Historical Downtown Tour
Half day
Take a self-guided walking tour of downtown Shreveport and get a true feel for the history of Louisiana's Other Side. From its earliest days, Shreveport-Bossier City was bound for success. As river activity increased, the area became prosperous and commercial trade sprung up along the riverfront.
Begin your journey along Commerce Street, where at one time 25 steamboats regularly docked along the banks of the Red River. This was the bustling location of cotton factories, merchants and lively stables in early days. Make your way to Spring Street, named for the natural spring that runs beneath it, and visit the Spring Street Historical Museum and Shreve Square. Shreve Square was originally 16 blocks of a for-profit venture of Captain Henry Miller Shreve, the city’s founder in the 1830s.
Continue on to Marshall and Texas streets and view Shreveport's first skyscraper, the Slattery Building, erected in 1924. Sit back and enjoy the rare book collection and genealogy research section in the Shreve Memorial Library (built in 1912). The Wray Dickson Building was the site of the very first community religious meeting house in 1884. And at Marshall and Fannin, comfort the soul by visiting the Holy Trinity Church, the third home of the first Roman Catholic Parish in Shreveport.
At the center of downtown Shreveport-Bossier City (500 block of Texas), you will find the Confederate Monument unveiled in 1906, commemorating the lowering of the last Confederate flag on this spot in June 1865. It is located on the Court House Square, which the founders set aside as the public square.
At the head of Texas Street, the First United Methodist Church completes the picturesque setting of central downtown. You don't want to miss the elegant and historical Strand Theatre, built by Saenger and Erlich Brothers and opened in 1925. This theater was called the million dollar theater when it was built and was the flagship for other theaters of its kind across the South.
On the west side of downtown, you will find the Scottish Rite Cathedral (built in 1917); Oakland Cemetery, created in 1849, where many of the city's pioneers are buried, and the Municipal Auditorium, home of the Louisiana Hayride, a live radio broadcast from 1948-1960. Elvis Presley performed his first professional gig on the Hayride. The bronze Elvis Presley Statue was erected in front of the Municipal and the street that runs in front of the historical building was named after him.
Complete your tour further southwest and you'll enjoy Holy Cross Episcopal Church (1839), Antioch Baptist Church (1903) and Austin Place (1866), the last concentration of early homes in the city.