DeQuincy, Louisiana: A Baron, an Investor or Neither?
The federal record says DeQuincy, Louisiana, was named for a Dutch baron, but the town’s own history calls the evidence for its namesake inconclusive. Two of the three accounts tie the name to the railroad’s money. Who exactly it honored is the open question.
A railroad that laid out towns as it went
The town’s beginning is well marked. The City of DeQuincy’s history says Thomas and Bertrand Beers bought several thousand acres from the U.S. government in May 1885, including the future site of the town. Then came the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf, “financed mainly by European investors,” which “crept southward in the 1890’s laying out towns as it went.” The original townsite was laid out “about 1896 or 1897 when the main line of the K.C. P. and G. reached the site.”
The first train bound for Lake Charles left Kansas City on June 20, 1897, and reached Lake Charles by way of DeQuincy on June 28, the city says, and the governor recognized DeQuincy as an incorporated village on May 14, 1903. By 1914, Alcée Fortier’s Louisiana listed “De Quincy” as a village at the junction of the Colorado Southern and the Kansas City Southern, in the longleaf pine country, with lumber industries and 715 people.
Three answers to one question
Here’s where you get different answers depending on where you look.
The baron
The U.S. Geological Survey’s place-name file has a one-line history for the town: “Named for Baron De Quincy, a Dutch nobleman.” It doesn’t say where that came from.
A Dutch investor, maybe
The city’s own page is more careful. “Inconclusive evidence suggests that the site was named to honor a Dutch investor,” it says, and it doesn’t give that investor a name or a title.
E. DeQuincy
The local paper names a person. A 2023 DeQuincy News history of the town and its railroad says that Arthur E. Stilwell, the man behind the Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf, rode the line with “E. DeQuincy (an investor in Stilwell’s railroad, whom DeQuincy is named after).” It doesn’t call him a baron or say what country he came from.
What you can say for sure
Two of the three tie the name to the railroad’s money; the federal file just says a Dutch nobleman. And the federal file’s baron, the city’s unnamed Dutch investor and the newspaper’s E. DeQuincy aren’t proven to be the same man, and none of the three shows a document from the 1890s. So this article calls the origin disputed. If you see “named for a Dutch baron” stated flatly somewhere, now you know that the town itself hasn’t signed off on it.
Quick answers
Was DeQuincy, Louisiana, named after a Dutch baron?
Maybe. The U.S. Geological Survey’s file says “Baron De Quincy, a Dutch nobleman,” but the City of DeQuincy says the evidence for a Dutch investor is “inconclusive.”
Who was E. DeQuincy?
An investor in Arthur Stilwell’s railroad, according to a 2023 DeQuincy News history, which says the town is named after him. It gives no first name, title or nationality.
When did the railroad reach DeQuincy?
The Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf main line reached the site about 1896 or 1897, and the first train ran through to Lake Charles in June 1897, according to the city.
Key dates
- 1885May: Thomas and Bertrand Beers buy several thousand acres from the U.S. government, including the future townsite.
- 1897June: the first train from Kansas City reaches Lake Charles by way of DeQuincy.
- 1903May 14: DeQuincy is recognized as an incorporated village.
Getting there
Open DeQuincy in Google Maps
Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of DeQuincy in the USGS place-name record.
The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of DeQuincy.
Airports
- Lake Charles Regional (LCH) 26 mi 41 km
- Jack Brooks Regional (BPT) Beaumont 49 mi 79 km
- George Bush Intcntl/Houston (IAH) 118 mi 191 km
Amtrak trains
- Lake Charles station (LCH) 20 mi 31 km
- Beaumont station (BMT) 49 mi 79 km
Intercity buses
- FlixBus Lake Charles (City Point) 21 mi 33 km
- Greyhound Orange Exxon 33 mi 53 km
Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.
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Historical Sources & References
- GNIS feature 554198 (U.S. Geological Survey). The Survey’s place-name entry for DeQuincy, in Calcasieu Parish, with the history line “Named for Baron De Quincy, a Dutch nobleman.”
- City of DeQuincy, “About DeQuincy”. The Beers land purchase of May 1885, the European-financed Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Gulf, the townsite of “about 1896 or 1897,” the first train of June 1897 and “inconclusive evidence” for a Dutch investor.
- “DeQuincy, KCS intertwined since beginning,” DeQuincy News (2023). Arthur E. Stilwell and “E. DeQuincy (an investor in Stilwell’s railroad, whom DeQuincy is named after).”
- Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana, vol. 1 (1914), p. 319. “De Quincy” as a village at the junction of the Colorado Southern and Kansas City Southern, with lumber industries and 715 people.
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