Bossier City's First Railroad

Photo of wagons crossing the VS&P bridge entering Bossier City, c.1900.
Neill Yarborough Collection: 2006.034.018

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad which is the connection of the Central Pacific Railroad with the Union Pacific Railroad spanning from the east coast to the west coast. This major accomplishment was completed in 1869, however, it was 1884 before Cane’s Landing (now Bossier City) received its first railroad the Vicksburg, Shreveport, & Pacific (VS&P) Railway.

The VS&P was building their railroad in 1882 from Monroe to Shreveport when they approached Caddo and Bossier Parishes about assisting them in bridging the Red River. The parishes agreed to help. They also decided to floor the bridge with thick timbers to allow for wagon and pedestrian traffic and charge a toll which would, over time, offset the cost of building the bridge. For the first time, people would be able to cross the Red River from Cane’s Landing to Shreveport without taking a ferry. The VS&P eliminated the Sterling White ferry boat, which had been the only mode of crossing the river at that juncture.

In the summer of 1882, Mr. Peter Scully of St. Louis arrived in Shreveport to prepare to start building the VS&P bridge. He was contracted to construct the piers of the VS&P railway bridge. Mr. P. C. Livingston was contracted for the setting of the stone and the brickwork on the piers. Livingston was an experienced builder and brickmaker of Monroe, La and made all the bricks for the bridge at Monroe. Mr. W. E. Crume was the engineer of the VS&P railroad track with Major T. G. Dabney serving as the chief assistant engineer.

Over 1300 tons of steel were used in laying the tracks and building all sidings from Monroe to Shreveport. The tracks were laid at the rate of over one-mile per day. Convicts completed much of the grading work under the supervision of Captain Sanchez and Captain Husted. In addition to the convicts, there were over one hundred hands hired to work on the railroad. The VS&P provided service running east to Jackson, Ms and Savannah, Ga.

On May 8, 1884, the VS&P crossed Dorcheat Bayou and began laying tracks in Bossier Parish and was approaching Lawrenceville (now Haughton) on May 23. The VS&P bridge crossing the Red River, just north of Horseshoe Casino, was completed on July 1, and the railroad was within two miles of Shreveport on July 7. At last, at 4:30 pm on July 12, 1884, the last spike was driven completing the VS&P Railroad.

On July 17, 1884, The Bossier Banner announced the completion of the VS&P railroad from Monroe to Shreveport hailing it “The grandest event in the history of Bossier Parish!!!” and stating, “After many years of anxious, patient waiting, the Iron Horse has come at last, and we greet its arrival with great rejoicing.” What had started over thirty years earlier was finally complete.

The old VS&P is currently used by the Kansas City Southern (KCS) Railway Company.

To learn more about the railroads in Bossier Parish, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries
History Center at 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City.

By: Amy Robertson

The Red River's Second Raft

Talfor, R. B, photographer. Scenes of the great Red River raft -/ R. B. Talfor, photo. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2008680997/>.

In 1838, when Captain Henry Miller Shreve finished clearing the Red River of the Great Raft, he warned Congress that without ongoing maintenance the raft would reform. Unfortunately, Congress disregarded Captain Shreve’s warning, and within a year the raft began to reconstitute itself. By 1841 there was a 20-mile raft that formed above Shreveport.

Since the first railroad was not completed in Bossier until 1884, communities along the Red River relied on the use of the river and its connected waterways of bayous and lakes as their primary source of transportation of goods, mail, livestock, and people.

Despite many efforts and some funding, attempts to clear the raft during the 1840s and 1850s were overall unsuccessful. None the less it was common for communities and individuals to make every effort to open the waterways to be navigable.

One such call to action can be seen in The Bossier Banner, Friday, November 25, 1859, where the writer was urging “the good people of Bossier to raise a sufficient fund to open the bayous and Lake Bodceau [sic].” And that the “outlay in cleaning and opening navigation in the bayous and Bodceau [sic] to Shreveport would be but a trifling sum in comparison to the good resulting from such an enterprise...Surely any enterprise resulting in good to our parish should meet the warm encouragement of its citizens: and particularly when said enterprise would result in an economical outlay, and immediate benefit two-folds equivalent to the expenditures.”

During the 1860s the raft continued to grow as the country was otherwise engulfed in its Civil War  which raged on until 1865. Finally, in 1871 Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to clear the Red River which began in the spring of 1872.

Lt. Eugene Woodruff was commissioned with clearing the second Great Raft. Not only did he use the snag boats that Capt. Shreve had invented, but he also used crane boats and steam-operated saws. Perhaps one of the most significant advantages Woodruff had over Shreve in removing the raft was the use of the recently invented explosive, dynamite. Thanks to that, what took Shreve 6 years to accomplish, only took Woodruff 1 year.

Woodruff and his engineers not only performed the work needed to clear the raft; they also dredged the channel, created reservoirs, and constructed dams in anticipation of future floods. Unfortunately, Woodruff had the great misfortune of contracting yellow fever and died in August 1873 before the work was complete. His brother George oversaw the completion of the project which was finished before the end of that year.

