Shreveport

Shreveport, Louisiana 

A city in the U.S. state of Louisiana is called Shreveport. After New Orleans and Baton Rouge, it is Louisiana's third-most populous city. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan region, which had 397,590 people according to 2020 census predictions, was the fourth-largest in Louisiana with a population of 393,406 people. Caddo Parish, where Shreveport is primarily located, serves as the parish seat. It extends into the neighboring Bossier Parish along the west bank of the Red River, particularly at Wright Island, the Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park, and Bagley Island. The city has 189,890 residents according to the American Community Survey's census estimates, compared to the United States Census Bureau's 187,593 count from the 2020 census. 

The Shreve Town Corporation, a corporation created to create a town at the confluence of the newly navigable Red River and the Texas Trail, an overland route into the newly independent Republic of Texas, built Shreveport in 1836. This path entered Mexico before Texas gained its independence. As Louisiana's oil was discovered, it expanded during the 20th century and eventually turned into a hub for the nation's oil sector. Up to the 1960s and 1980s, the city was home to the corporate offices of Standard Oil of Louisiana (acquired by Standard Oil of New Jersey and now a part of ExxonMobil) and United Gas Corporation (now a part of Pennzoil). It battled with a dwindling population, poverty, drug use, and violent crime with the loss of jobs in the oil business, the closure of Shreveport Operations (a General Motors vehicle manufacturing), and other economic issues. Yet, the city is still making an attempt to improve its infrastructure, diversify its economy, and reduce crime. Despite these initiatives, the city saw more homicides than ever before in 2021, breaking the previous record established in 1993. 

The Ark-La-Tex region, where Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas converge, has Shreveport as its economic, educational, and cultural hub. Louisiana Baptist University, Centenary College of Louisiana, Louisiana State University, Louisiana Tech University, and Southern University in Shreveport are all located there. Bossier Parish Community College is located in the nearby city of Bossier City. It is a component of the I-20 Cyber Corridor, which connects the Louisiana cities of Shreveport, Bossier City, Ruston, Grambling, and Monroe with Dallas, Tyler, and Atlanta. Amazon, Regions Financial Corporation, JPMorgan Chase, Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, AT&T Mobility, United Parcel Service, Walmart, Chick-fil-A, Waffle House, SWEPCO, General Electric, UOP LLC, Calumet Specialty Products Partners, and APS Payroll are among the businesses with sizable operations or headquarters in Shreveport. 

Geography 

Northwestern Louisiana is where Shreveport is situated. The intersection of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas is at its center. It is also a part of the I-20 Cyber Corridor, which connects the technologically advanced metropolises of Dallas-Fort Worth, Shreveport-Bossier, Greater Monroe, and Greater Atlanta. The distance between Shreveport and Dallas is 188 miles (303 km), Tyler is 98 miles (158 km), Marshall is 41 miles (66 km), Little Rock is 215 miles (346 km), Texarkana is 73 miles (117 km), Baton Rouge is 250 miles (400 km), Monroe is 99 miles (159 km), Ruston is 69 miles (111 km), and Minden is 30 miles (48 km) away. The city serves as the transportation center for North Louisiana and the Ark-La-Tex due to its close proximity to other adjacent cities. 

Caddo Parish's parish seat is Shreveport. Parts of the city border Bossier City and the nearby Bossier Parish. Shreveport is perched on a low bluff above the Red River. Shreveport's western and northern regions are elevated above sea level by more than 253 feet (77 meters). On the fringes of the city are pine forests, cotton fields, wetlands, and canals. The city has a total area of 122.35 sq mi (316.88 km2), of which 107.14 sq mi (277.48 km2) is land and 15.21 sq mi (39.40 km2) is water, according to the United States Census Bureau in 2010. 

Cityscape 

From the middle of the 1990s, Shreveport has been a significant gaming hub with a subdued downtown cityscape. The "Streetscape" project offered Shreveport's downtown conventional brick walkways, statues, sculptures, and mosaics. It was inspired by the introduction of riverboat gaming. Neon lights illuminated the Texas Street bridge known as the O.K. Allen Bridge. Since then, Downtown Shreveport has had minimal alterations up to the 2010s; however, from the middle of the 2010s, the entire city of Shreveport has witnessed road improvements, with more ongoing in 2018. Buildings in the downtown and surrounding districts of Shreveport were refurbished in 2018 as a result of new investments. Plans for the I-49 Connection and more city redevelopment were presented in 2020. 

