Courtesy Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
NATCHITOCHES, Louisiana — The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum are now open in a $23 million museum complex in downtown Natchitoches.
The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, which occupies the first floor of the 27,500-square-foot building, honors more than 300 Louisiana athletes, coaches and other sports figures with portraits and memorabilia such as baseballs, footballs, bats, gloves, jerseys, golf clubs, helmets and shoes.
Other sports-themed exhibits and interactive media trace the history and importance of sports to life in Louisiana.
The second floor houses the Northwest Louisiana Regional History Museum, which explores the evolution of the area’s cultural traditions from early Native American civilizations to the present.
The building, designed by Trahan Architects of New Orleans, evokes the region’s rivers and plowed fields with sinuous molded stone interiors and earth-colored exterior sheathing.
