Why Nobody Talks About This Major Louisiana City

Shreveport was Louisiana's second-biggest city right up through the 1970 census, ahead of Baton Rouge, and it's still third. From its city hall it's about 187 miles to Dallas and 324 to New Orleans. So why does the rest of the state barely bring it up? I run Shreveport and its twin across the Red River, Bossier City, through the five postcards Louisiana sells the rest of the country: the bayou, Cajun country, Mardi Gras, a Catholic parish with a steeple in every town, and the pull of New Orleans. Every one of them fails or bends. Along the way, the Texas Trail running through the 1836 town survey, Oil City on Caddo Lake, the Haynesville Shale and Barksdale over in Bossier Parish. Shreveport-style stuffed shrimp at Orlandeaux's, the Louisiana Hayride and a 19-year-old singer, the house-band guitarist that singer later picked to lead his Las Vegas band, Lead Belly out of Mooringsport, a 63-year dark age for Mardi Gras, the riverboat casinos, a film boom, and an 1873 epidemic that put five priests from France on the road to sainthood. Card five is the one that explains the silence, and I save it for last. Which of the five postcards do you think Shreveport comes closest to fitting? Tell me below. WATCH NEXT ▶ Exploring Louisiana:    • Exploring Louisiana (Parishes, Places and ...   SUBSCRIBE ▶    / @louisianauncovered   Historical documentary. Names, dates, and cases are drawn from the public record and published reporting. Some footage is illustrative. Population figures and dollar amounts are dated to their sources and can change. #Louisiana #LouisianaUncovered #Shreveport