PERU, a city of La Salle county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the north-central part of the state, on the N. bank of the Illinois River, about 100 m. S.W. of Chicago and 1 m. W. of La Salle, a terminus of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Pop. (1900), 6863 (2095 foreign-born); (1910), 7984. It is served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railways. The city is built on the face and top of a series of river bluffs. It is the seat of St Bede College (Roman Catholic, opened in 1891), conducted by Benedictine fathers. In a large public park there is a bronze monument in memory of the soldiers of Peru who died in the Civil War. There are extensive coal-mines in the vicinity; and the city includes various manufactures. Peru was first settled about 1827, was incorporated in 1845, and re-incorporated in 1890.