Bossier City

Bossier City is the largest city in Bossier Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Though the 2010 census count was 61,315, the 2013 population had grown to 66,333. Bossier City is located on the eastern bank of the Red River across from the larger city of Shreveport. The Shreveport-Bossier region is known as the "Ark-La-Tex".

Bossier City is home of Barksdale Air Force Base and Bossier Parish Community College, which observed its fiftieth anniversary in 2017. it is also a mecca for legal gambling, with river boats and hotels vested in casinos. The current mayor is a Republican, Lorenz James "Lo" Walker, a Shreveport native and retired United States Air Force colonel. The city council consists of five Republicans and one Democrat and one Independent. Bossier Parish is among the Republican strongholds in Louisiana, but neighboring Caddo Parish is usually Democratic in contested elections.

In the 1830s, the land that became Bossier City was the site of a plantation, Elysian Grove, purchased by James Cane. After years of slow settlement while known as Cane City, Bossier City was incorporated as a village in 1906, when Ewald Max Hoyer of Shreveport was appointed the first mayor. Much later Governor Earl Long declared Bossier City a city.

Notable people

• Marvin Anding, mayor of Bossier City from 1977 to 1983
• Walter O. Bigby, highly respected state representative from 1968 to 1979
• Frank Blackburn, Anding's successor as interim mayor, 1983-1984
• Dewey Burchett, Bossier City lawyer and judge of the 26th Judicial Court, 1988 to 2008
• Henry Burns, District 9 state representative from 2008 to 2016
• Jake W. Cameron, mayor from 1957 to 1961
• James Cathey, mayor from 1973 to 1977
• Glenn E. Clark, businessman and local politician
• Raymond Crews, current District 8 state representative
• Ruth Doreck, figure in the Shreveport-Bossier theater community for more than fifty years
• Hoffman Lee Fuller, mayor from 1937 to 1953
• Ryan Gatti, departing District 36 state senator
• Ray Germany, basketball player and coach
• B. H. Gilley, historian; former professor at Louisiana Tech University
• Andy Clay Harris, former pastor of The Church of the Cross Assemblies of God congregation
• James Henderson, president of the University of Louisiana System; former chancellor of Bossier Parish Community Collegemayor
• Thomas Hickman, mayor from 1925 go 1937
• Ewald Max Hoyer, founding mayor of Bossier City as a village, 1907-1910
• Mike Johnson, current 4th district U.S. Representative and resident of Benton
• Fred Lowery, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Bossier City
• Burgess McCranie, mayor from 1953 to 1957
• Robert Mills, incoming District 36 state senator from Bossier Parish
• Mike Nerren, 26th Judicial District Court judge since 2012
• Enoch T. Nix, banker and 30-year member of the Louisiana State Board of Education
• Barrow Peacock, state senator for part of Bossier Parish; a Shreveport businessman
• Rogers M. Prestridge, for city judge
• O. E. Price, municipal and state district and appeals court judge
• John M. Robinson, retired judge of 26th Judicial District
• Buddy Roemer, governor of Louisiana from 1988 to 1992
• Charles E. Roemer, II, businessman, farmer, politician
• Parker Self, chief judge of the Louisiana 26th Judicial District Court
• Jane H. Smith, former Bossier Parish school superintendent and former state representative
• Jeff R. Thompson, circuit court judge and former state representative
• Ned Touchstone, newspaper publisher associated with the "Radical Right" of the 1960s
• David Wade, former commander of Barksdale Air Force Base
• Julian Whittington, sheriff of Bossier Parish
• V. V. Whittington, president of former Bossier Bank and Trust Company, state senator for Bossier and Webster parishes, 1928 to 1932
• M. B. Woodward, mayor from 1910 to 1919
• Monty Wyche, judge of 26th Judicial District, 1969 to 1988
• T. M. Yarbrough, mayor from 1919 to 1921