Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #52 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Lake Charles was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. 15 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 378 buildings between them. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
The Lake Charles post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1861.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Charles is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #52 of 161 in Louisiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Louisiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Louisiana town has 3.8 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lake Charles’ 48.1 sits above most of its state (82% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 390 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lake Charles.
On March 7, 1861, Lake Charles was incorporated as the town of Charleston, named after an early settler, Charles Sallier. On March 16, 1867, Charleston was reincorporated as the City of Lake Charles. The Great Fire of April 1910 devastated much of the city.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Louisiana (LA) - Calcasieu Parish - Lake Charles …
In the archiveLake Charles, La
In the archiveRyan Street, Lake Charles, 1900sBorn hereMichael Ellis DeBakey is born here
In the archiveBurned district, Lake Charles, La
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltCash Grocery and Sales Company Warehouse is builtBorn hereLucinda Williams is born hereBorn hereSean Patrick Flanery is born hereBorn hereZachary Levi is born here4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
18801950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Louisiana (LA…1895Lake Charles, Lac. 1902Ryan Street, Lake Charles, 1900s1910Burned district, Lake Charles, La
1910A prairie dairy farm, S.W., La
1910Lake Charles courthouse postcardPostcard
1910Burned district
1910Night after fire
1914Central School
1914Glimpses around Lake Charles, La
1914Glimpses around Lake Charles, La
1914Broat St
1914Episcopal Church
1914Glimpses around Lake Charles, La
1914Glimpses around Lake Charles, La
1914North Hodges St
1918Untitled photo
1918Untitled photoEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lake Charles. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lake Charles.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lake Charles’ page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 474 people in 1870 to 84,872 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lake Charles’ Wikipedia page.
Lake Charles’s post office has been open since 1850.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lake Charles post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1861.
Lake Charles is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #52 of 161 in Louisiana. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
15 listings: 11 buildings, among them the Waters Pierce Oil Company Stable Building (listed 1980, the first), and 4 historic districts with 378 contributing buildings. 390 historic buildings in all.
5% of Lake Charles’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1981.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (7), the Library of Congress (11), the National Register of Historic Places (15), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
