Editing De Soto, Illinois (section)

==History==
[[File:Illinois - Desoto - NARA - 23939847 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Destruction after the 1925 tornado]]
De Soto was laid out in 1854 when the railroad was extended to that point.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.villageofdesoto.com/history.html |title=History |publisher=Village of De Soto, IL |accessdate=November 4, 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412040015/http://www.villageofdesoto.com/history.html |archivedate=April 12, 2015 }}</ref> The village's name honors [[Hernando de Soto]] (c. 1496/1497–1542), a Spanish ''[[conquistador]]'' who explored the region in 1541–2.<ref>{{cite book|last=Callary|first=Edward|title=Place Names of Illinois|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvHgwa-XImcC&pg=PA92|date=September 29, 2008|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-09070-7|page=92}}</ref> A post office has been in operation at De Soto since 1855.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=IL&county=Jackson |title=Jackson County |publisher=Jim Forte Postal History |accessdate=November 4, 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050911192342/http://postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=IL&county=Jackson |archivedate=September 11, 2005 }}</ref>

De Soto was largely destroyed by the Great [[Tri-State Tornado]] of 1925. Sixty-nine people died in De Soto when approximately 30% of the town was destroyed, and of this total 33 were children at a local school that collapsed from the winds. The tornado affected [[Missouri]], Illinois, and [[Indiana]], killing 695 and injuring over 2,000.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}