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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