Until the raft was cleared, a significant part of daily news was a “River and Weather” column published in The Shreveport Times. During this time weather forecasting was not commonplace; therefore, the weather report in this column was on the previous day’s weather. The vital information, however, were the updates on the condition of the river. It reported on the rise and fall of the river and the effects of the raft on steamboats and ships making their way from port to port along the river and its connected waterways.

On Wednesday, July 24, 1872, The Shreveport Times’ “River and Weather” report shared the following weather information. “The sun was very hot yesterday, but a cool breeze most of the day kept our good people from suffocating. It was the third day that we had no showers, which is a long dry spell for these showery times.”

After the weather report, it offered a lot of information on the coming and going of the steamers and on the current river conditions. A small sampling of this report is as follows.

“The river at this point receded nearly five inches in the last twenty-four hours, making the fall in all from the highest water of the season, eighteen feet and one inch. The officers of the Lotus No. 3 report the lower river falling fast with six or seven feet on most of the bars. At Perot’s they found five and one-half feet, which was the shoale place. None of the bars have washed out any yet. It is thought the Emilie La Barge, a large side-wheel boat drawing all the water in the river, will have some trouble in getting here. We venture to say that Capt. Silver will bring her through or pull her in two. … We are ‘hankering’ after something late and interesting from above the raft, but no stray traveler comes this way. We are aware that the river is dead low, but we are anxious to know how Capt. Jim Crooks, of the Royal George, stands his misfortune. His bad luck will be the death of him yet … The steamers Frank Morgan and Royal George are caught above the raft and will have to put the summer in the best way they can.”

To learn more about the Great Raft and local waterways, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City.

By: Amy Robertson

1969 and the Two Apollos

"Buzz" Aldrin salutes the American Flag on the lunar surface. Credits: NASA

The summer of 1969 was an exciting time for the United States. On July 21, 1969, mankind “took one giant leap” as Neil Armstrong took “one small step” on the moon making history of man walking on the moon for the first time marking the success of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. This year not only marks the fiftieth anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, but it also marks the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo Elementary School.

It was also during this summer that the Bossier Parish School Board was nearing completion of a new and innovative elementary school. Inspired by the recent accomplishment of Apollo 11 the Bossier Parish School Board voted, on August 7, 1969, to name this new elementary school Apollo. “In making the motion to name the school Apollo, J. Murray Durham pointed out that ‘the school was being completed at the same time the astronauts landed on the moon’ and is a ‘progressive form of school.’”

What made Apollo different was its open-space concept making the classroom areas free of interior walls and its unique non-graded continuous progress curriculum. Emmett Cope collaborated with the University of Tennessee and Dr. John Gilliland to design and implement this new curriculum at Apollo Elementary, which was considered an educational innovation.

According to Mary Liberto, a former principal of Apollo (1976-1981), “the non-graded program mandated that each student be placed in a group, which would best fit his/her needs for instruction. Therefore, maximum and substantial progress would be evident as a student progressed.” Mary Liberto was also one of five Bossier Parish teachers chosen to study the non-graded programs throughout the nation and assisted in planning and writing the primary curriculum for Bossier Parish.
There were only two bells to ring - one in the morning to signal the start of school and one in the afternoon to dismiss the students for the day.

Apollo Elementary was designed by local architect Thomas R. Merideth and was 56,000 square feet, air-conditioned, and carpeted (to reduce the level of noise) with the capacity to accommodate 720 students and was constructed at the cost of $756,000. It was 2-stories with the first-floor featuring two major open teaching areas and special interest rooms separated by a resource center ten times the size of a conventional classroom. At the end of each teaching-research section was an outdoor learning patio. Also, on the first floor are the cafeteria and administration offices. The cafeteria doubled as an auditorium by closing off the serving area and having a platform at one end. On the second floor was a little theater-assembly room that was carpeted and had risers on three sides for seating.

A strike of construction workers slowed down the completion of the building delaying its opening until November 1, 1969. Until then, students attended class at Airline High School. None-the-less there were 567 students registered to attend Apollo in its opening year.

Finally, on January 27, 1970, Apollo was dedicated to progress, innovation, and achievement during its dedication ceremony. While the administration had hoped to have the Apollo 11 crew in attendance for the dedication, they were pleased to have NASA Astronaut, Dr. Donald Lee Holmquest give the dedication speech. Dr. Holmquest brought a laugh when describing his difficulties in getting a plane from Houston to Shreveport stating, “I started trying to get here at 6 am, but because of the weather, the plane just took off just a little while ago. We are lucky to be here at all. Actually, it is more difficult to get to Shreveport than to get to the moon. It’s amazing that we can launch rockets in weather when we can’t get the airplane off the ground.” Other speakers were J. Murray Durham, Jr. and Board President and Superintendent Emmett Cope.

