Calcasieu Parish (; ) is a parish located on the southwestern border of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 216,785. The parish seat and largest city is Lake Charles.
Calcasieu Parish is part of the Lake Charles metropolitan statistical area; it is also located near the Beaumont–Port Arthur (Texas), Lafayette, and Alexandria metropolitan areas.
Calcasieu Parish was created March 24, 1840, from the parish of Saint Landry, one of the original nineteen civil parishes established by the Louisiana Legislature in 1807 after the United States acquired the territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The original parish seat was Comasaque Bluff, a settlement east of the river and later called Marsh Bayou Bluff. On December 8, 1840, it was renamed as Marion, Louisiana.
In 1852 Jacob Ryan, a local planter and businessman, donated land and offered to move the courthouse in order to have the parish seat moved to Lake Charles. As the population in this area grew over the years, the original Calcasieu Parish has since been divided into five smaller parishes. The original area of Calcasieu Parish is called Imperial Calcasieu.
Etymology The name Calcasieu is traditionally explained as coming from the Atakapa language via French, which recorded the name of the Calcasieu River as "" after the local Atakapa leader ('Crying Eagle'). An alternate etymology based upon the Spanish name for the river, , is that Calcasieu comes from an unrecorded Native American word meaning 'deep river'. A questionable folk etymology claims that after the United States acquired the region, a long-winded discussion over renaming the Río Hondo was ended by a frustrated francophone who suggested "name it " (English: 'anything'), which was recorded as "Calacasieu." A similar dubious folk etymology relies upon the French (English: 'some cabbages').
Various spellings of 'Calcasieu' are found in early French- and English-language sources, including Calcasutt, Culqueshoe, Culkeshoe, Kelke-chute, Quelqueshue, Calcasu, Calcasiu, Quelqueshoe, and Calcasiew. The earliest version of the name—rivieére Calkousiouk—was published in 1807 by French explorer . An older pronunciation, , was noted among older residents of the parish in 1927.
History Early history The early history of the parish dates to the period of the Spanish occupation of Louisiana, after France had ceded this territory following its defeat by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War. In 1797, Jose M. Mora was granted a large tract of land between the Rio Hondo (now Calcasieu River) and the Sabine River, known for years as the "Neutral Strip" between Louisiana and Texas. The area became a refuge for outlaws and filibusters from Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi of the United States, which had recently gained independence from Great Britain.
The territory was disputed for years between Spain and the United States after France had ceded Louisiana to the American government as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It was definitively acquired by the United States from Spain with the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819. The treaty was formally ratified on February 22, 1821. By an act of Congress, approved on March 3, 1823, this strip of land was attached to the district of the Louisiana Territory south of the Red River.
Early settlers to the area included the LeBleu, Sallier, Ryan, Perkin, Hodges, Bilbo, Deviers, and Henderson families. Acadian settlers, from the eastern parishes of Louisiana, also migrated to this area. Of French descent and exiled by the British from Acadia (eastern Canada), many of these refugees had settled in Louisiana. The parish had a diverse ethnic mix of French and Spanish Creoles, Acadians, Anglo-Americans, Enslaved African Americans, Free African Americans, and Indians. Data compiled from historical volumes of the US Center of Population and Housing indicate that in 1850, 240 of 3914 Parish residents were "Free Men of Color". By 1860 that number had risen to 305 of 5928. The 1860 U.S. census of Louisiana counts 1171 Slaves among Calcasieu Parish residents.
"Imperial Calcasieu" era Calcasieu Parish was created in 1840 from the Parish of Saint Landry. The new parish was the largest in the state, larger than either of the two smallest states, Delaware and Rhode Island. This size, which ultimately was divided into five parishes, led to the parish's nickname "Imperial Calcasieu."
On August 24, 1840, six men met at a private home near present-day Chloe to organize as the parish police jury representing six wards. The first order of business was to elect officers, appoint a parish clerk, and settle on simple parliamentary rules that would enable the president to keep the meetings orderly and progressive. The jury adopted all of the laws then in force in Saint Landry Parish. They appointed a parish constable, a parish treasurer, two parish assessors, and an operator of the ferry at Buchanan's crossing. The assessors were given two months to assess all of the property in the parish and a salary of $90.
On September 14, 1840, a survey was authorized of land known then as Marsh Bayou Bluff in order to establish a seat of justice (parish seat) and construct a courthouse and jail. On December 8, 1840, the jury chose to rename this community as Marion. In 1843, the Legislature authorized a vote to move the parish seat.
Finally in 1852, Jacob Ryan was successful in having the parish seat relocated from Marion to the east bank of Lake Charles. This parish seat was incorporated in 1857 as the town of Charleston; it was reincorporated in 1868 as Lake Charles. It is located about from Marion, now known as Old Town. The name Lake Charles commemorates one of the first European settlers, Charles Sallier, a Frenchman who acquired land in this area at the beginning of the 19th century.
