SHREVEPORT, La. — A landmark water tank in Shreveport, La., is headed for a national audience. The Linwood Elevated Water Tank, with its SHV LOVE artwork, has been chosen for the 2027 calendar put out by coatings company TNEMEC, which picks a set of standout tank projects from cities nationwide.
Its mural, City on the Red, came from artist Terri Rhodes White, whose design won a public art contest run by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council. The artwork works in SHV, the three-letter code travelers know the city by, and honors the Red River’s place in local history. A line of Morse code that spells out SHV LOVE runs around the top. The tank stands near I-49 and Flournoy Lucas Road.
To Mayor Tom Arceneaux, the tank shows off the city’s pride and character and is more than a utility structure. Brandon R. Snead, the city’s interim director of water and sewerage, credited the planners, engineers, the artist and residents who backed the effort.
The Linwood tank is one of three elevated tanks in a roughly $7 million city program. The work covers structural repairs, new coatings inside and out, electrical upgrades and other steps meant to keep the tanks in service longer and make the water system more dependable.
Crews already wrapped up the West Shreveport tank beside Interstate 20 this year, and it is now topped with Margaret Smith’s rose-themed design. Next up is the St. Vincent tank near I-49 and Kings Highway, set to start this fall and run into spring 2027 with a Mardi Gras look also drawn by White.