La Salle

Formed January 15, 1831 (58^th county)

La Salle County (109,663), Ottawa (18,862)

The Modern style red brick and concrete county courthouse is located on Edna Road at Cherie Lane.  Illinois State Highway 23 is four blocks to the west of the site.  Phillips Swager Associates are the courthouse designers.  The county was established on January 15, 1831 out of Tazewell and Putnam counties as the 58^th county.  The current courthouse was built in 1975 to replace 1882 and 1842 courthouses.  The 1882 stone courthouse continues to function.  This structure is on a square at La Salle, Main, Court, and Madison streets.  La Salle is Illinois State Highway 23.  It was designed by N. L. Beers.  Ottawa has been the only county seat.  The county is named for explorer Robert de La Salle.  The county seat name is Native American for “to trade.” 

La Salle County government consists of a sheriff and 30 Commissioners.  Thirteen Circuit Court Judges serve La Salle, Bureau, and Grundy counties.  The county is in north central Illinois.  Rockford, Illinois is north and Peoria, Illinois is southwest of the county.  The Illinois River flows through the middle of the county.  The county center is 11.1 miles West-Southwest of Ottawa nearer North Utica.  The county is surrounded clockwise by De Kalb, Kendall, Grundy, Livingston, Woodford, Marshall, Putnam, Bureau, and Lee counties. 

The area of the county is 1135 square miles.  It is 2 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 17 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 96.6 persons per square mile making it 23 out of 102 in the state.  La Salle County has 72.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 39 goes north to south through the western part of the county from Lee County to Marshall County.  Interstate Highway 80 goes east to west from Grundy County to Bureau County.  United States Highway 6 parallels Interstate Highway 80 from Grundy to Bureau counties.  United States Highway 34 crosses the north part of the county east to west from De Kalb County to Bureau County.  United States Highway 51 is connected with Interstate Highway 39 from Lee to Marshall counties.  United States Highway 52 enters from the east, Kendall County and exits north into Lee County.  The county is a large rectangle with a foot extending out near the southwest corner.  Ottawa is located in the northern half of the county.  Ottawa is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 17.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Ottawa-Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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