Welcome to the LaSalle County Historical Society’s website.
How fortunate we are here in La Salle County to have such a rich and deep history. Our story began long before the French explorers came down the Illinois River to map out the land and to find a waterway to the Mississippi River. The canyons of Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks were carved out of the soft sandstone by the glaciers of the last ice age. Native Americans settled in this area because of it's abundance of wildlife and rich soil.
The mission of the La Salle County Historical Society is to promote and preserve the history and heritage of La Salle County. The most visible way we do that is by the maintenance and operation of our museum complex in Utica. The museum itself is part of our county history. The building was built by one of the surveyors of the I and M Canal, James Clark. It was used as a grain warehouse for the local farmers to store their grain before being shipped off to cities far away on the canal. In the museum you can learn about our past through exhibits and artifacts. You'll learn about the places and people who helped shape our county. You'll learn things about Wild Bill Hickock, Abraham Lincoln, and even Charles Lindbergh. But you'll also learn many things about people you've never even heard of before.
And the museum is more than just a place to see things on exhibit. You can actually visit a real one room school house and learn how our parents and grandparents experience a school day. You can also visit an actual working blacksmith shop and a historical barn.
If you've never been to our museum, or if you have but haven't visited us in a long time, we encourage you to find the time to spend an hour or two. I'm sure you'll say what we've heard said many times before, “I never realized all of this was right here in Utica”!
As president of the board of directors I invite you to come and be pleasantly surprised.
