Step back in time and learn more about ILASCO history. View the remnants of a cement company ghost town, including the old concrete jail built in 1909, eye-catching monuments and 8 national flags memorialize the ethnic heritage and history of ILASCO, an immigrant company town created in 1903 when Atlas Portland Cement Company erected a large manufacturing plant and at one time employed 2,500 workers.
The major labor force recruited from eastern and southern Europe needed to live near the cement plant and would form its own ethnic enclaves within ILASCO. ILASCO had a population of as many as 3,000 ethnically-diverse residents before 1914.
Cement produced at the ILASCO plant was used to build the Panama Canal, locks and dams on the Mississippi River and many other major projects. ILASCO lasted only 60 years but left an enduring mark on the rich cultural tapestry of the Hannibal area.