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We present results from a detailed experimental investigation of LaFeAsO, the parent material in the series of “FeAs” based oxypnictide superconductors. Upon cooling, this material undergoes a tetragonal-orthorhombic crystallographic phase transition at followed closely by an antiferromagnetic ordering near 145 K. Analysis of these phase transitions using temperature dependent powder x-ray and neutron-diffraction measurements is presented. A magnetic moment of per iron is derived from Mössbauer spectra in the low-temperature phase. Evidence of the structural transition is observed at temperatures well above the transition temperature (up to near 200 K) in the diffraction data as well as the polycrystalline elastic moduli probed by resonant ultrasound spectroscopy measurements. The effects of the two phase transitions on the transport properties (resistivity, thermal conductivity, Seebeck …