Below is a very short summary of the LaSalle Mission Cemetery for those who may not be aware of this long abandoned, Catholic burial ground and its importance to the early, local community:
When this area was first settled in the 1830s, there was little infrastructure other than the river and some trails and a promise of a canal. The adventurous few who moved here spent these early years building homes and businesses to ensure their survival and success. Initially there seemed to be no time to establish a permanent place of worship. However, at some point, William “Billy” Byrne—a devout Roman Catholic and canal contractor based in LaSalle, decided they could wait no more for spiritual guidance. Near Christmas of 1837, he met with the Bishop in St. Louis and upon his return received word Catholic missionaries would be sent.
The next year two priests—Father Raho and Father Parodi—traveled up the Illinois from St. Louis and arrived at midnight in Peru on 29 March 1838. They were met by the local population and taken to Byrne’s cabin on the canal near its confluence with the Illinois River. There they would hold mass until a more suitable place was established. Within a month, the first Catholic burial was recorded.
No records have been found to indicate where people who passed away were buried prior to the arrival of the priests. Most likely there was no formal institution in place at the time for recording vital statistics other than perhaps the county. Peru only organized on 6 December 1838—several months after the priests arrived; the town’s cemetery on Shooting Park Road would not be acquired until 1848.
There had been a Presbyterian Church organized in Rockwell in 1837 which later moved to Peru in 1839. This church soon joined with the Congregationalists, and a stone church was built in 1841 on the north side of Second street in Peru. However, it is not known where burials for this congregation took place between the late 1830s and 1848.
For Catholics in Peru, until Saint Joseph Church was established there in 1854, burials most likely took place at the property acquired by Father Joseph B. Raho in the 1840s at the corner of 24th street and Chartres street. This land would eventually be called the LaSalle Mission Cemetery.
It didn’t take long for the church to realize the ground was not suitable for its purpose. The following description of the cemetery is from the Story of the LaSalle Mission:
“The old cemetery had from the beginning been an eyesore, a heartache because of its marshy lay. With loathing had the writer, in common with others, to witness the corpse of the family’s dearest floating over the grave, and with the strongest muscle forced down to its slimy bed, as the clods fell thick and fast upon it to hold it in place.”
In 1858, Reverend John O’Reilly conveyed land in the opposite corner of Section 3 to the church. This allowed the church to establish a new burial ground. There would be no drainage problems here although the existing stand of large oak and hickory occasionally fell destroying headstones in the process.
Once the new cemetery was established, the old cemetery was closed. The church began publishing notices of the new site at all Sunday masses and asked families to transfer bodies of their departed loved ones as soon as possible. Eventually all transfers were completed leaving those who either had no living relatives who were around or who could afford to arrange for their remains to be moved.
For some, the memory of the LaSalle Mission Cemetery slipped away. For others, its original function was not forgotten. The 1911 USGS quad map displays the site as a cemetery as do the 1913 and 1947 maps. After that the USGS appears to have stopped mapping it. The land was farmed except for a stand of trees near its center. Among the trees, toppled gravestones were still visible into at least the 1960s.
There were stories of remains found in the 1980s during installation of utilities along 24th street. However, no documentation for these accounts could be found. Then in the late 2000s a developer began making improvements to the site starting with the construction of a detention area for stormwater. A plan was prepared with the city and a local mortician for the transfer of any remains uncovered during the work. At least one grave with remains was uncovered and a transfer was completed.
The property then sat for a few more years until a business decided to build on the site. As work began, graves were uncovered. Eventually the State Historic Preservation Agency stepped in and required a full excavation of the grave sites and transfer of all remains found. This work was completed from 2011 through 2012 when reinterment in St. Vincent Cemetery took place where a stone monument now marks the site.
Sources:
Rev. Thomas A. Shaw, C.M., The Story of the LaSalle Mission, Parts One and Two, M.A. Donohue & Co., 1908.
“Deeds, 1831-1943; indexes, 1834-1901,” digital image 38 of 860, images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37H-6SP5-Z : accessed 1 October 2026); citing LaSalle County, Illinois, Deed Record, vol. 10: page 473, State of Illinois to Joseph B. Raho, LaSalle County Recorder, Ottawa, Ill.
“Deeds, 1831-1943; indexes, 1834-1901,” digital image 524 of 723, images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37H-N9W6-S : accessed 1 October 2026); citing LaSalle County, Illinois, Deed Record, vol. 59: page 274, John O’Reilly to Thomas Burke, LaSalle County Recorder, Ottawa, Ill.
Peru Historical Committee, Peru Centennial 1835–1935, digital book, University of Illinois (https://libsysdigi.library.uiuc.edu/oca/Books2008-06/peruillinoiscent00peru/peruillinoiscent00peru.pdf : accessed 1 October 2026)
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