America 250: Shreveport's Silver Lake

If you drive down Market Street or Youree Drive today, you will see a normal mix of concrete, roads, and businesses. But in the late 1830s, this entire part of downtown Shreveport was underwater, covered by a body of water called Silver Lake.

Long before it was drained and paved over, Silver Lake was a natural boundary that shaped how the city was built.

According to native Caddo tradition, the lake was created by a miracle. Legend says a young couple was running away from an angry chief and prayed for help. A huge, sparkling lake appeared to block their pursuers, keeping them safe.

When white settlers arrived in the 1830s, the lake was a permanent fixture. It was fed by the "Great Raft," a massive 160-mile logjam that clogged the Red River and backed up water into local swamps and lakes.

When city founders designed Shreveport in 1836, they built the town on a ridge of high ground to avoid flooding. They used natural borders to frame the town: Cross Bayou to the north, the Red River to the east, and Silver Lake to the south.

The lake eventually disappeared because of the city's own success. Captain Henry Miller Shreve used special steamboats to clear the logjam from the river. Once the logs were gone, the river flowed freely, and the surrounding lakes and swamps began to dry up. By the early 1900s, the lakebed was completely replaced by railroads, factories, and paved streets.

Though the water is gone, the name lives on. In 1931, oil businessmen built an Art Deco building on Market Street right where the water used to be. Today, a restored event venue inside that building is called the Silver Lake Ballroom - a lasting reminder of the lost lake that helped birth the city.