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Shreveport

From Conservapedia - Reading time: 8 min

Shreveport is the third largest city in the state of Louisiana, with a 2000 population of 392,302 in 2000.[1] Located in the northwestern corner of the state, Shreveport is near the point where Louisiana meets Arkansas and Texas. The city is named for Capt. Henry Miller Shreve, a riverboat captain credited with clearing a major logjam on the Red River in the 1830s; this action allowed 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 the R. W. Norton Art Gallery, Louisiana State University in Shreveport (LSUS), Centenary College, the historically black Southern University at Shreveport, and Louisiana Baptist University.

History[edit]

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.[2]

At the city and parish government offices in downtown Shreveport sets the Caddo Parish Confederate Monument, a 30-foot granite-and-marble structure likely to be dismantled or relocated pending a permanent decision in the United States District Court by Judge Robert G. James. The United Daughters of the Confederacy has claimed ownership of the parcel of land on which the monument sets, but Judge James said no real proof of the claim has been advanced. The removal will be another in a series of politically correct decisions made by southern politicians seeking to apologize to their African-American communities for the Confederate rebellion in the American Civil War.[3]

Shreveport Sports[edit]

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 Shreveport during the 2006 NFL preseason.

The city hosts a minor college bowl game in December of each year, featuring lower-ranked teams.

Shreveport is the home of the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum and the R. W. Norton Art Gallery.

Notable people[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ [1] 2000 Census
  2. ↑ Tom R. Thomas, "A Look at Shreveport's Reaction to the Great Depression, 1929-1935," North Louisiana History 1995 26(4): 125-145.
  3. ↑ Judge's refusal to block statue removal stands. The Shreveport Times (May 15, 2018). Retrieved on May 16, 2018.
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