Cross Bayou - Shreveport, Louisiana - Louisiana Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

“One of Shreveport’s most historic waterway’s. Cross bayou is spanned by the old KCS railroad bridge one of only two surviving examples of the Waddell A-truss bridge design in America. On the south bank of Cross Bayou was the Confederate Navy Yard during the civil war.”

Also, at its conjunction with the Red River less than a mile a way was where ferries operated crossing the Red River and to the north bank of Cross Bayou. In the middle nineteenth century from about 1845 to 1875 during the steamboat era Cross Bayou was part of the route through the “Chain of Lake’s” and Big Cypress Bayou into Jefferson Texas. During this era Jefferson was the second largest port of Texas and the farthest inland port of Texas. Cargo, which included mostly cotton, was hauled, mostly by oxen, trains, from far away almost to present day Dallas. Much business was taken from Shreveport to Jefferson during this period. During the latter part of the civil war steamboats were hid in the maze of waterways between Shreveport and Jefferson to avoid capture by the Union. A good accounting of this can be found in the recent publication Cypress Bayou on the Lakes by Jacques D. Baqur. He gives a very good detailed information on the steamboat era into Jefferson.


This marker was put in place by joint efforts between the City of Shreveport, Bossier City, Caddo Parish, & Bossier Parish, which began in 1995 and ran for 12 years. The Highland Area Partnership of Shreveport spearheaded the effort in the first place. Bob Marak designed the signs, the Shreveport City sign shop produced them, Eric J. Brock (historian in Shreveport) wrote the texts. This marker program was sponsored by the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau and was coordinated by Eric J. Brock, local historian, and Robert J Marak The project included many historic sites already marked by the state of Louisiana and resulted in 142 markers placed in the Shreveport-Bossier area.

Marker Name: Cross Bayou Marker Type: Monument What does marker relate to?: Bayou/River/Lake Parish: Caddo Link to more information:: Not listed Year Erected or Date Dedicated: Not listed

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