Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near North Seneca Seneca, IL

Seneca is a village in LaSalle County, Illinois, with a small portion extending into west central Grundy County, sitting on the Illinois River about 15 miles east of Ottawa.

Seneca was founded by Jeremiah Crotty, an entrepreneur and contractor who helped build the Illinois and Michigan Canal; he built the first residence in 1850 and established the town in 1854 with a post office in his name.

For more than a century the village was officially Crotty on paper even though locals called it Seneca, and the Crotty name was not formally dropped until 1957.

Seneca grew up around three transportation systems at once: the Illinois and Michigan Canal, completed in 1848, runs through the center of its downtown, joined by the Illinois River and the Rock Island Railroad.

In March 1879 a fire destroyed virtually Seneca's entire business district, and the village rebuilt.

During World War II, Chicago Bridge and Iron's Prairie Shipyard at Seneca built 157 Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs) for the U.S. Navy, drawing as many as 27,000 workers to a village of only about 1,200 people; 23 of the Seneca-built ships took part in the D-Day invasion.

A Landing Ship Tank memorial in Seneca's Crotty Park honors the Prairie Shipyard workers and the sailors who served on the vessels built there.

A wooden cross beside St. Patrick's Catholic Church marks the spot where French missionary Father Gabriel de la Ribourde was killed in 1680; he is believed to be Illinois' first Catholic martyr.

The 2020 census counted 2,353 residents in Seneca, almost unchanged from 2,371 in 2010, living in 864 households with a median age of 37.9 years.

Seneca remains a working river town, hosting three marinas on the south bank of the Illinois River and a public boat launch on the north bank, with barges still carrying grain and other cargo past the village.