History

Shreveport’s decision to build a major civic auditorium in the mid-1920s joined two ambitions: a post-World War I impulse to memorialize the city’s fallen servicemen and a practical need for a large-capacity public venue. Construction began in 1926 during the administration of Mayor Lee Emmett Thomas, and the hall opened in 1929. The architects, Samuel G. Wiener Sr. and Seymour Van Os, were both of the Shreveport firm Jones, Roessle, Olschner and Wiener, the leading architectural practice in northwest Louisiana. The Art Deco design was a deliberate civic statement, placing Shreveport in step with the wave of municipal construction that was reshaping American downtowns in the decade before the Depression.

The auditorium’s national significance rests on a later chapter: the Louisiana Hayride radio program, which broadcast live from the hall on KWKH radio between 1948 and 1960. Hosted by Frank Page, the Hayride became known as the Cradle of the Stars — a venue where artists could build a radio audience before or instead of the more established Grand Ole Opry. Hank Williams, Slim Whitman, Jim Reeves, Johnny Horton, and Johnny Cash all performed on the Hayride stage. In October 1954, a twenty-year-old Elvis Presley made his Hayride debut weeks after the release of “That’s All Right” and returned to the auditorium regularly through 1956 as his national following grew.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Its 2008 National Historic Landmark designation explicitly cites the auditorium’s role in launching the careers that defined American country music and rock and roll in the 1950s. The street in front of the building was later renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard in recognition of that history. Renovations between 1994 and 2004 restored the hall while adding air conditioning, accessible restrooms, ramps, and an elevator.