this is the Interstate 210 bridge in Lake Charles it's recognized as being one of the ten most beautiful bridges in the nation it's the longest steel span ever erected and won the American Institute of Architects award for construction this is Lake Charles years and years ago the community in the lake served as different type bridges the lake is a bridge between the Gulf of Mexico when the pirate Jean Lafitte is said to have used local waters to harbor his ships and the town as a bridge between the south and the beginnings of the West as part of the Spanish Trail uncounted wagons filled with settlers and their dreams and belongings filed into Texas this expansion movement through the Gateway to the Southwest led to the Mexican War in fact hostilities became so evident that in 1830 Fort Atkinson was set up in Lake Charles Lake Charles and the surrounding area to be served by Louisiana public broadcasting is a unique mixture of French culture and the wide-open spaces of what is simply known as the West Lake Charles the Gateway the bridge to the southwest [Music] the first citizens to settle in the area were a married couple from Bordeaux France by way of Virginia Marta Hammer Sackler blue and his wife for a while following their 1771 arrival they lived in peaceful coexistence with several tribes of Indians other pioneers joined them among the first of those newcomers was a man named Carlos alia on the Alliance Spaniard later changed his name to Charles Sal yay he settled near the shores of the lake and in 1803 married one of the Leibler daughters Katherine and actually this is how the town got its name Charlie was possessed by a fierce jealousy of his young wife in his pain and rage he accused her of being unfaithful the thought of her with another man threw Charlie into a fit of blind rage he aimed his gun at her heart and shot the beautiful Catherine believing himself to be a murderer while crazed with fear and grief he raced to the other side of the lake and took his own life but you see what Charlie never knew was that Catherine had clasp her hand over her breast the ball from the pistol passed through her hand and struck a brooch she was wearing saving her life she never remarried but spent the rest of her 75 years in the little cabin Charlie had built for them in memory of her husband people began calling the huge body of water Charlie's lake later in 1852 it was known as Charlestown and named the seat of Calcasieu Parish government the town was incorporated in 1867 with a population of some 400 persons not counting horses mules and chickens from then on it was known as it is today as Lake Charles settlers who came at the turn of the 18th century acquired their property from the Indians or they homesteaded the Rio Hondo lands Rio Hondo being that large river which flows into the city and known today as the Calcasieu River that word Calcasieu by the way comes from the Indian term spell qu e l qu es hu which means crying eagle at river and other waterways provide the city's link with the Gulf of Mexico in the mid 1920s far sighted individuals promoted the sale of local bonds to dredge a deepwater channel to the Gulf it's just 34 miles from Lake Charles to the open sea that deep water Channel connects the port to all parts of the world at the port you'll see the loading and unloading by American and foreign ships of goods of all types and description Jim tell me just what does the port mean to Lake Charles and the surrounding area Jack we feel like the port of Lake Charles is actually the most important Court in the state of Louisiana as it pertains to serving the needs of the interest in the state of Louisiana we serve more of the industry your paper mills your lumber mills your plywood mills your rice mills things of this nature than any other port in the state we are the largest rice exporting port in the world we have about 650 700,000 tons of bagged rice a year through this facility sir and all of the mills in the state as well as some men in Texas in these Texas where are we major exporter of line aboard which is manufactured at a number of paper mills we also serve a number of the major industries in this area of petroleum coke is a large product cargo that we handle through here all of the coke that is produced by city service and Conoco here is shipped through the Port of Lake Charles we have the only wood chip exporting court anywhere on the Gulf of Mexico we ship wood chips that come to us from the mills in Louisiana South Arkansas and East Texas to the Scandinavian countries where they use the longleaf pine wood chips to blend in with their wood chips and making a real high-quality paper many people are not aware that this has been done but we ship it out and quantities are 35,000 tons of wood chips at a time so it's a lot of wood chips we have the only liquefied natural gas regasification terminal anywhere in the south there's only two others in the United States our facility will go on in June of this year trunk line LNG which is a wholly owned subsidiary or Panhandle Easton is the billing a 500 million dollar regasification terminal on Portland on our industrial canal and this will mean many more jobs in this area and also wood will put a lot of natural gas into their system once this goes on stream in other words then it's truly an international port oh yes for many years Lake Charles sat here and accepted the reputation of being a rice port and seemed to be satisfied with