Climate 

The climate in Shreveport is humid subtropical (Köppen classification Cfa). The average annual rainfall is over 51 inches (1,300 mm), with monthly averages varying from less than 3 inches (76 mm) in August to more than 5 inches (130 mm) in June. Rainfall is plentiful. During the spring and summer, the region is frequently hit by severe thunderstorms that bring torrential rain, hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. Averaging 35 days per year of freezing or below-freezing temperatures, with the possibility of ice and sleet storms, the winter months are often mild. 

With maximum temperatures above 90 °F (32 °C) on average 91 days a year and high to very high relative average humidity, the summer months are hot and muggy. From 5 °F (21 °C) on February 12, 1899, to 110 °F (43 °C) on August 18, 1909, the severe temperatures vary. The National Weather Service has a branch in Shreveport that provides forecasts and warnings for the larger Ark-La-Tex area. 

Economy 

Standard Oil of Louisiana was previously situated in Shreveport, which was once a significant player in the oil industry in the United States. Afterwards, Standard Oil of New Jersey took over the Louisiana branch. Shreveport served as the corporate headquarters for United Gas Corporation, the busiest pipeline operator in the country and a sizable integrated oil corporation, which was founded in 1930. In 1968, Pennzoil carried out a hostile takeover and compelled a merger. The oil and gas sector had a severe economic collapse in the 1980s. This had tremendous impact on the entire regional economy, and many businesses either slashed staff or went out of business, including South Park Mall, a sizable retail shopping center that shut down in the late 1990s. Summer Grove Baptist Church converted its primary facilities for usage by the church. This recession had a significant negative impact on Shreveport, and many people moved out. 

Since then, Shreveport's economy has mostly changed to one based on services. Particularly, the gambling sector has experienced considerable growth. The city is home to a number of riverboat casinos, and before to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it ranked second only to New Orleans in terms of tourism in Louisiana. One of the three horse racetracks in the state, Louisiana Downs, is located close to Bossier City. The Sam's Town, Bally's, Horseshoe, Boomtown, and Margaritaville casinos are located in Shreveport-Bossier. 2020 saw the closure of Diamond Jacks Casino (formerly Isle of Capri). The region's official tourism information provider is the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourism Bureau. The bureau keeps a thorough database of eateries, lodgings, sights, and events. 

The Louisiana Boardwalk, a 550,000-square-foot (51,000 m2) shopping and entertainment center, debuted in May 2005 in Bossier City, directly across from the heart of Shreveport. There are outlet stores, a number of dining options, a 14-screen movie theater, a bowling alley, and Bass Pro Shops there. 

On the Downtown Riverfront of Shreveport, a 350,000 square foot (33,000 m2) convention center was finished. It has an 800-space parking garage and is run by SMG. In June 2007, a Hilton Hotel opened nearby. Its construction and ownership by the city, which has raised questions about the use of public monies, have been contentious issues. 

A significant medical hub for the area and state is Shreveport. The former Confederate Memorial Medical Center's expanded facilities are now home to the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport. The Shriners Hospital for Children, Christus Highland Medical Center, and Willis Knighton are all significant medical facilities. 

The Haynesville Shale was the focus of much enthusiasm as of November 2008, with many new employments in the natural gas business anticipated to be created over the following several years. Large bonuses have been paid to locals in exchange for signing mineral rights leases with a maximum value of $25,000 per acre. Unfortunately, the economic crisis has led to lower natural gas market prices and slower than anticipated drilling activity. The city anticipated that in the near future, as other nearby towns had previously done, it would be possible to make money by leasing the mineral rights on public properties. 

Shreveport Operations, a General Motors facility near Shreveport, shut down in August 2012. The facility built the Isuzu i-Series, Hummer H3 series, GMC Canyon, and Chevrolet Colorado. Elio Motors leased the facility from Caddo Parish in January 2013. Along with GM, other notable large corporations that have or currently operate manufacturing, assembly, or production facilities or operations in Shreveport include: General Electric (producing electric transformers); Western Electric (manufacturing payphones; at its peak, employed 7,500 people; changed ownership over time; closed in 2001); Honeywell UOP; Libbey-Owens-Ford; and Beaird-Poulan (creator of and, for decades, the sole producer of the single-op switch); (a subsidiary of The Manitowoc Company). Around 5% of occupations in Shreveport were in manufacturing and other industries that produced goods in 2017, compared to 8% of the workforce nationwide who were in manufacturing. 

