La Salle County

La Salle county was formed in 1831 but current-day boundaries were not set until 1843. It was taken from a part of Putnam County and subsequently spawned Kendall County, Livingston County and Marshall County.

The county is located in northern Illinois and is named for French explorer Sieur de La Salle. He helped establish Fort Crevecoeur near Peoria in 1680 and Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock in 1682. The latter has given rise to Starved Rock State Park near Utica.

Other parks include Illini State Park near Marseilles and Buffalo Rock State Park & Effigy Tumili near Ottawa, the county seat. In addition, the Vermilion River passes through the county emptying into the Illinois River near La Salle.

The county population on July 1, 1999, was 110,248, an increase of 3,335 over the 1990 census.

For information on county government, contact the National Association of Counties Web site.

Additional information is available at these pages:

• Illinois Counties
• Illinois Cities