Peru, a city of La Salle county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the north-central part of the state, on the north bank of the Illinois River, about 100 miles southwest of Chicago and one mile west of La Salle, a terminus of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. 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.