LAKE CHARLES The first people to settle the lake were Mr. and Mrs. LeBleu of Bordeaux, France. They arrived in 1781 and secured their home six miles east of the present site of Lake Charles, living in peaceful coexistence with several tribes of Indians. This area originally settled by the LeBleu's is now known as LeBleu Settlement. Other pioneers quickly ventured to Lake Charles. Among them was Charles Sallier who married LeBleu's daughter, Catherine. The Sallier's built their home on the lake, in the area now known as Lake Charles. After Charles Sallier built his home in this area, the lake became known as Charlie's Lake. By 1860 this area was being called "Charleston" or "Charles Town." Settlers at the turn of the century acquired property from the Indians or they homesteaded the Rio Hondo lands. The Rio Hondo which flowed through Lake Charles was later called Quelqueshue, an Indian term meaning "Crying Eagle" and still later Calcasieu. Little is known of these early residents except that they were a mixture of English, French, Spanish and Dutch. On March 7, 1861, Lake Charles was incorporated as the town of Charleston, Louisiana. The growth of the city was fairly slow until Captain Daniel Goos came in 1855. He established a lumber mill and schooner dock, now Goosport, and promoted a profitable trade with Texas and Mexican ports by sending his schooner down-river into the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the wood which built the city came from Goos' mill. Until the arrival of Goos, Jacob Ryan dominated the lumber industry. Ryan convinced the state government to move the parish seat to Lake Charles. Later that year, Ryan and Samuel Kirby transferred the parish courthouse and jail to Lake Charles, at that time called Charleston. Six years after the city was incorporated, dissatisfaction over the name Charleston arose. On March 16, 1867, Charleston, Louisiana, was incorporated into the town of Lake Charles. www.mcneesesports.com
The City of Lake Charles Quick Facts is conveniently located on Interstate-10 between Houston, Population: 71,757 Square Miles: 43.105 Tx. and New Orleans, La. Our Square Acres: 27,587 sandy beaches are nestled on Distance From Major Cities the Calcasieu River just 30 Atlanta: 670.2 miles miles upstream from the Gulf Baton Rouge: 129.4 miles Dallas: 358.8 miles of Mexico. Lake Charles is Houston: 142.8 miles connected to the Gulf by means New Orleans: 205.2 miles of a deep-water ship channel and is the seat and port of entry of Calcasieu Parish. It is no mystery why Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana are referred to as the "Festival Capital of Louisiana." With more than 75 fairs, festivals and special events each year, our area has celebrations down to an art form - complete with food, music, lights and laughter. Contraband Days is one of Louisiana’s largest festivals and the City of Lake Charles' oldest festival. Contraband Days is a 12-day festival/carnival extravaganza filled with savory cajun food, family fun and festivities, and is attended by over 200,000 people annually. Each year during the first two weeks in May the city officially celebrates the legend of the pirate Jean Lafitte with its Contraband Days celebration. History tells us that Lafitte and his band of pirates once sailed the area's waterways and are said to have buried Lafitte's Contraband treasure somewhere in the vicinity of the lake. The festivities kick off every year with a pirate ship bombardment to "take control of the city" at the seawall of the Lake Charles Civic Center. A gang of rowdy and unruly buccaneers led by Jean Lafitte himself overruns the blazing cannons of the local militia, raises their "Jolly Roger" flag, captures the Mayor and forces him - with swords drawn - to walk the plank into the swirling waters of the lake.
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