Caddo Parish () is a parish located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the parish had a population of 237,848. The parish seat is Shreveport, which developed along the Red River.
The city of Shreveport is the economic and cultural center for the tri-state region of the Ark-La-Tex containing Caddo Parish. Caddo Parish is included in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area.
History
In 1838, Caddo Parish was created by territory taken from Natchitoches Parish; the legislature named it for the indigenous Caddo Indians who had lived in the area. Most were forced out during Indian Removal in the 1830s.
With European-American development, the parish became a center of cotton plantations. Planters developed these along the waterways, with clearing and later cultivation and processing by thousands of enslaved African-American laborers. Shreveport, the parish seat, became a center of government, trade and law.
An armory was constructed in Shreveport before the American Civil War. This city served as the state capital after Union forces had seized Baton Rouge. Locals have referred to the armory as "Fort Humbug".
After the Civil War, and particularly after Reconstruction, whites in the parish used violence and intimidation against blacks to suppress Republican voting and re-establish white supremacy. The parishes in northwestern Louisiana had a high rate of violence and lynchings. From 1877 through the early 20th century, there were 48 lynchings of African Americans in Caddo Parish; this was the second-highest total in the state after Lafourche Parish, and nearly twice as high as the lowest parishes among the top six. The victims included Jennie Steers, a domestic servant hanged by a white lynch mob in July 1903, for allegedly poisoning her employer's daughter.
In 1920 the Daughters of the Confederacy, who were memorializing the Civil War, designated the armory as "Fort Turnball". During World War II, the government used it as a mobilization site for men who had been drafted and recruited.
In the early twentieth century, the oil industry developed here, with a concentration of related businesses in Shreveport. Numerous oil wells were constructed across southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of , of which is land and (6.2%) is water.
Major highways
Interstate 20
Interstate 220
Interstate 49
U.S. Highway 71
U.S. Highway 79
U.S. Highway 80
U.S. Highway 171
Adjacent counties and parishes
Miller County, Arkansas (north) Lafayette County, Arkansas (northeast) Bossier Parish (east) Red River Parish (southeast) De Soto Parish (south) Panola County, Texas (southwest) Harrison County, Texas (west) Marion County, Texas (west) Cass County, Texas (northwest)
National protected area
Red River National Wildlife Refuge (part)
Communities
City
Shreveport (parish seat and largest municipality)
Towns
Blanchard (suburb of Shreveport) Greenwood (suburb of Shreveport) Mooringsport Oil City Vivian
Villages
Belcher
Gilliam
Hosston
Ida
Rodessa
Unincorporated areas
Census-designated places
Lakeview (suburb of Shreveport)
Other unincorporated communities
Bethany (partly in Panola County, Texas) Conn Dixie Forbing Keithville (suburb of Shreveport) North Rodessa Zylks
Demographics
At the publication of the 2020 United States census, there were 237,848 people, 92,589 households, and 56,525 families residing in the parish. At the 2010 U.S. census, there were 254,969 people, 119,502 households, and 68,900 families residing in the parish. According to 2012 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the Caddo Parish population was 257,093. As of 2010, the population density was .