Artist's rendering of Apollo Elementary's Observatorium
Bossier Parish Schools Resource Center Collection: 2005.039.001

In 1971, Apollo was named the “School of the month” by Nations Schools magazine, selected by a committee representing the Council of Educational Facility Planners, receiving particular praise for the observatorium, a raised platform at the rear of the teaching area which permits close observation of individuals or groups of students through one-way glass. It is equipped with a television system, including close-up lenses, with the capability of monitoring all instructional stations in addition to the work of individual students. The school’s TV system is primarily used to train instructors in updated team-teaching techniques and to create in-service teaching tapes for use throughout the district. The observatorium was also used by counselors and specialists to observe behavioral disorders in specific students and then follow-up with a study on the effectiveness of remedial techniques applied.

On October 26, 1973, The Shreveport Times published, Bossier Parish received national recognition for its continuous progress program through several publications. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare also developed a film entitled ‘The School Without Failure,’ on the pilot program at Apollo Elementary School in Bossier City for nationwide distribution.”

To learn more about Apollo or other Bossier Parish Schools, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City.

By: Amy Robertson

August Second Saturday Screening Selection

Every Second Saturday of each month is Movie Time at the Bossier Parish Libraries 

History Center.

FREE  movie & popcorn

August 10, 2019 at 1:30 pm

2206 Beckett St.
Bossier City, La.
318.746.7717

The Panic of 1873 and the Palmetto Plantation Lottery

John C. Vance with sisters Mary E. "Mollie" (red dress)  and Laura Elizabeth "Nina" (white dress).
Dale Jennings Collection: 1999.127.082

Industrial capitalism brought about the Panic of 1873, the first global depression which reached the United States in the fall of that year. The tipping point in the United States came when Jay Cooke and Company went bankrupt. They were the federal agent for the government financing of railroad construction. Railroad construction was the nation’s largest non-agricultural employer during that time. When Jay Cooke and Company closed their doors on September 18, 1873, it created a domino effect where many other banking firms and industries also became bankrupt. The New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days, credit dried up, and foreclosures were common. Railroads went bankrupt, factories closed, and countless other businesses failed, causing the unemployment rate to rise to an alarming 14 percent.


During the first year of this crippling economic depression, John C. Vance held the ownership of the Palmetto Plantation in north Bossier Parish, which had been in the Vance family since 1850. It was first owned by John Vance’s Father Allen Vance, a wealthy planter from Abbeville District, South Carolina. When Allen died in 1865, he left his estate to his wife and children with instructions not to sell the plantation until after his youngest daughter, Laura Elizabeth a.k.a. Nina reached the age of eighteen.

John Vance renamed the plantation “Palmetto,” after the official nickname of his home state South Carolina, “Palmetto State.” However, the name was not changed legally and remained as “Allen Vance Plantation” in legal documents. The plantation was divided into river land and hill land by the Flat River Bayou, which traversed the plantation.

Starting on April 15, 1873, a long-running notice could be found in The Shreveport Times that John Vance was looking to change the business he was in and wanted to sell the plantation. Seeing how the nation’s economics were in dire straits and citizens had lost their trust in the banking system, and with credit not being a feasible option John opted to conduct a lottery in hopes to sell the plantation for cash during this financially depressed period.

John described the plantation in the following way: “...The place is situated in the Red River bottom, 2-1/2 miles from Benton, 11 miles above Shreveport, one mile from the river, and the survey of the Camden and Shreveport railroad just made, runs through these lands one-half mile from the ginhouse and dwelling, where a depot will probably be located. The place is also on the line of the contemplated Oklahoma railroad, and adjoining and surrounded by lands of J. B. Pickett, W. C. Vance, Dr. S. W. Vance, Mrs. M. G. O’Neill, John M. Arnold, and W. R. Prather. All the lands offered are first-class Red River bottom, entirely free from overflow, and the plantation has upon it plenty of labor. The ginhouse is a large and fine one, with an excellent set of running gear in perfect order. Every other house on the place has been built since 1866. There are 19 cabins, with brick chimneys, built in different places on the plantation to suit the new system of labor. A three acre garden and orchard paled in, and a considerable amount of ditching done last year. The dwelling is a fine, large two-story house, with six rooms, exclusive of the kitchen, store rooms, bath rooms, etc., just completed at a cost of $6000. This is one of the best improved places in this country. I have spent $10,000, improyements [sic] alone, since 1866...”

Included in the notice were testimonies of John’s honesty and integrity from his neighbors, the Bossier Parish Clerk of Court, and the Recorder. He listed the names of individuals that would assume responsibility for all funds received through the lottery to guarantee that if all 300 tickets are not sold, the money will be refunded to those that did by a ticket. Other individuals agreed to act as
commissioners to superintend the drawing of the tickets and prizes to ensure the public that it would be “honestly and impartially done.” B. M. Johnson banking house in Shreveport acted as treasurer of the lottery funds holding them in an account to be redistributed in the event all tickets were not sold.

Each ticket was sold for $100 with the first prize, obviously being, the plantation of 700 acres. The second through the seventh prizes were 20 and 40-acre tracts of land, and there were 93 cash prizes of $100 each. The odds of winning the plantation or one of the other prizes was one out of three.

According to public records, the Palmetto Plantation remained in the Vance family until 1890; leaving us to assume that John Vance’s lottery scheme failed and that those that bought a ticket were refunded their money.

To learn more about the Vance family or Palmetto Plantation, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City.

By: Amy Robertson