it but not anymore we have greatly expanded the types of cargo that we handle we have more than tripled the cargo that has been shipped through the portal eggshells in the past six years and we're trying to serve the many needs that are here we are a major exporting port on the Gulf Coast what is in the future for the port of Lake Charles well we've been concentrating very heavily in the past year on bringing new industry into this particular area the port of Lake Charles of the Lake Charles Hartman terminal district as we are officially known covers about 203 square miles here in Carroll parish and the port owns considerable land on the ship channel on the industrial canal and we have been developing this land we have right now 98 million dollars worth a new industry that the fort's bringing into the area this year we are completing in the five hundred million dollar trunk line facility as I mentioned we built the trailer marine transport facility which was finished just a few months ago and we are working on two of us now that could run into the billions if they are put together as we hope to be able to do so we're really concentrated on what we look at as permanent type cargo rather than having something that just passes through the port and you hope to have it again sometime we're trying to build industry here or production type of manufacturing plant what not there we'll be here for many years and we'll be able to handle their products in and out for a long period of time with that relatively short distance to the Gulf like charles has become one of the leaders in attracting industry in the past 18 years industrial construction here has totaled about 2.2 billion dollars and there is no sign the economy here will slow down government leaders are proud of how their city continues over the years to lead the state and economic growth and potential the city of Lake Charles is about a hundred and thirteen years old of course it started out primarily as a a lumber city lumber in agriculture and then of course approximately 1930 the port was open which was a great boom to the city but then in in the early forties during World War two we regained all of these petrochemical plants just across the lake and of course that was a terrific game for us so a button right now we have what I think is a very stable economy we have a goodly amount of petrochemical business in the area along with the port and of course the plants and we're still poor well Rob in agriculture in timber or in the city well I hope that statement you made is true that we do have one of the highest growth rates the fact is we're having now as everyone is with the Census Bureau we just don't feel that they did proper job and County that people because they don't show any increase in our city and and we feel certain that they're yes but gee yes we've had a lot of growth here over the past 20 years and and certainly the future is very bright as a mission what's that port in a good stable economy I see a very bright future for City of Lake Charles we have what I think is the first-class recreational program and in addition of course as you well know we're situated on a beautiful lake and we have numerous sales boats and people are a lot of skiing and then of course we've got undoubtedly they found it's duck hunting area around Lake Charles in the entire world we we have some excellent fishing onshore and offshore so and of course numerous golf courses is just we've got it except skiing on the slopes we don't have any mountains senator Newman let's say I'm an outsider I want you to describe the city of Lake Charles to me what kind of city is it well certainly I'm somewhat biased being from this area and representing this area I represent approximately 3/4 of Calcasieu and all of Cameron Parish our city here Lake Charles of course as you can see immediately outside this one and where the building we're at today we're sitting on the lake we think we have a tremendous asset and being located on the lake of light Charles in addition that we have a deep sea port it's the only one between New Orleans and Houston across the river we have a tremendous industrial complex which brings in a lot of business a lot of work the oil industry work to our community the port at likewise to the south of the cities and developing it into a huge massive industrial complex there's been some property that has been acquired by the port of Lake Charles and they are now developing that into an industrial complex so we find the complex not only on the west side of the river we're actually finding it to the south of the city we have also a rather large farming community to the east the rice industry the soybean industry the cattle industry to the to the south and Cameron Parish so we feel as though we're sort of all around the downtown Lake Charles area we have tremendous complexes going up a number of new buildings matter of fact the cow Murray National Bank in excess of 20 21 stories is coming up so we think we have a lot to offer it's a growing area what do you see in the future for this area I see that dentistry will continue to develop here on the west side of the river which is pretty well-established but I see it starting to expand towards the northwest corner of the river definitely to the south in the industrial complex in the industrial canal it's going to be developing I think you'll see more business related businesses locating here especially with the