1913 Map of La Salle

About this map

Industrial and transportation networks converge at the bend of the Illinois River, where the cities of La Salle and Peru serve as a major regional hub. This 1913 edition, with cultural revisions through the late 1940s, reveals a landscape defined by an incredibly dense web of rail lines, including the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific RR and the Illinois Central RR, which supported the area's coal mining and manufacturing base. To the south, the Vermilion River carves through the terrain toward Oglesby, passing geological landmarks like Split Rock and the early boundaries of Deer Park and Matthiessen Park.