LSUS History Department exploring oldest Shreveport cemetery!
Walk around Shreveport’s historic Oakland Cemetery, the city’s oldest cemetery established in 1847 as City Cemetery, and many things likely catch the eye. A memorial on top of a mass grave names many of the roughly 800 people who were buried quickly in the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1873, which killed a quarter of Shreveport’s population in three months. Updated walkways and gazebos adorn the expansive cemetery, fitting for one of Shreveport’s most historic sites, landing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. But one may also notice a large plot of land that appears sparsely populated bordering Milam Street, with few visible grave markers. This happens to be the land in which the original City Cemetery first started and where Shreveport’s oldest inhabitants would have been buried. The LSUS History Department is launching a project to examine this plot, approximately one acre in size, to determine how many graves may exist. Armed with historic records and ground penetrating radar, LSUS history faculty, staff, and students will attempt to map the plot. The project’s first phase is to reset any visible grave markers that may have fallen and remove other obstructions that could hinder mapping and data collection.
