Shreveport, Louisiana Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Early settlers=== Shreveport was established to create a town at the meeting point of the Brown Bricks and the Texas Trail. The Red River was made navigable by Captain [[Henry Miller Shreve]], who led the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] efforts to clear the Red River. A {{convert|180|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} natural log jam, the [[Great Raft]], had previously obstructed passage to shipping. Shreve used a specially modified [[riverboat]], the ''Heliopolis'', to remove the log jam. The company and the village of Shreve Town were named in Shreve's honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.shreveport.la.us/history.htm |title=Shreveport: a Brief History |author=Brock, Eric J. |year=2006 |publisher=City of Shreveport, Louisiana |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608103601/http://www.ci.shreveport.la.us/history.htm |archive-date=June 8, 2009 }}</ref> Shreve Town was originally contained within the boundaries of a piece of land sold to the company in 1835 by the indigenous [[Caddo Indians]]. In 1838 [[Caddo Parish]] was created from the large [[Natchitoches Parish]], and Shreve Town became its parish seat. On March 20, 1839, the town was incorporated as Shreveport. Originally, the town consisted of 64 city blocks, created by eight streets running west from the Red River and eight streets running south from Cross Bayou, one of its tributaries. Shreveport soon became a center of [[steamboat]] commerce, carrying mostly cotton and agricultural crops from the plantations of Caddo Parish. Shreveport also had a [[slavery in the United States|slave]] market, though slave trading was not as widespread as in other parts of the state. Steamboats plied the Red River, and [[stevedore]]s loaded and unloaded cargo. By 1860, Shreveport had a population of 2,200 free people and 1,300 slaves within the city limits. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page