A Charming And Historic Small Town In Illinois, LaSalle Is Seemingly Frozen In Time
By Linze Rice|Published June 08, 2023
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Linze Rice
Author
Ope! From the rural cornfields of DeKalb County, Linze is an Illinois native and true Midwestern gal who can make a mean bonfire and whip up a perfect marshmallow salad. Since 2014, her bylines and photography have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, and Block Club Chicago/DNAinfo Chicago, Only in Your State, and more. She has interviewed Dolly Parton, written about beloved diners along historic Route 66, visited the last Rainforest Cafe in the Illinois, and reviewed luxurious English manor-inspired hotels. Whether it's writing about a local gem or world-renowned establishment, Linze brings a heartwarming and historical perspective to each story, using facts, wit, and personal experience to impress upon readers the importance of culture, food, travel, and all things local. Her favorite destinations in Illinois include Starved Rock State Park, Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood, the charming small town of Sycamore, and historic Rosehill Cemetery. When she's not writing or photographing, Linze enjoys gardening, spending time with her husband and pets, cooking, baking, and grilling, and relaxing with trashy TV.
Chicago is an incredible, modern city, but much of the Prairie State chugs along at a slower pace. Many small towns in Illinois offer a type of charm you just can’t find anywhere else. Offering a mix of rich state and local history, proximity to nature, and all the breathtaking architecture you could imagine, LaSalle is a lovely Illinois town frozen in time.
LaSalle is located near the intersection of I-80 and I-39 in North Central Illinois' LaSalle County. With a population of about 9,500 residents, it's a small town packed with significance in state history.
The city was named after Robert de LaSalle, the famous French explorer.
One of the city's earliest feats was helping to create a 96-mile canal connecting the Illinois River in LaSalle to Lake Michigan in Chicago, which was completed in 1848. The Volunteer, the boat shown here, is a replica of an 1848 canal boat.
The boat still operates on a restored section of the canal.
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The Hegeler-Carus Mansion, located at 1307 Seventh St., is a Second Empire-style mansion designed by famed architect William Boyington (designer of the Chicago Water Tower) and completed in 1876. It has a whopping 16,000 square feet of living space amid seven floors and contains a staggering 57 rooms.
It became a National Historic Landmark in 2007 and was built for Edward C. Hegeler of the Matthiessen Hegeler Zinc Company — once the largest zinc manufacturing company in the United States. This helped earn LaSalle the nickname of "Zinc City."
The Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge and LaSalle Rail Bridge are just two of the scenic bridges that span the Illinois River. Created in 1855, then reconstructed in 1893, the LaSalle Rail Bridge carried the former Illinois Central Railroad over the river as it traveled between Lake Michigan and the Gulf of Mexico.
The town is only 5 miles from Starved Rock State Park, where you can spend a day exploring walking trails and breathtaking waterfalls — including the beloved LaSalle Canyon.
So would you visit LaSalle, an Illinois town frozen in time? What do you look for when visiting a new small town? Tell us in the comments! Start planning your trip by checking out the City of LaSalle’s website and the City of LaSalle’s Facebook page. And while you’re in town, stop by this burrito restaurant for the most massive burrito of your life, then spend some time at Starved Rock State Park!
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