The History of Lake Charles

Early History

While there are several American Indian tribes that are known to have lived in the area known as present-day Lake Charles, the first European settlers did not arrive until the 1760’s.

Martin LeBleu and his wife Dela Marion, were the first recorded Europeans to settle in the area that is now known as LeBleu Settlement, in 1781. One of the first settlers, Charles Sallier, married LeBleu’s daughter, Catherine Lebleu. They built their home on the beach of what is now known as Lake Charles. The area became know as Charles Town in 1860, in honor of Charles Sallier.

The Rio Hondo, which flowed through Lake Charles, was later called Quelqueshue, a Native American term meaning “Crying Eagle”. Transliterated through French,  the name became Calcasieu .  Lake Charles was officially incorporated as the town of Charleston, Louisiana, on March 7, 1861.

Industry and the Civil War

The city’s growth was fairly slow until 1855, when Captain Daniel Goos came to the city. Goos established a lumber mill and schooner dock, in what is now known as Goosport. He promoted trade with Texas and Mexico by sending his schooner downriver into the Gulf of Mexico.  Timber sales from longleaf pine and bald cypress remained the city’s primary source of economic revenue between 1817 and 1855. Before Goos arrived, a man named Jacob Ryan was the head of the lumber industry.

Jacob Ryan convinced the state government to move the parish seat from Marion to Lake Charles.  Later that year, Ryan and Samuel Kirby transferred the parish courthouse and jail by barge to Charleston. Six years after the city was incorporated, on March 16, 1867,  Charleston Louisiana was renamed and incorporated as the town of Lake Charles after residences became dissatisfied over the name Charleston.

By the time of the U.S. Civil War, many Americans from the North, along with a large population Europeans and Jews,  settled the area.  There were mixed attitudes toward slavery in Lake Charles as slavery was secondary to business interests. In fact, the slave population was fewer than five percent. Many citizens became involved in the war. Some  families supported the Confederacy, while others supported the  Union.

Post Civil War

Lake Charles regained its status as a lumbering center in the years following the Civil War. In the 1880s, an innovative advertising campaign by J.B. Watkin was resposible for a population growth of 400 percent.

In the 1890’s construction of large Victorian Mansions transformed a part of Lake Charles. Carpenters competed to out-build each other with their use of elaborate woodwork and decoration. The area of present-day Lake Charles, located just east of downtown is known as the “Charpentier Historic District”.

Twentieth century

In 1910, the Great Fire of 1910 devastated much of the city.  The 1890 courthouse, and much of downtown Lake Charles, was destroyed. Two months after the fire, the Louisiana legislature divided the former Imperial Calcasieu Parish into the current parishes of Allen, Beauregard,Cameron, Jefferson Davis, and Calcasieu. Lake Charles rebuilt itself quickly and continued to expand.

Lake Charles experienced industrial growth after World War II with the onset of the petrochemical refining industries. The Civic Center was built on reclaimed land on the lakefront in the 1970s It  hosted many national shows, acts, and pop singers including Elvis. The city grew to a high population of 80,000 people in the early 1980s, but with local recession, the population declined. The city has however, begun to see growth since the advent of the gaming industry. The city of Lake Charles had a total population of 71,757, according to the 2000 census.