History History News Local History
Molly Crusen Bishop: Woodruff got things done despite controversy
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- Published on Monday, 07 December 2015 18:13
- Written by Molly Crusen Bishop
Editor’s note: E.N. Woodruff was one of Peoria’s best known mayors during the last century. Columnist Molly Crusen Bishop used various sources to piece together this biography so our readers could get to know him better.
Edward Nelson Woodruff was born Feb. 2,...
Molly Crusen Bishop: Fond memories of Corn Stock; proud of its diversity
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- Published on Thursday, 19 November 2015 17:31
- Written by Molly Crusen Bishop
The tall, green, curly slide standing tall amidst the trees is my first memory of upper Bradley Park. The next is around age 5, losing one of my cool new Buster Brown shoes with the shark tooth attached on the thick brown shoe string in the sandbox. I ran around in my cute Garanimals searching for that shoe. I never did find...
AMERIKANISCH! AMERIKANISCH!
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- Published on Friday, 11 April 2014 00:00
- Written by Norman Kelly
I spent four years in the U.S. Air Force and then in January of 1955, I was a veteran. It was not until 2013 that I heard someone say “Thank you for your service.” I thought they were kidding me.
Then Honor Flight became a reality and the “welcome home” veterans received around America after their flights to the Washington...
Molly Crusen Bishop: Discovering Mission Mart
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- Published on Thursday, 05 November 2015 18:35
- Written by Molly Crusen Bishop
Several years ago I discovered a wonderful secret at a local thrift store. I had decided to write full-time and found the perfect writing desk at Mission Mart on Sterling in Peoria. The desk is a teacher's desk from the 1940s and is solid oak. I purchased this piece of perfection for one hundred bucks.
Pryor's Places: A Tour of Richard Pryor's Peoria
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- Published on Monday, 07 April 2014 13:03
- Written by Donn Frizzi
Heddy (wife) came home after having a couple of drinks with a friend after work. Her friend is a member of the Peoria Historical Society. She told me that they had a tour about the history of Peoria's distilleries and would I be interested?
"Sure!...
Introducing our newest writer, Molly Crusen Bishop
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- Published on Friday, 23 October 2015 16:33
- Written by Molly Crusen Bishop
I grew up on Barker Avenue on the West Bluff, in the house my great grandparents built in the 1880s. I am the youngest of nine children and have five children of my own, plus one granddaughter.
My husband Douglas and I both...
A Saintly Supper: Fulton Sheen and the Turning of a Communist
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- Published on Friday, 04 April 2014 08:48
- Written by Ken Zurski
The Hotel Commodore building sits at the corner of 42nd street and Lexington in the heart of Manhattan’s thriving business...
Lemmon calls on community to preserve its history
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- Published on Wednesday, 23 September 2015 17:44
- Written by Paul Gordon
Chris Lemmon has never lost track of his past. It’s one he embraces, even the bumps and bruises that go along with being the son of famous parents. And part of his past is part of Peoria’s past, as well. He hopes the community is ready to...
Catholic anniversary events
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- Published on Friday, 12 April 2013 16:34
- Written by Dr. Peter Couri
EVENTS FOR 150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION YEAR
· ALL-SCHOOL MASS & RECEPTION, April 19, 2013
Time:...
Junior League of Peoria named recipient of 2015 de Tonti Award
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- Published on Monday, 31 August 2015 13:49
- Written by Paul Gordon
Because of the decades of service to the community, the Junior League of Peoria has been named the recipient of the 2015 Henri de Tonti Award for Outstanding Principled Community Leadership, the Peoria Historical Society announced.
The society said the Junior League of Peoria Inc. was established...
Frankly, The Origins of Saving Daylight Goes Way Back
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- Published on Friday, 08 March 2013 10:06
- Written by Ken Zurski
In 1918, several months before the steamboat Columbia sank in the Illinois River, Daylight Saving Time was enacted in the U.S for the first time. Here is an excerpt from my book, “The Wreck of the Columbia: A Broken Boat, A Town’s Sorrow & the End of the Steamboat Era on the Illinois River,” Chapter 19 – DST.
It was late on March 31, 1918, a Saturday night soon to be a Sunday morning and the beginning of a new month,...
Gliding through the Duryea Festival
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- Published on Tuesday, 23 June 2015 11:52
- Written by Paul Gordon
Since he was a child, Roger Brown has been a big part of the family hobby: restoring historic automobiles.
Now retired, the Peora man heads up the hobby started by his father and is proud of the tradition as well as the collection of cars in the family. That includes the 1916 Glide that...
A Short Story; A Long History: An Airmail Pilot's Wild Night Over Peoria
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- Published on Tuesday, 05 March 2013 09:04
- Written by Ken Zurski
The young airmail pilot was falling head first when he pulled tightly on the rip cord and hoped for the best. Suddenly the risers whipped around with a jerk and the free falling weight at the bottom of the harness snapped back into an upright position. The chute was open. But a more precarious threat lay just below. The pilot placed the rip cord in his pocket and took out a flashlight. He pointed it downward. “The first indication that I was...
Lincoln made several stops in Peoria
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- Published on Wednesday, 15 April 2015 17:27
- Written by Norm Kelly
Wednesday marked the 150th anniversary of the death of President Abraham Lincoln, the day after he was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play with his wife at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Below are synopses of the different times Lincoln visited Peoria, all before he was elected president.
Our Favorite Things: Our Favorite Peorians Throughout Time
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- Published on Thursday, 21 February 2013 11:50
- Written by Kevin Kizer
A trip through civil history
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- Published on Monday, 28 July 2014 17:51
- Written by Steven Bush
I love history; I should say that right away. In fact, with my MA in History earned from Western Illinois University in 2006 I have the proud title of being a historian. So it should come as no surprise that when I go on vacation, I usually stop at historical sites on...
Peoria Riverfront Museum: Celebrating 50 years of “The Feminine Mystique”
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- Published on Tuesday, 19 February 2013 13:32
- Written by Kevin Kizer
On this day 50 years ago, Peorian Betty Friedan’s manifesto for the modern woman, “The Feminine Mystique”, was first published. The impact? Huge sales, wide acclaim, a change in the zeitgeist and, of course, worldwide fame for the author. Today, the Peoria Riverfront Museum is hosting a hometown celebration...
