On
June 19, 1843, the Louisiana legislature established Bossier Parish,
a new regional governmental entity encompassing 838.5 square miles.
Carved out of Claiborne Parish, Bossier Parish, which was blessed with
some of Louisiana's most fertile soil, became one of the state's most
important cotton-producing areas by the Civil War.
By the late twentieth century,
Bossier Parish was better known as the home of Barksdale
Air Force Base. Bossier City, a bedroom community for Shreveport,
is the parish's largest town.
Bossier City in recent years
has become the center of the gaming industry in northwestern Louisiana.