Kiss Country Towns We Love – Bossier City

Nobody loves our Kiss Country like we do, so we thought it would be a great idea to salute a great Kiss Country town each week and we’ll kick things off with Bossier City. The official Bossier Parish historian, Clifton D. Cardin, speaks of Bossier City’s roots.

The area of Bossier City dates back to the 1830′s when it was the Elysian Groves Plantation of James and Mary Cane. Steamboat loads of cotton, corn, and sweet potatoes were shipped to markets in the south and east, from the plantation port known to many as “Cane’s Landing.”  During the Civil War, several companies of local confederate soldiers left Cane’s Landing aboard steamboats for the distant battlefields. During the war, the riverfront was protected from Union invasion by the artillery embankments of Battery’s Price, Walker and Ewell. The confederate Fort Smith stood near what is now Bossier High School and protected the area from an eastern invasion.

According to Bossier City’s Facebook page, in 2010 the city had a total population of 61,315.  Of the population, Bossier City can boast it’s fare share of notables.  

Jared Leto was born in Bossier City on December 26, 1971. He is an actor (featured in various movies such as Requiem for a Dream, Lord of War, Fight Club, Mr. Nobody and American Psycho, among others) and is also the frontman and rhythm guitarist of the popular hard rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.

Buddy Roemer, former United States Representative from Louisiana’s 4th Congressional

District (1980-87) and Governor of Louisiana(1988-92) and who is currently seeking office of President of the United States.

The city also boasts as hometown of former Major League Baseball players B.J. Ryan

and Todd Walker.

Bossier City is also home to PGA Great David Toms who’s talents on the golf green are only overshadowed by his generosity and philanthropies.

One of Bossier City’s largest employers, Barksdale Air Force Base, dedicated in February 1933, was once home to comedian George Carlin.

The nationally renowned fishery, the Red River, which separates Bossier City from Shreveport has hosted scores of Drag Boat Races, water sports and has twice hosted the B.A.S.S. Masters Classic.  The “Red” is also home to a number of other large Bossier City employers in the gaming industry including Horseshoe, Diamond Jacks and Boomtown Casino where tourists from all over the world come to gamble and enjoy the ever present entertainment and Louisiana food.  Another facet on the diamond we call Bossier City has been polished over the last 10 years and provided millions of movie goers and television audiences with some of the finest shows and movies outside of Hollywood and New York.  Bossier City has been featured in episodes of “Billy the Exterminator” and in the movies “Blonde Ambition”, “The Guardian” and “Mr. Brooks” just to name a few. Bossier City –  A Kiss Country Town We Love!