DeQuincy is the northernmost city in

Calcasieu Parish Calcasieu Parish (; ) is a parish located on the southwestern border of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 216,785. The parish seat and largest city is Lake Charles. Calcasieu Parish is part of the Lake C ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States. The population was 3,235 at the 2010 census. DeQuincy is part of the Lake Charles metropolitan statistical area.

History

DeQuincy was founded in 1897 as a railroad town with the Calcasieu, Vernon & Shreveport Railway Company (CV&S) having been completed and Arthur Stilwell's Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company (KCS&G), that was owned by the

Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad The Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad was a railway company that began operations in the 1890s and owned a main-line between Kansas City, Missouri, and Port Arthur, Texas. It was led by Arthur Stilwell before being thrown into receiversh ...

(KCP&G), completed in 1897. On 8 March 1944, two Air Force aircraft from nearby

Barksdale Air Force Base Barksdale Air Force Base (Barksdale AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, in northwest Louisiana. Much of the base is within the city limits of Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwest ...

collided overhead killing seven people.

Geography

DeQuincy is located in northern Calcasieu Parish. Louisiana Highways 12 and 27 pass through the center of town: LA 12 leads east to Kinder and southwest to

Deweyville, Texas Deweyville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Newton County, on the central eastern border of Texas, United States. The population was 571 at the 2020 census, down from 1,023 at the 2010 census. Historical development This settlement was e ...

, while LA 27 leads north to DeRidder and south to

Sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

, west of Lake Charles. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, DeQuincy has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 3,144 people, 972 households, and 720 families residing in the city.

Economy

DeQuincy was founded as a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

settlement, and the Kansas City Southern and

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

railroads remain principal employers for area citizens. The

timber industry Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

has long been a vital part of the local economy. DeQuincy is home to

Temple-Inland Temple-Inland, Inc. was an American corrugated packaging and building products company. It was acquired by International Paper in 2012. History Inland Container Corporation was founded by Herman C. Krannert as Anderson Box Company in Anders ...

's Southwest Louisiana Lumber Operation. The DeQuincy Industrial Airpark houses facilities for Thermoplastic Services, Recycle Inc., United Oilfield Services, and Paragon Plastic Sheet. In 2002,

Calgon Carbon Calgon Carbon Corporation is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based company that manufactures and markets products that remove contaminants and odors from liquids and gases, both for industrial, municipal, and consumer markets. Calgon Carbon's product ...

Corporation planned to construct a carbon reactivation plant in the airpark, though those plans have been delayed due to

environmental Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

concerns.

Government and infrastructure

The former Grand Avenue High School was the site of the highest scoring boys high school basketball game on January 29, 1964, when Grand Avenue beat

Cameron, Louisiana Cameron is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the parish seat of Cameron Parish, Louisiana, Cameron Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Lake Charles, Louisiana, Lake Charles Lake Charles metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statisti ...

's Audrey Memorial High School by a score of 211 to 29. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

operates the DeQuincy Post Office. The

Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections The Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) (French: ) is a state law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates and management of facilities at state prisons within the state of Louisiana. The agency is headquart ...

formerly operated the

C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center (PCC) was a Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections prison for men, located in unincorporated Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, about north of DeQuincy and northwest of Lake Charles. The center was loc ...

in unincorporated

Beauregard Parish Beauregard Parish () is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,549. The parish seat and most populous municipality is DeRidder. The parish was formed on January 1, 1913. Beauregard Paris ...

, about north of DeQuincy. The facility closed in November 2012

Education

Calcasieu Parish Public Schools The Calcasieu Parish School Board (CPSB) is a school district based in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States. The CPSB operates all public schools in Calcasieu Parish, including the city of Lake Charles. The school district has a total of 58 ...

operates public schools: *

DeQuincy High School DeQuincy High School is a senior high school in DeQuincy, Louisiana, United States. It is a part of Calcasieu Parish Public Schools. History A man named Mr. D. D. Hereford began teaching in DeQuincy in 1899. In 1910, a dedicated brick school bui ...

