Biohazard Cleanup Near East Leaf River Leaf River, IL

Leaf River is a village in Ogle County in northern Illinois, named for the stream of the same name that flows through it — a tributary of the Rock River only about 15 feet wide.

Leaf River's post office opened in 1846, but the village itself was established in 1882, in the railroad era along what is now Illinois Route 72 between Forreston and Byron.

Leaf River had a population of 432 at the 2020 census, down from 443 in 2010; the village was largest in 1980, when it counted 637 residents.

At the 2000 census, Leaf River's 555 residents lived in 214 households spread across the village's 0.83 square miles.

Leaf River High School, home of the Demons, opened in 1922 and served the town until 1989, when Leaf River merged into the Forrestville Valley School District; the old high school building burned down in 1994.

Leaf River's marching band was once nearly as famous as the school itself — at its peak it numbered 211 musicians and performers in a village of only about 550 people.

Unusually for a village its size, Leaf River has long run its own local telephone service provider rather than relying on a national carrier.