LaSalle - Niagara Falls, New York * - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

THE PLACE:

The LaSalle neighborhood became a part of the city of Niagara Falls in 1927, at which time it had a village population of 6,258 people. Located in the southeast and eastern section of Niagara Falls, LaSalle is bordered on the west by Hyde Park Boulevard, to the north and east and by the Niagara Falls city line, and on the south by the Niagara River.
In 1850 there were just two dwellings in the area. The first settlement was called Cayuga Creek, which was changed to LaSalle in 1862. The LaSalle area is primarily residential and it developed in the early-to-mid 1900s with some construction occurring in the late 1950s. Down the block a piece you will find the old LaSalle Town Hall at Buffalo Avenue and 87th Street, it was built in 1927 now serves as the LaSalle Branch of the Public Library.

THE PERSON:

"http://www.history.com/topics/rene-robert-cavelier-sieur-de-la-salle
When he returned to Canada in 1678, La Salle was accompanied by an Italian soldier of fortune, Henri de Tonty, who became his most loyal friend and ally. Early in the following year, he built the “Griffon,” the first commercial sailing vessel on Lake Erie, which he hoped would pay for an expedition into the interior as far as the Mississippi. From the Seneca Indians above the Niagara Falls he learned how to make long journeys overland, on foot in any season, subsisting on game and a small bag of corn. His trek from Niagara to Fort-Frontenac in the dead of winter won the admiration of a normally critical member of his expeditions, the friar Louis Hennepin.

La Salle's great scheme of carrying cargo in sailing vessels like the “Griffon” on the lakes and down the Mississippi was frustrated by the wreck of that ship and by the destruction and desertion of Fort-Crèvecoeur on the Illinois River, where a second ship was being built in 1680. Proud and unyielding by nature, La Salle tried to bend others to his will and often demanded too much of them, though he was no less hard on himself. After several disappointments, he at last reached the junction of the Illinois with the Mississippi and saw for the first time the river he had dreamed of for so long."

Year it was dedicated: 1862 Location of Coordinates: The LaSalle Branch Library Related Web address (if available): [Web Link] Type of place/structure you are waymarking: Village

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