development of the downtown area for a long time it was sort of down and out we have a lot of new complexes going up multi-story 2020 five-story buildings 10 15 20 storey buildings with quite a few and we have about four or five major ones under construction now I recently completed I think the availability of space the manpower the potential for labor and the expertise that we have necessary in construction and management I think is going to help to draw people I think Lake Charles I'm gonna continue though we grow hopefully so what about LPB Louisiana Public Broadcasting in Lake Charles oh I'm thrilled about that as a matter of fact I wish would have had it years prior I'm somewhat biased as that indicated before the program I have two daughters ages 6 and 8 and I think it's very very important for the youth and the young people of our state I think it's gonna have a tremendous impact in the Lake Charles area at present we have only one television station I'm a type of person that likes to think competition is good whether it be in any type of media or the type of business competition is good I thank the Dale PB coming into the Lake Charles there is gonna be a tremendous asset for us and I know I welcome it and my work in the Senate this past session there was a lot of inquiries about the funding we had some senators who were quite concerned about the potential and the usefulness of public education television well I welcome it I've seen it work in the past we have a service coming into the Lake Charles area by cable from Houston but I think we need to bring in our culture our Acadiana culture our language is the French language and a lot that we have in Louisiana and I think it's gonna be a plus that's tremendous plus and I welcome it I know the people like Charles welcome to ty are you now let's go on a tour of our new Louisiana Public Broadcasting City that'll be served from this tower lesson three civic do like Charles cost seventeen million dollars and is one of the finest convention entertainment and tourist centers in the state a 22 acre park is adjacent and provides tennis courts bicycle trails and is imaginatively an attractively landscaped the Burton Memorial Coliseum was built at a cost of eight million dollars and was designed primarily for rodeo stop and agricultural events the Civic Center can accommodate up to 7,500 persons and the Coliseum up to 6,500 this is the Louisiana Freedom Tower containing 46 aluminum birdhouses this fantastic Tower just west of the Civic Center was dedicated to the memory of the Louisiana servicemen who died in Vietnam it was constructed by the young men's business club the tower is the only one of its kind in the world and can house more than 5,000 purple martins recreational facilities abound throughout the Lake Charles area this is North Beach the only inland beach between Los Angeles California and Jacksonville Florida it's a wonderful place for swimming sunbathing boating waterskiing picnicking the city's 561 acres of parks and playgrounds are supplemented by Sam Houston Jones State Park ten miles north of here at the park you'll find over 1,000 magnificently wooded acres fronting the Calcasieu river because Lake Charles is so near the Gulf just south of the city are deep marshes providing the finest in duck and goose hunting hundreds of thousands of acres of marshland provide haven for millions of migrating duck and geese for the more adventuresome deep-sea fishing is just a short boat trip away earlier in the program I mentioned the historic days of Lake Charles while memories of those days are housed in the Imperial Calcasieu Museum records and exhibits depicting the history of Lake Charles including that of pirate Jean Lafitte who it is said did Harbor his ships in local waters rumors still abound of buried treasure nearby the museum is the site of the Charles Sally a OMA under which Sally a built his home so many years ago the first week in Macy's a unique celebration observing the official opening of the Southwest Louisiana watersports season in Lake Charles it's known as contraband days when citizens Lynne colored the festivities dressed as Buccaneers in elaborate costumes events include power and sailboat races water-ski shows carnivals fireworks and not to forget the French influence a Cajun day just a short distance to the west of Lake Charles from September to July you can feel the Thunder at beautiful Delta Downs racetrack let's point out that other communities in Calcasieu Parish will also be served by Louisiana public broadcasting such as the town of sulphur it was here that the mineral that gave the town its name was discovered in 1905 until 1914 seventy-five percent of a nation's sulfur was supplied from right here the product was so pure 99% that it was put on the market unrefined alas all good things must end and the sulfur feel played out in 1924 the town of Jennings to the east of Lake Charles has the distinction of being the site of the first discovery of petroleum in Louisiana that was in 1901 the town was first settled in 1884 named for Jennings McComb the engineer in charge of building the Southern Pacific Railway lines in Southwest Louisiana this is McNeese State University founded as a junior college division of Louisiana State University in 1939 McNeese is today a fully accredited university operating under the Louisiana Board of Trustees many state university has a very unique history was founded in 1939 back to the