Shreveport

Shreveport is a city located on the territory of Louisiana. It is the one hundred and second largest city in the United States. In the city Shreveport live over 179 000 people.

Shreveport city was founded in 1836 by the company Shreve Town. This was a corporation, which aimed to develop the city to Red River. The location was strategic, because there was a connection to Mexico. To this end, the Red River was clean and suitable for navigation. The greatest merit of this had Captain Henry Shreve, who commanded a group of engineers from the U.S. Army.

The company and Shreve Town were named after Captain Shreve. Shreve city is located on land that was sold to the company by local Indians in 1835. In 1839 the town received official city status and its name was changed to Shreveport. Initially the city had only sixteen streets. It quickly became a sailing center, where many boats loaded with cotton passed and it was engaged with agricultural production. At that time, on the territory of Shreveport flourished the slave trade.

In the sixties of the nineteenth century in the city lived over two thousand free inhabitants and over one thousand three hundred slaves.

During the American Civil War Shreveport became the capital of Louisiana for two years - that occurred between 1863 and 1865. During the war, the city was largely under the control of the Confederacy. Confederate President Jefferson Davis tried to escape in Shreveport but was captured.

During the civil war, the women of Shreveport city worked hard to help the soldiers with whatever they can. They made cloaks, clothes and uniforms. The city is constantly sent wool and cotton for the soldiers. Shreveport ladies threw balls, which collected funds to support the troops.

During the Civil War, vessels safely passed through the Red River. The river level dropped dramatically, however, and this led to the stranding of vessels. Only in 1994, the river reached navigable purity and was recovered by the engineering department of the U.S. Army.

On the territory of Shreveport were born and grew very talented jazz and blues musicians and singers. In 1963, Sam Cooke, who was one of the sensations of the city, was arrested after he tried to register a Shreveport establishment in which to enter only whites.

At the end of the twentieth century was launched a project to revitalize the city. The center of town was then completely changed, having been modernized, but it had also added some artistic elements such as statues, sculptures and mosaics. Some bridges were lit by neon lights.