Calcasieu

Formed March 24, 1840 (37^th parish)

Calcasieu Parish (216,779), Lake Charles (84,936)

Large pillars and a large dome are the major features of the 1911 Neo-Classical and Beaux Arts structure.  Tan brick and masonry is the construction for the building.  The courthouse is on Ryan Street at Kirby Street.  The building was enlarged in 1960.  The 1841 courthouse was in Marion, the parish seat shifted to Lake Charles in 1852 and the most recent courthouse was built in 1891.  An Administration building was built in 1989 and a Judicial Center was built in 1994.  The parish was created on March 24, 1840 as the 37^th parish.  The courthouse was designed by Favrot and Livaudais.  The parish’s name is Native American for “crying eagle.”  The parish seat’s title was in honor of an early settler, Charles Sallier. 

Calcasieu Parish government consists of a President, a sheriff, a clerk, a treasurer, and a coroner (executive).  It has 15 Police Jury Members (legislative.)  Ten District Court Judges and Six Justice Court Judges serve Calcasieu Parish (judicial.) The parish is in southeast Louisiana west of Lafayette, Louisiana and on the border with Texas.  The Sabine River forms the border with Texas.  The Beckwith and Calcasieu Bayous come from the north and join to form Calcasieu Lake in the south of the parish.  The parish center is 6 miles West-Northwest of Lake Charles nearer Sulphur.  The parish is surrounded clockwise by Beauregard, Jefferson Davis, and Cameron parishes and Texas. 

The area of the parish is 1094 square miles.  It is 12 out of 64 in the state.  It ranks 7 out of 64 in population in the state.  It has a density of 198.2 persons per square mile making it 10 out of 64 in the state.  Calcasieu Parish has 56.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 10 crosses east to west from Jefferson Davis Parish into Texas.  United States Highway 90 parallels Interstate Highway 10 from Jefferson Davis Parish into Texas.  United States Highway 171 enters from Beauregard Parish, north, and terminates in the parish.  United States Highway 190 cuts the extreme northwest corner of the parish from Beauregard Parish into Texas.  The parish’s shape is basically rectangular with an eastward extension and a wavy west border.  Lake Charles is east and south of the parish center.  Lake Charles is the parish seat and the largest city.  It is 35.7% of the parish population.  The parish is pronounced CAL-CA-SOE.  This parish is in the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area.