Bossier City, Louisiana
Bossier City (/ˈboʊʒər/ BOH-zhər) is a city in Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the state of Louisiana in the United States.[3] It is the second-most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area. In 2020, it had a total population of 62,701, up from 61,315 in 2010.[4]
Located on the eastern bank of the Red River, Bossier City is closely tied economically and socially to its larger sister city Shreveport on the western bank. The parish operates its own community college, Bossier Parish Community College.
History[edit]
19th century[edit]
In the 1830s, the area of Bossier City was the plantation Elysian Grove, which was purchased by James Cane and his second wife Mary Doal Cilley Bennett Cane.[5]
Cane had come to the area with his first wife Rebecca Bennett, and her brother, William Bennett, and his wife Mary Doal (née Cille)y Bennett. They ran a trading post across the river on what was then Caddo Indian territory, a portion called "Bennett's Bluff". The trading post partners became a one-seventh partner in the new Shreve Town, which eventually developed as Shreveport.
Like most plantations, Elysian Grove had frontage on the Red River for access to transportation for shipping cotton and other commodities. The Texas Trail crossed the Red River at this point. The trading post on the west side operated a ferry between what would become Shreveport and Bossier City. The plantation loading and unloading dock was later recorded as "Cane's Landing" in the old ferry log books.[6] For a very short time, Cane's Landing was known as Cane City.[7]
The Canes and Bennetts were among the earliest European-American ettlers in the area. Mary D. C. Bennett gave birth to the first white baby of the area, William Smith Bennett Jr. He died at an early age.[8][9]
In 1843, a section of land east of the Red River was divided from the Great Natchitoches District and Claiborne Parish areas and was called Bossier Parish. It was named in honor of Pierre Evariste John Baptiste Bossier, a former Creole general, who became a cotton planter in Bossier Parish.[10] Of ethnic French descent, he was one of the first European settlers in the area after most of the Native Americans had been forcibly removed by the federal government.
In the 1840s, the Great Western Migration of Americans and immigrants from the East and Upper South began. The parish grew in population. Many early settlers passed through the region on their way to the Western U.S. By 1850, more than 200 wagons a week passed through Bossier City, with many travelers from the Upper South intending to settle in Texas.[7] Some of these settlers stayed in Louisiana, attracted by the fertile soil and river valley. In 1850, the U.S. census listed the population of Bossier City (?) at 6,962.
American Civil War[edit]
During the American Civil War, companies of Confederate soldiers shipped out of Cane's Landing aboard steamboats for distant battlefields.[7] Mrs. Cane hosted hundreds of Confederate officers and troops who were heading off to war. Mrs. Cane's plantation was fortified to protect Shreveport by three batteries, with Fort Kirby Smith in the center. The others were Batteries Price, and Walker and Ewell.
Fort Smith protected the area from an eastern invasion.[7] The American Civil War reached Bossier Parish in 1861, and ended in Shreveport four years later, when the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered. In the 20th century, Bossier High School was constructed near the former site of the fort.
Shed Road[edit]
Shed Road, the first all-weather turnpike in the American South, was constructed in the 1870s and operated from 1874 to 1886. It extended for 9 miles (14 km) from Red Chute to the Red River. The elevated and covered roadway led to a plantation that was accessible by a ferry. The covered road made the transportation of goods easier before the arrival of the railroads.[5]
Classification as a city[edit]
Anna B., granddaughter of James and Mary Cane, felt the area would prosper and began promoting the idea of a riverfront city. Anna B. and J. J. Stockwell sold lots in 1883. The area grew quickly, as did transportation through it. At the time, the unincorporated settlement was often called Cane City.
Around 1907, Cane City was incorporated by Louisiana Governor Newton C. Blanchard; the village was renamed as Bossier City. Blanchard appointed Ewald Max Hoyer, a Shreveport businessman, as the first Bossier City mayor. By that time, Bossier City had grown from an area around a square mile to a city containing more than 35 sq mi (91 km2). Continued growth led to Bossier City's being reclassified from village to town by Governor John M. Parker. Later, Governor Earl Kemp Long issued a proclamation classifying Bossier City as a city.[7]
The "golden spike" commemorated the completion of the east–west Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad. It was driven at Bossier City on July 12, 1884, by Julia "Pansy" Rule. It was the first such spike to be driven by a woman. The north–south Shreveport and Arkansas Railroad was completed on April 6, 1888. The Louisiana–Arkansas Railroad was completed on November 2, 1909.[11] The Dixie Overland Highway from the East to the West Coast was built in 1918. These railroads and highways combined to make Bossier City a hub for future activity.
The discovery of crude oil, to the south, in 1908, thrust Bossier City into the nationwide oil boom. Bossier's central location to the rural oil fields made it a major player in the oil patch. Several international oil companies were located in the area. The advantages brought by black gold fueled many civic, social and economic improvements.
A fire on June 23, 1925, consumed one-half of downtown Bossier City.[5] Local citizens were unable to battle the blaze. The loss spurred civic improvements, including a modern water system capable of fighting such fires, a new city hall, a modern fire alarm system, modern sidewalks, and the first city park.
In the 1930s, construction began on Barksdale Airfield (now Barksdale Air Force Base). In 1929 the land on which the base is built was unincorporated property south of Bossier City. The city of Shreveport annexed the land and donated it to the federal government. Through the years, Bossier City expanded, eventually encompassing the area surrounding the base. The first unit assigned to Barksdale was the 20th Pursuit Group. Before World War II, Barksdale was a training school for the Army Air Corps.
During World War II, Barksdale trained pilots, navigators, and bombardiers. Later, the base became one of the key bases of the Strategic Air Command in the new Air Force. Today Barksdale is the headquarters for the 8th Air Force.[12]
In the 1890s, Cane City had a population of about 600. Bossier City in 2012 had an estimated population of over 64,000. First a cotton-exporting river landing, next a railroad town, then an airbase and oil-boom town, Bossier City has become known for its tourism and casino gambling.[13]
Three casinos in the city have financed a number of municipal projects, many completed during the administration of the late Mayor George Dement. Recent improvements include the CenturyLink Center, Louisiana Boardwalk, Benton Road Overpass, and the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway, located along the eastern side of the Red River. Dement also procured Amtrak service between Bossier City and Dallas, Texas.[14]
In 2005 Dement was succeeded as mayor by Lo Walker, his former administrative assistant and mayoral opponent from 1989, the first Republican politician to hold the city's top executive position.[15]
Growth and redevelopment[edit]
On April 20, 2017, in their joint "State of Bossier" address, hosted by the Bossier Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Lo Walker, and Bossier Parish Police Jury President Bob Brotherton described the growth of the city and parish as "outstanding." With a population of 69,000 in a 2015 study by Louisiana State University, Bossier City had become the sixth-largest city in the state and the fastest-growing one.
Walker said that the city and the parish "work extremely close together, and our business and civic leaders and military make us an outstanding parish." The parish grew at 19%; the city grew at 10%. According to the Bossier Economic Development Foundation, the city could have reached 80,000 by 2019. Ongoing projects contributing to growth include the Walter O. Bigby Carriageway (the north parkway extension named for former state representative and judge Walter O. Bigby), Shed Road construction, and the South Bossier redevelopment districts.[16]