LaSalle’s post office opened in 1838, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #28 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Hegeler-Carus Mansion, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 93 buildings. Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first LaSalle post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives LaSalle’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, LaSalle is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #28 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of LaSalle’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so LaSalle’s 106 sits above most of its state (94% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 101 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about LaSalle’s past
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. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
LaSalle was named in honor of the early French explorer Robert de LaSalle.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal was first thought up by French explorer Louis Joliet. Much later, when Illinois became a state, the idea of a canal connecting Lake Michigan to the Illinois River was supported by many, including Abraham Lincoln. The 96-mile canal was finally constructed between 1836 and 1848. Upon its completion, Chicago became the eastern terminus and LaSalle became the western terminus. LaSalle boomed as a transshipment point from canal boats coming from Chicago to steamboats going to St. Louis and New Orleans. It became a place where Northern and Southern culture met.
Passages that mention LaSalle, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of LaSalle County, Illinois1877 · page 547Read the page →
Read the text
In 1876 Ottawa polled 1,490 votes, and must contain nearly 10,000 people, The population of Ottawa at the last census was mbout 8,000, LaSalle became an smportant place, in addition to ite natural location and resourees, by the decision of the trustees of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, placing the tenmination of the canal, or its Junction with the Diinols river, within jts limits, in 1886, Tn 1887 the town was laid out, and incorporated # city in 1852. In 1876
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of LaSalle County, Illinois1877 · page 164Read the page →
Read the text
formed a settlement, the first Norwegian settlement in America, Bat Cling Pearson was a restless spirit ; he again rambled west, and explored Illinois, and fixed onalocation in LaSalle County. Cling stated that when exploring the country afterward occupied by his countrymen, becoming weary, he lay down under a tree, slept, and dreamed, and in his dream he saw the wild prairie changed to a cultivated re-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
LaSalle, 1838 to 2007
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The LaSalle post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does LaSalle rank for history?
LaSalle is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #28 of 768 in Illinois. 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.
What is on the National Register in LaSalle?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Hegeler-Carus Mansion (a National Historic Landmark since 2007) and the LaSalle City Building (listed 1985, the first), and 1 historic district, the LaSalle Downtown Commercial District, with 93 contributing buildings. 101 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in LaSalle?
32% of LaSalle’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
