Lake Charles Then and Now — The Sequel

I have to tell you that I'm really enjoying digging through all these old pictures of Lake Charles. I didn't grow up here and it's a real education in this area's past. In the coming weeks, I'll have more of Lake Charles, "Then and Now," but I also have something coming up that I think you'll really like.

Actor, Historian and all round great guy, Adley Cormier, is going to be sharing his vast knowledge of Lake Charles history with us in a series of videos. I'd love to say that there will be one episode per week, but a lot of what happens in that department will be strictly up to my ability to edit video; so, we'll see.

Adley and I plan to shoot the first installment this weekend. Our first outing will be to the real beginnings of Lake Charles. Believe it or not, at one time, what is now Lake Charles was considered "No man's land" and they decided to build a fort here. Seriously. Well, I don't want to steal any of Adley's thunder, but coming up next week, we'll show you just where to fort was and learn a lot about local history.

Now...On to this week's pictures:

Let's start with the cover picture:

This picture was taken at the corner of Ryan and Mill during the flood of 1913

Here's that same intersection today. Kind of deserted, isn't it?

Do you remember when Ryan Street looked like this? My gosh, just check out all those stores!

This is how that same area looks today. Man, do you miss the lunch counter at Woolworth?

Now, I don't have a "Now" picture of this next one. It was taken at the corner of Kirkman and Division back during the 1913 flood. None of the structures in the picture still exist, but the picture itself is interesting in that the subject in the picture is only identified as "Mr. Kellog." What also makes the picture interesting is that the picture depicts Mr. Kellog waiting for a boat to come by and take him to work! Now, that's dedication!