale Air Force Base, headquarters of the 8th Air Force, is located across the Red River in Bossier City. The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II are the primary aircraft at the base, which opened in 1933. Shreveport was also a major oil business center and Standard Oil of Louisiana was based in the city until it was absorbed into Standard Oil (Esso) of New Jersey. Shreveport is the home of Louisiana State University in Shreveport (LSUS), Centenary College, Southern University at Shreveport, and Louisiana Baptist University.

History

Shreveport 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.

Shreveport sports

In the 1990s, Shreveport had a professional football team, the Shreveport Pirates, from the Canadian Football League. The Pirates, like all of the American CFL teams, had folded by 1996. Shreveport was a potential city to temporarily house the NFL's New Orleans Saints after Hurricane Katrina, but they instead played at San Antonio and at LSU Stadium in Baton Rouge. The Saints would play the Dallas Cowboys in Shrveport during the 2006 NFL preseason.

Notable people

• John Richard Ballard, judge
• Jack Barham, photographer
• Eric Brock, historian
• Jerry Byrd, sportswriter
• Lane Crockett, former entertainment editor and nationally syndicated columnist for The Shreveport Times
• J. Earl Downs, former Shreveport public safety commissioner
• Craig Durrett, journalist
• Rick Edmonds, state representative from Baton Rouge; native Shreveporter and former resident
• Herman Farr, civil rights activist
• Jerry Gaw, historian; resided in Shreveport, 1978-1983
• B. H. Gilley, historian
• Dallas Greene, fire chief, 1965-1989
• Tim Greening, journalist
• Sarah Hudson-Pierce, journalist and publisher
• J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., former U.S. senator
• A. M. Leary, businessman and politician
• Russell Long, former U.S. senator
• Charlton Lyons, businessman and gubernatorial candidate
• Susybelle Lyons, Shreveport socialite
• Fred C. McClanahan, businessman and Republican politician
• Reuben McKellar, Texas-born planter who served as Shreveport mayor from 1896 to 1900
• C. Wade Meade, historian
• Elmo Norton, businessman and political activist
• Don Owen, newscaster and public service commissioner
• Gene Reynolds, state representative for Webster Parish; Shreveport native
• Charles Scott, former district attorney
• Shreveport Journal, defunct afternoon newspaper
• Ansel Stroud, former adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard
• Harold Terry, former sheriff and marksman
• Randall Webb, former president of Northwestern State University
• Earl Williamson, former mayor of Vivian and long-term member of the Caddo Parish Police Jury
• Jerry Wray, watercolor artist