Filmed on Friday, July 7 2023, I drive around the village LaSalle, IL to see what's going on.
LaSalle was named in honor of the early French explorer Robert de LaSalle.
LaSalle first rose to prominence as the western terminus of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which was constructed between 1836 and 1848. The town boomed as a transfer point from canal boats coming from Chicago to steamboats going to St. Louis and New Orleans.
Steamboats from New Orleans unloaded molasses, sugar, coffee, and fresh oranges and lemons. Canal boats from Chicago brought lumber, stoves, wagons, and the latest clothing styles from the east. Local farmers hauled corn and wheat to be shipped to Chicago and points east.
By the mid 1850s, LaSalle had begun to exploit the coal that lay underneath much of the city. The LaSalle Coal Mining Company completed the first shaft in 1856 and many other companies soon followed.
In 1858, attracted by the abundance of coal, coupled with the excellent transportation links provided by the canal and the Illinois Central Railroad, Frederick Matthiessen and Edward Hegeler chose LaSalle as the site for an innovative zinc smelting plant, the first in the United States. Within 10 years, the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Works became the largest producer of zinc in the country, and one of the largest in the world.
LaSalle and it's twin city Peru came to be collectively known as "Zinc City" in the early 1900s.
With the end of prohibition in 1933, illegal gambling proliferated in LaSalle, with the Kelly and Cawley Liquor and Gambling Hall at the heart of the city's wall to wall entertainment. LaSalle came to be known as "Little Reno" as the city was home to between 60 and 80 saloons and dozens of gambling clubs. So many travelers arrived from Chicago each Saturday night that the streets of LaSalle were said to be standing-room only. In 1953, the federal government raided Kelly and Cawley's Liquor and Gambling Hall, ending this era in LaSalle's history.
As of the 2020 census there were 9,582 people residing in the city.
The racial makeup of the city was 79.0% White, 2.7% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 6.1% from other races, and 10.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 18.0% of the population.
The median income for a household in the city was $53,208, and the per capita income for the city was $27,428. About 16.7% of the population were living below the poverty line.
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