The Town of LaSalle marks a significant milestone, a centennial of sorts.
While the municipality hasn't existed consistently for a century, but a community bearing its name and in the same location was first incorporated on April 17, 1924.
The community's roots go back to the 18th century when the first French settlers arrived. In 1861, the township was incorporated as the Sandwich West.
A century ago, a segment of Sandwich West was incorporated as the Town of LaSalle through an act of Parliament by the Progressive Conservative government of William Lyon MacKenzie King.
Its first mayor, Vitale Benoit, soon established a town hall at the corner of Front Road and Laurier Drive. The building stands today and serves as an apartment complex.
The fledgling LaSalle Police Force occupied a single room in the municipal building. It soon grew from a single officer to three.
Despite the town's amalgamation into Sandwich West in 1959 following a bankruptcy and the 1966 annexation of a large portion of the township by Windsor, the police force's legacy endured.
In 1991, Sandwich West Township became a town and took the name LaSalle after its founder, Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle.
"From the 50s we all still said we're from LaSalle, so it was bound to happen. It was almost like a no-brainer," said LaSalle Police Senior Constable Terry Seguin, who has done extensive research on the town's history.
The LaSalle Police Service was resurrected when the new municipality disbanded the Sandwich West Police Service.
Today, the police service employs 63 people in a town with a population of just over 30,000.
Seguin said LaSalle Police retired Sergeant Dave Dean chronicals much of the history of policing in Essex County, including in LaSalle, in a book that will soon be released.