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Lake Charles, LA

Lake Charles, Louisiana
City
City of Lake Charles
Clockwise from left: Downtown skyline; Golden Nugget Casino; L'Auberge du Lac Casino; Israel LaFleur Bridge; McNeese State University entrance plaza.
Clockwise from left: Downtown skyline; Golden Nugget Casino; L'Auberge du Lac Casino; Israel LaFleur Bridge; McNeese State University entrance plaza.
Official seal of Lake Charles, Louisiana
Seal
Nickname(s): The Lake Area, Lake "Chuck"
Lake Charles, Louisiana is located in Louisiana
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles, Louisiana is located in the US
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Location of Lake Charles in Louisiana
Coordinates: 30°12′53″N 93°12′31″W / 30.21472°N 93.20861°W / 30.21472; -93.20861Coordinates: 30°12′53″N 93°12′31″W / 30.21472°N 93.20861°W / 30.21472; -93.20861
Country  United States
State  Louisiana
Parish Calcasieu
Founded March 7, 1861 as Charleston
Renamed March 16, 1867 as Lake Charles
Founded by Charles Sallier
Named for Charles Sallier
Government
 • Mayor Randy Roach (Democrat)
 • City Council
Area
 • City 44.8 sq mi (116 km2)
 • Land 42.1 sq mi (109 km2)
 • Water 2.7 sq mi (7 km2)
Elevation 13 ft (4 m)
Population (2010)
 • City 71,993
 • Density 1,711.8/sq mi (660.9/km2)
 • Urban 132,977
 • Metro 194,138
Demonym(s) Lake Charlesian
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CST (UTC-5)
ZIP Codes 70601, 70602, 70605, 70606, 70607, 70609, 70615, 70616, 70629
Area Code 337
Website www.cityoflakecharles.com

Lake Charles (French: Lac Charles) is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasieu Parish, it is a major industrial, cultural, and educational center in the southwest region of the state.

As of the 2010 census, the population was 71,993. Lake Charles is the principal city of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area, having a population of 202,040. It is the larger principal city of the Lake Charles-Jennings Combined Statistical Area, with a population of 225,235. The 2010 population of the five-parish area of Southwest Louisiana was 292,619.

It is considered a regionally significant center of petrochemical refining, gaming, tourism, and education, being home to McNeese State University and Sowela Technical Community College. Because of the lakes and waterways throughout the city, metropolitan Lake Charles is often referred to as the Lake Area.

On March 7, 1861, Lake Charles was officially incorporated as the town of Charleston, Louisiana. Six years after the city was incorporated, dissatisfaction over the name Charleston arose; on March 16, 1867, Charleston was renamed and incorporated as the town of Lake Charles. In 1910, a fire, known as the "Great Fire of 1910", devastated much of the city.

However, Lake Charles soon rebuilt itself and continued to grow and expand in the twentieth century. The Charleston Hotel was completed in 1929, during the administration of Mayor Henry J. Geary. During and after World War II, Lake Charles experienced industrial growth with the onset of the petrochemical refining industries. The city grew to a high of some 75,000 people in the early 1980s, but with local economic recession, the population declined.


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