River port limited town’s size
am not originally from here, but since I moved here a few years ago, I have wondered about some of the small towns in the region. Between Shreveport and the Texas line, there is this small town called Greenwood. I am wondering why someone would put a town that close to Shreveport. Can you tell me about it?
Greenwood was once the last point on the U.S. portion of the Texas Trail. Today, a pleasant town of about 2,500 people, Greenwood is meshed with the history of the region and reflects the history of America. Formed from by a group of local landowners, in the late 1830s, it was, at the time, the westernmost incorporated town in the United States. Texas was not yet part of the United States, so people traveling west out of Greenwood were going into foreign territory.
What made this location the right spot for a town? Was it simply those landowners deciding to create a town? No. Actually, Greenwood’s creation was the result of outside influences. Louisiana became a state in 1812. To the west lay that foreign country – Spanish Texas – whose international border was undefined. In 1819 the Adams-Onis Treaty set the boundary. While it was important for the government to create the border, there were no markers placed to let people living in the area know where it was.
In the 1820s, the U.S. government built Fort Towson in southeastern Oklahoma to keep the Indians at bay and to keep a watch on the Spanish and, later, the Mexicans in Texas. The easiest way to supply the fort was by steamboat, but the giant logjam on the Red River known as the “Great Raft,” made it impossible. Capt. Henry Miller Shreve began the process of removing the logs, and the river became navigable below what would become Shreveport, setting the stage for immigration and migration.
Indian trails already existed in western Louisiana between Caddo Lake and the great Sabine swamp, running along high ground known as Spring Ridge. Intersecting the primary trail was another trace that became known as the Texas Trail. Along this trail cattle were driven to the Red River for shipment and for settlers who rode their way westward into Texas. The town of Greenwood was born at the intersection of these two paths.
Sometime in the early 1830s, perhaps as early as 1834, an Indian trader named Littlejohn set up shop there. About the same time Samuel Greenwood built a trading post nearby. People looking for good pastureland and high, sandy cotton land followed. Dr. Alfred Flournoy of Tennessee arrived about 1837, bringing his family via New Orleans and up the Red River. The Whitworth family came soon afterward. The Flournoy family built homes on what was to become the eastern side of the town, and the Whitworths built the first brick home in the region, on the far western side. Because they were on the western side, they were unsure as to whether the house was in Texas or in Louisiana. These pioneer families were among the first European settlers in western Louisiana who located away from the rivers, then the main transportation arteries in the country. Historical accounts indicate business was good, the folks were hospitable, and the land was rich.
So, with all of this going for it, why didn’t it become as large as Shreveport? Once the Red River was fully open to navigation, Shreveport’s importance as a river port grew, and Greenwood remained the crossing point of two roads – a small, cheerful town that greeted Texans moving eastward and gave a send-off to Americans moving westward, much as it does today. Greenwood was a healthy place to live but could not compete with the ease of riverboat transportation.
Dr. Gary Joiner is the Leonard and Mary Anne Selber Professor of History at LSUS, where he is also director of the Red River Regional Studies Center. Questions for “The History Doctor” may be addressed to editor@ theforumnews.com.
