everything you ever wanted to know about peoria
Peoria, ILArchaeologists can trace early man in Peoria as far back as 10,000 B.C.E. Artifacts and burial mounds yield evidence of a Native American civilization that was highly organized, ritualistic, and in harmony with nature. By 1650, the Illini Indians, a part of the Algonquin Nation, populated the area. The major tribes of the Illinois Confederacy were the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Cahokia, and Tamaroa.
The Peoria (through French Peouarea, from Peoria Piwarea, 'he comes carrying a pack on his back': a personal name) were one of the principal tribes of the Illinois confederacy
1825 The county was organized and the village name was officially changed from Fort Clark to Peoria. Until 1831 when Cook County was formed, Chicago was part of Peoria County.
Besides being a prominent stop on the Vaudeville tour, Peoria was known as a wide-open town of liquor, prostitution, gambling, and corruption. Because of its proximity to river transportation and access to corn for grain-alcohol, Peoria was one of the largest manufacturers of liquor in the United States. Many of the mansions that remain on High Street and Moss Avenue are a direct result of the Peoria Whiskey Baron era.
October 16, 1854
- Abraham Lincoln first publicized his stand that the United States should move towards restricting and eventually eliminating slavery, a position directly against historic compromises such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The speech, which was possibly similar to one given in Springfield, Illinois, 12 days earlier, followed the speech of Stephen A. Douglas, whom Lincoln would later debate regularly in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858.
April 15, 1926
- Charles Lindbergh's first air mail route, Contract Air Mail route #2, began running mail from Chicago to Peoria to Springfield to St. Louis and back.[2] Local legend purports that Lindbergh offered Peoria the chance to sponsor his trans-Atlantic flight but refused. The plane would have been called the "Spirit of Peoria"
Theodore Roosevelt named Grand View Drive, a street on the bluffs overlooking the Illinois River "the world's most beautiful drive." The Peoria radio station and CBS television affiliate WMBD attached the description to its call sign.
The Peoria (through French Peouarea, from Peoria Piwarea, 'he comes carrying a pack on his back': a personal name) were one of the principal tribes of the Illinois confederacy
1825 The county was organized and the village name was officially changed from Fort Clark to Peoria. Until 1831 when Cook County was formed, Chicago was part of Peoria County.
Besides being a prominent stop on the Vaudeville tour, Peoria was known as a wide-open town of liquor, prostitution, gambling, and corruption. Because of its proximity to river transportation and access to corn for grain-alcohol, Peoria was one of the largest manufacturers of liquor in the United States. Many of the mansions that remain on High Street and Moss Avenue are a direct result of the Peoria Whiskey Baron era.
October 16, 1854
- Abraham Lincoln first publicized his stand that the United States should move towards restricting and eventually eliminating slavery, a position directly against historic compromises such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The speech, which was possibly similar to one given in Springfield, Illinois, 12 days earlier, followed the speech of Stephen A. Douglas, whom Lincoln would later debate regularly in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858.
April 15, 1926
- Charles Lindbergh's first air mail route, Contract Air Mail route #2, began running mail from Chicago to Peoria to Springfield to St. Louis and back.[2] Local legend purports that Lindbergh offered Peoria the chance to sponsor his trans-Atlantic flight but refused. The plane would have been called the "Spirit of Peoria"
Theodore Roosevelt named Grand View Drive, a street on the bluffs overlooking the Illinois River "the world's most beautiful drive." The Peoria radio station and CBS television affiliate WMBD attached the description to its call sign.