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Bossier City is growing, and in the news! With the recent activity surrounding the Haynesville
Shale, the success of the casino industry, the opening of the
Louisiana Boardwalk, and the CenturyTel Center's popularity, there is a renewed interest
in the history of Bossier and the Ark-La-Tex.
Bossier City is home to three major riverboat casinos: Harrah's Horseshoe, Diamond Jacks, and Boomtown. Harrah's Louisiana Downs, a first-class thoroughbred racetrack with slot machines, is located on the east side of the city at the junction of I-20 and I-220.
The CenturyTell Center continues to attract first-rate country stars, rock star concerts and special events such as Disney on Ice. Bass fishing tournaments are now regularly held on the Red River.
Another major element of the Bossier City economy is Barksdale Air Force Base, long a major Strategic Air Command (SAC) facility. Construction began on Barksdale Field in 1931, and the facility was dedicated on February 2, 1933. Since that time, the base has hosted a number of key operational and training elements of the Air Force. Today, it is serves as Headquarters of the Eighth Air Force, among other units.
Alexandria and Bossier City have been connected via the Red River for eons, and later via U.S. Highway 71 on the east bank of the river. See map of Bossier City below.
We have traversed the highways between the two cities literally hundreds of times. Our connections with the Ark-La-Tex are strong, from the past, and to this day. We see reminders of the good times whenever we travel there, and as we drive past the retro motels along historic U.S. 80 in Bossier City, and when we filter back through the historic photographs and postcards of the past.
In the 1830s Bossier City was known as Bennett's Bluff, and then in 1843 a section of land was divided out of the Great Natchitoches district and Claiborne Parish areas and was called Bossier Parish. In the 1840s, many settlers passed through the region on their way to the wild west, and later over 200 wagons a week passed through Bossier City.
Shed Road, the first all-weather turnpike in the American South, operated in Bossier City from 1874–1886, running for 9 miles from Red Chute to the Red River. This covered road made the transportation of goods easier before the arrival of the railroads.
Ever since the Red River was cleared and made newly navigable by Captain Henry Shreve, who removed a 180-mile long logjam, the area has exhibited an entrepreneurial spirit that remains strong even today. In 1994, the Red River was again made navigable, this time by the U.S. by the Army Corps of Engineers with the completion of a series of lock-and-dam structures and a navigation channel.
Today, Shreveport-Bossier City is again being developed as a port and shipping center, and Bossier City's population continues to grow, and now stands at over 65,000 residents. For more information, visit the web site of the Bossier City Chamber of Commerce.
Be sure to view our gallery
of Shreveport photographs, connecting the present to
the past, and our gallery of Shreveport art deco motels and tourist courts.
Shown below are a few historic Bossier City postcards from the Alexandria Postcard Collection.
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