CADDO Parish
HISTORY: Caddo Parish, originally part of the Natchitoches District, came into existence on January 18, 1838. The parish takes its name from the Caddo Indians, who, in 1835, sold their territory (comprising all of Caddo Parish, parts of Arkansas and East Texas) to the United States for $80,000. Long before the early European explorers made their way into the territory, the tribes of the Caddo Nation were well established in the Red River valley. Along the western border of the parish, the mounds which marked the international boundary between the U.S. and the Republic of Texas still exist. These markers are five feet high and 15 feet in diameter and were erected a mile apart. Caddo Parish was one of the few areas that remained in the hands of the Confederacy during the Civil War. From 1863 to 1865 the new parish courthouse served as the wartime capitol. The last surrender of arms in the state occurred on the courthouse square in Shreveport.
INDUSTRY: Universal Oil Products; Beaird-Pouland; Western Electric; Riley Beaird, Inc.; Kast Metal Corp.; General Electric; Gould Battery; Bingham Willamette Co.; Brewster Co.; General Motors; Vivian Industrial Plastics; Roker Industries; Vivian Manufacturing.
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS: Louisiana State Fair; American Rose Society, Louisiana State Exhibit Museum; R W. Norton Art Gallery; R S. Barnwell Memorial Gardens and Art Center; Pioneer Museum; Oil and Indian Museum; SPAR Planetarium; Land's End antebellum home, built in 1857 by Col. Henry Marshall on his plantation purchased in 1835.
PARKS and RECREATIONAL FACILITIES: Boating and fishing in Caddo and Cross lakes and numerous bayous; 60 parks with various recreational activities.
Shreveport
Shreveport, located in the northeast reaches of Louisiana, was incorporated in 1839. Once a small, thriving river port, today the city is a large metropolitan area serving the Ark-La-Tex area of northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas, and has a combined estimated population of 1,800,000 people. Business booms in this oil, cotton, manufacturing, and commercial center. The city also is a major educational, medical, cultural, and recreational center. Centenary College, Louisiana State University-Shreveport, Southern University, and Baptist Christian College are among the institutions of higher learning. The first inhabitants to arrive in the Caddo region were fur traders. In 1803 Larkin Edwards from Tennessee settled near an Indian village on Coates Bluff, at the eastern end of what is now Olive Street. He acted as interpreter for the Indians in their dealings with the traders. In 1835, as a reward for his services, the Caddo Indians gave him a block of land which now forms the heart of Shreveport. In 1832, the U.S. government engaged Henry Miller Shreve to open the Red River for navigation Shreve was a steamboat builder and inventor, and was familiar with what was then known as the Western rivers. In the spring of 1833, he began the task of opening the Red River of a massive jam of logs called the "great raft." Snags, tree trunks, and drift wood jammed the Red River from bank to bank for a distance of nearly 200 miles. Most engineers said that clearing of this jam was impossible, but Captain Shreve under took the impossible. With four steamboats, two of which were battering-ram type vessels of his own invention, and 159 men under his command, he attacked the "giant raft" on the morning of April 11, 1833. The job was finally finished in 1836. In his final report to Washington, Captain Shreve said, "There has also a town sprung up equal in population and surpassing any on the Red River in amount of business transactions." Thus the way was open for the eventual growth of this large metropolitan area.
BOSSIER Parish
HISTORY: Bossier Parish was carved out of the great Natchitoches District on February 24, 1843. It was named after Pierre Evariste Bossier, a descendant of an early settler and a member of Congress when the parish was formed. Located in the rich valley of the Red River, the parish has long been known for its agricultural production. Barksdale Air Force Base, located in part within the city limits of Bossier City, has been a major factor in the growth of the parish.
INDUSTRY: Playground equipment, mobile homes, oil field equipment and service, concrete and other diversified manufacturing.
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS: Louisiana Downs Thoroughbred racing
PARKS and RECREATIONAL FACILITIES: Programs include swimming pools, recreational buildings, tennis courts, gymnasiums, fishing and boating in Lake Bistineau, Bodcau Reservoir, and numerous bayous.
Bossier City
Bossier City, with the motto, "small enough to care-large enough to serve," is the major city of this northwest Louisiana parish. It was first called Bennett's Bluff (mid-19th century), with two stores located along the Red River-Bennett's Store and Cane's Store. Mrs. Bennett later married Mr. Cane, and the settlement, Cane's Landing, was chartered as a village in 1905. In 1907 it was incorporated as the town of Bossier City, today one of the fastest growing cities in North Louisiana.