Shreveport, city in northwestern Louisiana on the Red River. It is the seat of Caddo Parish and part of the city is in Bossier Parish. It is a trade and industrial center of a large region producing petroleum, natural gas, cotton, and timber. Manufactures of the city include communications and electrical equipment, fabricated metal, refined petroleum, oil-field machinery, chemicals, and motor vehicles. Nearby Barksdale Air Force Base is important to the city's economy, as are the health care industry and casino gambling. Commercial air transportation is through Shreveport Regional Airport.
Institutions of higher education include Centenary College of Louisiana (1825), Louisiana State University in Shreveport (1965), the Louisiana State University School of Medicine (1965), Southern University at Shreveport (1964), and a community college. The R. W. Norton Art Gallery's collection includes works by sculptor Auguste Rodin and silver pieces by Paul Revere. Every April Shreveport commemorates the 1803 Louisiana Purchase with Holiday in Dixie. At year's end the city hosts the Independence Bowl, an interconference college football game.
