Naplate, IL

Naplate is a village on the north bank of the Illinois River in LaSalle County, just downstream from Ottawa. Its name was assembled from the National Plate Glass Company, the primary employer at the time of incorporation, so the village carries its industrial beginning right in its spelling. The river gives Naplate another defining edge: the village is placed along the waterway, with Buffalo Rock and Starved Rock state parklands nearby to the west and southwest. That makes Naplate a place where factory history and river geography meet in a very small footprint.

The glass works also gives Naplate a story about how company towns become municipalities. The employer's name was shortened and combined into a new place name, while incorporation gave the settlement a local government of its own. Today, Naplate's map remains tied to Ottawa, the Illinois River, and the line of communities along the valley. The village does not need a long list of landmarks to be recognizable: its name points to the plate-glass plant, its shoreline points to the river, and its neighbors point toward the state park country upstream.