Bossier City

History

In the 1830s, the area of Bossier City was the plantation Elysian Grove, which was purchased by James Cane and his second wife Mary Doal Cilley Bennett Cane. Cane had come to the area with his first wife Rebecca Bennett, and her brother, William Bennett, and his wife Mary Doal (née Cille)y Bennett. They ran a trading post across the river on what was then Caddo Indian territory, a portion called "Bennett's Bluff". The trading post partners became a one-seventh partner in the new Shreve Town, which eventually developed as Shreveport. Like most plantations, Elysian Grove had frontage on the Red River for access to transportation for shipping cotton and other commodities. The Texas Trail crossed the Red River at this point. The trading post on the west side operated a ferry between what would become Shreveport and Bossier City. The plantation loading and unloading dock was later recorded as "Cane's Landing" in the old ferry log books. For a very short time, Cane's Landing was known as Cane City. The Canes and Bennetts were among the earliest European-American settlers in the area. Mary D. C. Bennett gave birth to the first white baby of the area, William Smith Bennett Jr. He died at an early age. In 1843, a section of land east of the Red River was divided from the Great Natchitoches District and Claiborne Parish areas and was called Bossier Parish. It was named in honor of Pierre Evariste John Baptiste Bossier, a former Creole general, who became a cotton planter in Bossier Parish. Of ethnic French descent, he was one of the first European settlers in the area after most of the Native Americans had been forcibly removed by the federal government. In the 1840s, the Great Western Migration of Americans and immigrants from the East and Upper South began. The parish…

Geography

The city lies primarily on the banks of the Red River, and has a largely flat topography in contrast with Shreveport's terrain. The northern city limits are noticeably more hilly than the rest of the city. Many small waterways flow through the city, such as Flat River and Red Chute Bayou, which provide drainage for many areas of the city. The city has a total area of , of which are covered by water. Bossier shares most aspects of its climate with its sister city of Shreveport. The city has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with hot, humid summers and mild winters. During the warmer months, the city is prone to severe thunderstorms that feature heavy rain, high winds, hail, and occasional tornadoes. The city has a slightly above-average rate of tornadoes when compared to the U.S. average. Due to the flat topography of the city and the prominence of smaller waterways that are prone to backwater flooding from the Red River, the city occasionally experiences severe flooding events. A notable occurrence of severe flooding occurred in March 2016 after torrential rains caused a rapid rise of many local waterways, displacing upwards of 3,500 people from their homes across the area. Freezes and ice storms regularly occur during the winters.

Race & ethnicity