Shreveport travel guide — Shreveport tourism and travel information

Shreveport travel guide

about Shreveport

Shreveport, Louisiana is the third largest metropolitan city in the state of Louisiana, USA. It is located in Caddo Parish, and as of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 200,145. Bossier City lies across the Red River in Bossier Parish, and together, the population exceeds 330,000. 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." Shreveport exercises a great pull over this region for example: people in East Texas watch and donate money to the Louisiana Public Broadcasting Service because there is not a PBS station in northeast Texas.

Shreveport geography

Shreveport is located at 32°28'5" North, 93°46'16" West (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 is water. The total area is 12.44% water.

Shreveport 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. An 180-mile 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." 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 made out of 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 was as large as 64 city blocks divided 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 a plethora of NR listed landmarks. In fact, Shreveport is second only to New Orleans among Louisiana cities with many 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 1944 as Barksdale Army Air Field. It came into national attention recently when President George W. Bush was taken there during the September 11th attacks. It also came into national attention when B-52 bombers based from 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 JDAMs 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.

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 1990s 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.

In present time, Shreveport is a very busy metro city, host to various riverboat casinos and second in Louisiana tourism only to New Orleans. Nearby Bossier City also is home to one of the only three horse racetracks in the state, Harrah's Louisiana Downs. The city boasts the world's largest rose garden, appropriately enough called The National Rose Garden. The Red River Revel is a yearly event featuring local music, food and entertainers and draws 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.

Near cities to Shreveport

• Bossier City travel guide 2.4 km
• Marshall travel guide 58 km
• Dodge City travel guide 91 km
• Longview travel guide 92 km
• Texarkana travel guide 110 km
• Natchitoches travel guide 110 km
• Nacogdoches travel guide 130 km
• Tyler travel guide 150 km
• Monroe travel guide 150 km
• Hot Springs travel guide 230 km

Near webcams to Shreveport

• Garland webcam 270 km
• Little Rock webcam 280 km
• Dallas webcam 290 km
• Dallas webcam 290 km
• Housten webcam 340 km
• Housten webcam 340 km
• Housten webcam 340 km
• Houston - Museum of Natural Science webcam 350 km
• New Orleans webcam 450 km
• Memphis - Graceland webcam 450 km

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