Shreveport was constituted as a city in 1871. Shreveport’s original boundaries were restricted inside a parcel of land sold by the indigenous Caddo Indians to the Shreve Town Company in 1835. Caddo Parish (county) was formed from Natchitoches Parish in 1838, and Shreveport became the parish seat; Shreveport is still the parish seat of Caddo Parish, Louisiana today.
The original town site was split into 64 city blocks by eight streets extending west from the Red River and eight streets running south from Cross Bayou, a Red River branch. Today, this 64-block area serves as the city’s major business district and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Shreveport and its tiny sister city, Bossier City (established in 1884 and incorporated in 1907) share six National Register historic districts and other landmarks. In fact, among Louisiana cities with several historic landmarks, Shreveport is second only to New Orleans. One of these is the McNeill Street Pumping Station, a waterworks erected in 1887 that is still operational and is the only one of its kind in the country. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, the highest degree of national historical designation.

The Red River, which Shreve opened in the 1830s, remained navigable until 1914, when inactivity, due to the growth of the railroad as the favored mode of transportation for goods and people, allowed it to begin silting up. It wasn’t until the 1990s that the river could be navigated to Shreveport again. Today, the port of Shreveport-Bossier City is being redeveloped as a maritime hub. The Barksdale Army Air Field, which was established in 1933, is also located in metro Shreveport. It is also a national landmark.