Old Shreveport Water Works Pumping Station

Several terrible city fires in the 1880s led to the 1887 construction of the Shreveport McNeill Street Water Purification and Pumping Station. It provided the city with a sufficient water supply to fight fires and incidentally with a sewage system and potable water, which many could not afford to purchase by the bucket or barrel. The second water works in Louisiana, after New Orleans, this was the last gas fueled steam water plant in America. The steam pumps were replaced by electric pumps, and much of the old equipment was abandoned in 1980. The plant continued to pump water until 1992, when the plant was abandoned completely. In 1998 some local citizens rediscovered it and realized its significance. Their efforts led to a cooperative movement to restore the site and establish it as the Shreveport Water Works Museum. It is a National Historical Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. For more information, go to: https://shreveportwaterworks.org/ and https://shreveportmagazine.com/2016/11/28/shreveportwaterworksmuseum/.