legislature but actually they attempted to build the college in 1938 they really the Cattlemen's Association wanted a rodeo arena and when they went before the legislature in 1938 the rodeo arena was turned down so they went back before the legislature in 1939 and added a college to the rodeo arena and got it approved so they got the rodeo arena and the college at the same time it was called Lake Charles Junior College in 1940 governor Sam Jones renamed the college John McNeese Junior College and of course John McNeese was a great educator our first superintendent of Calcasieu Parish he also fought in the Battle of Gettysburg and was a cattleman and so we get our Cattlemen's cowboys named in a real good natural way later on a college was made a four-year school in 1952 back to the legislature and then in 1970 it was turned into a university and of course it's growth has been from approximately 134 students in 1942 approximately 6,000 at this time it has been a unique history that is fascinating when you study all aspects of it but a lot of people don't know who John McNeese was and he was really the greatest educator on the state of Louisiana so McNeese is an educational institution named after a great educator well of course at first Lake Charles this area of Lake Charles was undeveloped the gravel street about here was Ryan Street and the dirt street behind us was common street right now we're totally surrounded and we're a suburban college almost an urban institution so it's been a tremendous development it's payroll for 550 employees and 6,000 students are spread throughout this universe throughout this area and particularly in the city of Lake Charles it's probably the largest single industry in Lake Charles although some of the plants might be larger the budget for McNeese including the student fees not counting the money students spend is twenty million dollars so assuming that that turns over five times as some people have said that's a hundred million and that doesn't count what each student spends on their own which is approximately a hundred dollars a semester and some say even one hundred a month so it's big industry we have a good rapport with businesses throughout the area that we serve and when I say the area we serve I go from Houston to New Orleans through Baton Rouge up into North Louisiana all of our graduates are able to get good jobs the people that hire them come back for more jobs of course writing immediately in Lake Charles we furnish most of the chemists for this petrochemical industrial plants that are here we furnish many of the engineers many of the business graduates and quite a few other technical people that these plants readily absorb and young people can get a job in the city or they can go out and usually they all find work in the field that they studied and not having to take secondary jobs approximately 80 percent of our students come with in not say 70 miles of Lake Charles Louisiana we do grow quite a few from East Texas Port Arthur Beaumont Jasper Silsbee Orange Texas and we draw some from Baton Rouge New Orleans and North Louisiana another small group but a notable group is that we draw some Oh three or four hundred students from foreign countries we have some twenty foreign countries represented on the campus and I think we have all of the states of the Union represented it not I'm not sure about Alaska but we have all of the lower 48 represented it's a possibly a few western states these statistics change the face that I'm not sure right now but we're we're a regional institution and that the bulk of our students come from a area near the University but we do reach out to others I see a slow steady growth I don't see a mushroom in situation because I don't see Lake Charles getting in a position say of Houston or a city like that but I think it'll get in a position where it'll have a steady 10 percent 15 percent growth every decade I think our College will follow the same line I look for us to have 7,000 8,000 students during a decade of the 80s and possibly go up to 10,000 during the decade of the 90s and that's the way I look for the area to grow we're not a rapidly growing area but we are steadily growing area and really it's really the best kind of growth because we're able to take care of the people better and not be totally overcrowded with poor streets poor facilities and just have to find a way to get around so this is like Charles the newest link in the ever-expanding chain of Louisiana Public Broadcasting twenty-five and a half square miles with about 81 thousand people the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish which has close to 156 thousand persons Lake Charles take time to enjoy it [Music] you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6D3OX3Ez6k
Oh wow another one pre Hurricane Laura. Haha, seeing all the trees is disorienting.
edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YIV33HgGBU
An even older one from McNeese Archives Lake Charles: The Town that means home
YouTube needs to leave me alone with all these LC docus rofl
I'm liking all this content we've been getting on this sub. It's nice to see people here!
mindblowing seeing old footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnrRcXMsol4
This one is driving around Lake Charles in 2016
Well that was a treat! Had no idea that’s how the lake got its name…I wonder if it’s also the source of the curse we seem to have hovering over this town. Lol