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Where We Practice Law: The History of 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 LeBleus 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.
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Babcock Law Firm, L.L.C., All Rights Reserved
Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyers, Baton Rouge Serious Injury
Attorneys, Medical Malpractice,
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Charles, Alexandria, Shreveport, Monroe, Ruston
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