Shreveport

Shreveport is a river port city along the Red River in northwestern Louisiana. Captain Henry Miller Shreve provided the name after leading steamboat navigation improvements in the region. The Louisiana Hayride radio program broadcast live stage performances that introduced country music stars to listeners across North America.

Shreveport Municipal Auditorium staged early live broadcasts of Hank Williams and Elvis Presley after construction finished in the 1920s under architects Seymour Van Os and Clarence King. The Strand Theatre presents touring Broadway musicals inside an auditorium detailed with Italian marble, gilded plasterwork, and Austrian crystal chandeliers. R. W. Norton Art Gallery displays American western bronze sculptures by Frederic Remington alongside four centuries of European oil paintings and antique porcelain. Sci-Port Discovery Center provides interactive physical science exhibits and a domed IMAX theater along the downtown riverfront.

The Shreve Town Company founded the community in 1836 to establish a commercial shipping port at the junction of the Red River and the Texas Trail. Henry Miller Shreve supervised the removal of the Great Raft logjam, allowing cargo vessels to navigate upstream through northwestern Louisiana. Legislative approval granted a town charter before the end of the 1830s. Shreveport became the capital of Louisiana in 1863 after Union forces captured Baton Rouge during the American Civil War. Petroleum extraction expanded across the parish during the 1900s following commercial oil strikes at nearby Caddo Lake.

The Port of Caddo-Bossier transfers heavy industrial barge cargo along the Red River Waterway, receiving raw steel coils, chemical fertilizers, and bulk shipments of refined petroleum coke. Frymaster manufactures commercial gas and electric deep fryers with built-in oil filtration systems, producing computerized stainless steel cooking units for international fast-food restaurant chains. Great Raft Brewing packages craft beers including Southern Drawl pale lager, and Morris & Dickson distributes temperature-controlled prescription medications and hospital supplies to independent community pharmacies across seven southern states.