Division In 1870 Cameron Parish was created from the southern portion of Imperial Calcasieu. It was one of several parishes organized during the Reconstruction era by the Republican-dominated legislature, in an effort to build Republican strength. Many Freedmen had joined the Republican Party elsewhere in the state. However, while other areas of Louisiana had been developed as cotton plantations, Calcasieu Parish had not. Although the parish had been larger in land mass than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island it was primarily utilized as grazing land for cattle with no significant plantings of cotton, sugar cane or other crops requiring the utilization of slave labor.Some Aspects of Agricultural Retardation in Southwest Louisiana, 1865-1900 - Donald J. Millet, Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Winter, 1970), pp. 37-61 Therefore, Calcasieu before the Civil War was home to a lower percentile of African-American slaves than many other parts of the State.
In 1912 Calcasieu Parish still comprised an area of more than , and remained the largest parish in the state by geographic area. In 1912, "Imperial Calcasieu" was further divided with the creation of the three new parishes of Allen, Beauregard, and Jefferson Davis, with a total area of approximately . These were the most recent parishes organized in Louisiana. Following these jurisdictional changes, Calcasieu Parish lost almost half of its population between the 1910 and 1920 United States census.
Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of , of which is land and (2.8%) is water.
Major highways
Interstate 10 Interstate 210 U.S. Highway 90
U.S. Highway 165 U.S. Highway 171 Louisiana Highway 12 Louisiana Highway 14 Louisiana Highway 27 Louisiana Highway 101 Louisiana Highway 108 Louisiana Highway 109 Louisiana Highway 378 Louisiana Highway 379 Louisiana Highway 383 Louisiana Highway 384 Louisiana Highway 385 Louisiana Highway 389 Louisiana Highway 397 Louisiana Highway 1138-1 Louisiana Highway 1138-2 Louisiana Highway 1138-3 Louisiana Highway 1133 Louisiana Highway 1256 Louisiana Highway 1262 Louisiana Highway 3020 Louisiana Highway 3059 Louisiana Highway 3063 Louisiana Highway 3092 Louisiana Highway 3112 Louisiana Highway 3186 Louisiana Highway 3256 Louisiana Highway 3258
Adjacent counties and parishes Beauregard Parish (north) Jefferson Davis Parish (east) Cameron Parish (south) Orange County, Texas (west) Newton County, Texas (northwest)
Major waterways Lake Charles Calcasieu River Intracoastal Canal Ouiski Chitto Creek English Bayou West Fork Calcasieu Lake
Hazardous Waste Sites
Calcasieu Estuary Bayou Verdine Bayou Verdine is located in a heavily industrialized area; over 30 major companies are active nearby. The two companies responsible for cleaning up the bayou, Phillips 66 and Sasol North America (the cleanup parties), operate a petroleum refinery and a petrochemical complex. Both of these facilities have operated for decades, during which time their operations contaminated bayou sediments with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals. In 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency completed a remedial investigation for the Calcasieu Estuary. EPAs investigation found that contamination in Bayou Verdine did not pose a threat to people but was harmful to plants and animals. In 2010, Phillips 66 and Sasol signed a consent decree agreeing to clean up the bayou. EPA approved the removal action work plan in December 2011. Cleanup work began in September 2012. The cleanup parties first prepared a settling basin to receive sediments to be dredged from the bayou. Two pre-existing ponds on the refinery property had been created decades ago to provide fill for construction of nearby Interstate 10. One of these ponds (the east pond) was converted into the settling basin. It was emptied by pumping the water into the bayou. The bottom sediments were solidified by mixing in fly ash and a drainage system was placed at the bottom of the basin. Finally, the cleanup parties installed a flexible membrane liner on the bottom of the settling basin as an extra precaution. Bayou dredging followed. The cleanup parties used hydraulic dredging and mechanical excavation techniques to remove the top 1 to 2 feet of sediments from about 7,000 feet of the bayou on the Phillips 66 refinery property and downstream. The dredged sediment and water mixture (slurry) was then pumped through a pipeline to the settling basin, where the sediment was allowed to separate from the water by gravity settling. The water was tested and then released into the bayou in accordance with a discharge permit from the state. About 30,000 cubic yards of bayou sediments were placed in the containment cell. Dredging was completed in February 2014. During the cleanup process, EPA provided updates to the Calcasieu Estuary Task Force (a group of local leaders). EPA and the cleanup parties also provided fact sheets to the task force and others to keep the community informed during the cleanup.
Bayou d'Inde
What Happened The banks of Bayou d’Inde have been industrialized since oil and natural gas deposits were discovered nearby in the 1920s. Chemical manufacturing and petroleum refining facilities have released toxins—including PCBs, dioxins, lead, and mercury—into the bayou and surrounding areas for decades.
Some of the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) began cleanup activities in late 2014 and they are expected to be completed by the end of 2018. Collectively they will dredge contaminated sediment from the main channel, use articulated concrete block mat technology for in-situ capping of approximately 36,000 square yards, and cap the remaining contaminated areas with clean sediment.
NOAA is currently working with the other trustees to ensure that sediment dredging and capping limits risks to the local ecosystem. We will also monitor contaminant levels in the bayou to track the long-term effects of the remediation.
What Were the Impacts?