Starved Rock State Park is located approximately 5 mi (8 km) to the east.

LaSalle boomed as a transshipment 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.

Passengers hustled to make connections to canal boats bound for Chicago or steamboats headed to St. Louis and beyond.

Frederick William Matthiessen met German born Edward C. Hegeler at a prestigious mining school, and after graduating in 1856, the two traveled together to the United States.

In 1858, attracted by the abundance of coal, coupled with the excellent transportation links provided by the canal and the Illinois Central Railroad, they chose LaSalle as the site for an innovative zinc smelting plant, the first in the United States.

With the opening of the first steel production plant in Joliet in the early 1870s, zinc became an important part of the local industrial economy.

They helped found industries such as the LaSalle Machine and Tool Company and the Western Clock Co. that would later become Westclox.

Mary Hegeler married Dr. Paul Carus, who founded the Open Court Publishing Company in 1887, whose mission was "establishing ethics and religion upon a scientific basis" and was a key figure in introducing Eastern thought to the United States, making LaSalle "Buddhism's Gateway to the West."

He gave thousands of dollars to help build the sewer system, the electric light plant and roads and bridges.

With the end of Prohibition in 1933, saloons no longer operated under the euphemism of "soft drink" vendors, and these and related gambling concerns flourished.

Although illegal, gambling proliferated in LaSalle, supporting the abundant and related tobacco, liquor, food, and lodging businesses.

Travelers arrived by car or via the Rock Island Rocket from Chicago for a Saturday night's revelry in such numbers that the streets of LaSalle are said to have been standing-room only.

The following businesses have more than 100 people staffed, making them the six largest in LaSalle:[6] LaSalle-Peru is at the center of a network of Illinois' largest cities, between Rockford, the Quad Cities, Peoria, Bloomington, and Aurora and Joliet at the edge of Chicagoland.

The scenic sandstone bluffs and rivers of the area make it a destination for hiking and adventure tourism.

The development of a coal mining region fragmented this micropolitan area into many small towns.

There is a dense halo of small towns surrounding the twin cities, most of them formed as mining and industrial suburbs.

North Central Illinois ARTworks is a regional non-profit arts advocacy organization dedicated to supporting and expanding the arts community in the area; local visual artists often display their works in the gallery in the historic Westclox building.

In 1914, the LaSalle Blue Sox played as members of the Class D level Illinois–Missouri League[10] They posted a 26–60 record.

The area is home to three radio stations, WLPO, WAJK, and WLWF, all operating under Starved Rock Media.