The settlement of the site occupied by this City was commenced in the Spring of 1836, shortly after the passage of the act incorporating the Illinois and Michigan Central, which was to terminate at or near the mouth of the Little Vermilion, on land owned by the State. It was probably the most eligible site on lands owned by individuals. The Southwest quarter of Sec. 16 was laid out and sold by the School Commissioners in 1834, and called Peru. Ninawa Addition, located on the South East quarter of Sec. 17, and the North East fractional part of 20, upon which the most business part of Peru is at present situated, was owned originally by Lyman D. Brewster, who died in the fall of 1835. It was plated and recorded in 1836, by Theron D. Brewster, at present a leading and influential citizen. In 1835 the only residents of that portion of territory now occupied by the cities of Peru and La Salle were Lyman D. Brewster, his nephew T. D. BREWSTER, JOHN HAYS and family, PELTIAH and CALVIN BREWSTER, SAMUEL LAPSLEY and BURTON AYRES. In the Spring of 1835, the first building--a store--was erected in Peru by ULYSSES SPAULDING and H. L. KINNEY, late of Central American notoriety. On the 4th July 1836, the first shovel full of earth was excavated upon the Canal. No considerable population was attracted to the town until 1837. Among the people who made this place their home in that and the following years, were WM. RICHARDSON, J. P. JUDSON, S. LISLE SMITH and his brother DOCTOR SMITH, FLETCHER WEBSTER, DANIEL TOWNSEND, P. HALL, JAMES MULFORD, JAMES MYERS, WM. and CHAS. DRESSER, HARVEY WOOD, N. B. BULLOCK, JESSE PUGSLEY, EZRA MCKINZIE, NATHANIEL and ISAAC ABRAHAM, J. P. THOMPSON, JOHN HOFFMAN, C. H. CHARLES, ASA MANN, LUCIUS RUMRILL, CORNELIUS CAHILL, CORNELIUS COKELEY, DAVID DANA, ZIMRI LEWIS, DANIEL MCGIN, S. W. RAYMOND, GEO. B. MARTIN, WM. H. DAVIS, GEO. W. HOLLEY, GEO. LOW, M. MOTT, F. LEBEAU, A. HYATT, WARD B. BURNETT, O. C. MOTLEY, WM. PAUL, H. P. WOODWORTH, H. S. BEEBE, HARVEY LEONARD, &c.