JPMorgan Bank, Capital One, and Regions Financial Corporation have regional offices in Shreveport's downtown and the nearby districts and neighborhoods, in addition to the city's manufacturing, gaming, and hotel sectors. AT&T, which is based in Dallas-Fort Worth, Metro Atlanta, and Verizon Communications, which is located in New York, are also widely used in the city. The regional headquarters of AT&T are situated in the heart of Shreveport. There are locations for Walmart, Lamar Advertising Company, Target, Best Buy, and United Parcel Service all across Shreveport. A fulfillment center will open in 2021, according to plans shared by Amazon and Governor Edwards. In 2021, Amazon started building the $200 million fulfillment center, and it should be finished by the end of 2022. One thousand direct employment were predicted to be generated by the fulfillment center. Along with Amazon, additional company investments made in the early 2020s helped the local and metropolitan economies grow and revive by more than $750 million. 

Mall St. Vincent received a $16.5 million investment from the local government in 2014. Shreveport was named the "#1 place to start a business" in 2015 by Fortune magazine. Gymboree and Grimaldi's Pizza stopped operating in the mall Saint. Vincent in 2017, and Sears has now followed suit as of 2018. Advanced Aero Services intended to establish a location at Shreveport Regional Airport in 2020. The Shreveport Economic Recovery Task Force unveiled a revitalization strategy with a particular emphasis on the downtown area on July 31, 2020. 

Sports 

Since 1911, college football games have routinely taken place at the state fairgrounds (and later Independence Stadium, formerly State Fair Stadium) during the Louisiana State Fair. These games are now known as the Red River State Fair Classic. The annual Independence Bowl for college football has been held at Independence Stadium since 1976. Moreover, Independence Stadium periodically serves as the home of football games for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. A few football teams that are no longer in existence played in Shreveport. Midway through the 1974 season, the professional World Football League's Houston franchise moved to Shreveport and changed its name to the Shreveport Steamers. However, the franchise and the WFL dissolved midway through the 1975 season. 

During 1979 and 1981, a different squad known as the Shreveport Steamers participated in the American Football Association. The Shreveport Pirates, a dismal professional Canadian Football League team that debuted in 1994 but collapsed following the 1995 season, played their home games at Shreveport's Independence Stadium. Shreveport has a long history of baseball. From 1968 until 2002, the city was home to connected Minor League Baseball clubs. The Texas League's Shreveport Captains was the group that stood out the most. Since 1895, Shreveport's baseball clubs have changed their names eight times and played in seven different leagues. The Shreveport-Bossier Captains, the last independent minor league baseball team to play in Shreveport, ceased operations in 2011 and relocated to Laredo, Texas. 

Soccer and basketball have a long history in the city. In 1994 and 1995, the Shreveport Crawdads and Storm played in the Continental Basketball Association. Before moving to Owensboro, Kentucky, the Shreveport-Bossier Mavericks of the American Basketball Association played from 2013 to 2015. Since 2021, the Mavericks have returned as the Shreveport Mavericks of The Basketball League. In 1998, the Shreveport/Bossier Lions competed as United Soccer League affiliates. Shreveport Rafters FC, an affiliate of the NPSL, ran from 2016 to 2018; its WPSL expansion squad ran for one season in 2017. Prior to the city council's denial, Shreveport almost had a USL expansion franchise in 2020; nevertheless, USL League Two announced the founding of Blue Goose SC in 2022. 

A New Orleans Pelicans NBA G League affiliate was previously contemplated for the city. The idea was rejected by the municipal council in a unanimous vote. Since 2016, the Tier II junior ice hockey team known as the Shreveport Mudbugs has participated in the North American Hockey League. The Centenary Gentlemen and Ladies are Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference participants in NCAA Division III. The Red River Athletic Conference is home to the LSU-Shreveport Pilots, an NAIA team. 

Population 

The city of Shreveport is situated in Louisiana's Caddo Parish. It is the 149th largest city in the United States and the third largest in Louisiana with a projected population of 184,077 in 2023. Shreveport's population has fallen by -1.87% since the most recent census, which showed a population of 187,593 in 2020. Currently, the city is deteriorating at a pace of -0.63% annually. Shreveport, which spans more than 123 miles, has a population density of 1,715 persons per square mile 

Shreveport has a poverty rate of 30.34% and a $62,756 average household income. The median monthly cost of rent in recent years has been, and the median value of a home is. In Shreveport, the median age is 36.1 years, 34.2 years for men and 38 years for women. 

Along the Red River and extending into a portion of Bossier Parish, Shreveport is situated in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. After New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Shreveport is the third-largest city in Louisiana and is a component of the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area.