* DeQuincy Middle School * DeQuincy Elementary School * DeQuincy Primary School

Subject of multiple hoaxes

The town has been the subject of numerous hoaxes by satirical writer

Paul Horner Paul Horner (November 5, 1978 – September 18, 2017) was an American writer, comedian and contributor to fake news websites. Horner has been described as a "hoax artist" by outlets such as The Associated Press, ''The Chicago Tribune'', PolitiFac ...

, widely spread on the Internet. The hoaxes claim the town enacted bizarre legislation such as banning those of Korean descent, issuing handguns to school children, permitting

bigamy In a culture where only monogamous relationships are legally recognized, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their mar ...

, banning

twerking Twerking (; possibly from 'to work') is a type of African-American dance, dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving Pelvic thrusting, throwing or thrusting the hips back or shaking the buttocks, often in a Partial squat, ...

, and the city being completely eradicated by

zombies A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore ...

bath salts Bath salts are water-soluble, pulverized minerals that are added to water to be used for bathing. It is said that these salts improve cleaning, enhance the enjoyment of bathing, and serve as a vehicle for cosmetic agents. Bath salts have been de ...

. DeQuincy Mayor Lawrence Henagan, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, was falsely targeted in 2016 by an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

hoax that he had jailed a volunteer fire chief for thirty days and then dismissed the man after the chief had prayed at the scene of a fire. The story identified the mayor as "Lawana Jones, an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

" and the fire chief as "39-year-old Ronnie Edwards." Henagan, the chairman of the

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

board at the First

Baptist Church Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...

of DeQuincy, said that the chief is free to pray while

firefighting Firefighting is a profession aimed at controlling and extinguishing fire. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter or fireman. Firefighters typically undergo a high degree of technical training. This involves structural fir ...

. Henagan said he would join the fire chief in prayer. Henagan said that he has no knowledge why he was singled out for a

fake news Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person ...

article but noted that he could take no legal action because the reports used fictitious names.

Notable people

Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to: Sportsmen *Scott Brown (American football), American college football coach of Kentucky State *Scott Brown (baseball) (born 1956), former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds *Scott Brown (footballer, born ...

, retired major league baseball pitcher. * Burl Cain, warden of

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

since 1995, formerly resided in DeQuincy. *

Johnny Dowers John Wayne "Johnny" Dowers (born March 16, 1971, in DeQuincy, Louisiana) is an American actor, writer, and musician best known for his role as Detective Tim Cooper on FX's drama, ''The Bridge''. He co-wrote and starred in the 2010 comedy Pickin' & ...

, actor and musician who has appeared on the TV series '' GCB'' and ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadc ...

''. *

Tina Girouard Cynthia Marie "Tina" Girouard (May 26, 1946 – April 21, 2020) was an American video and performance artist best known for her work and involvement in the SoHo art scene of the 1960s and early 1970s. Early life and education Cynthia Marie Girou ...

, award-winning video and performance artist, was born in DeQuincy. * Hanna Nicole and Ashley Grance from the American duo

Ha*Ash Ha*Ash is an American Latin pop duo from Lake Charles, Louisiana, formed in 2002 by sisters Hanna Nicole (born 1985) and Ashley Grace (born 1987). The group's name is a portmanteau of letters from their first names. They have released six studi ...

, singers *

Smiley Lewis Overton Amos Lemons (July 5, 1913 – October 7, 1966), known as Smiley Lewis, was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. The music journalist Tony Russell wrote that "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans. He hit on ...

, rhythm and blues musician whose songs have been covered by many artists *

Anthony Pullard Anthony Quinn Pullard (born June 23, 1966) is an American retired professional basketball player born in DeQuincy, Louisiana. He was a , forward and played collegiately at McNeese State University from 1985 to 1990. He also attended Odessa Juni ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player for the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

References

External links

City of DeQuincy official websiteThe ''DeQuincy News''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dequincy, Louisiana * Cities in Louisiana Cities in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana Cities in the Lake Charles metropolitan area