The Past
6
thePeorian.com
WISTEY
Peoria’s Norman Rockwell
Dr. Peter Couri
F
rank Wistehuff was a
talented Peoria upholsterer
who worked for Schleicher
&
Son Furniture in the 1890s. He
and his wife Bertha lived in a
humble home at 722 Greenlawn
St. In 1900, their only child, Re-
vere, was born.
Little did they know then that
he would become one of the most
important commercial artists in
American history.
Young Revere attended Blaine
Grade School and then Manual
Training High School in 1914.
Friends described him as driven,
hated to be turned down, walk-
ing too fast to be seen and always
eating cheese.
He was a very talented musi-
cian. His instruments included
the piccolo, flute, saxophone
and clarinet. He played in all the
youth bands and eventually the
Peoria Municipal Band and Hoff-
man’s Orchestra. To earn money
during high school and college,
he played for the silent pictures
at the Apollo Theater.
But Revere Wistehuff’s real
passion was art and Manual en-
abled his talent to flourish when
he became editor of the monthly
school magazine, The Manhi-
scope, and the annual Manual
yearbook. His illustrations and
layouts were skillful beyond
his young years and led to his
vocation of illustrating national
magazines and ads.
“
The time is nigh, Old Pal, when we must part
Our lives of fellowship at Manual High
To hit our new found trails for different goals
That need must part our happy friendship here.
But splitting friendships is a trifling thing
When men and nations stake their life blood, that
The world would be fit for LIVING once again.”
World War I was consuming the nation during his Manual years.
Wistehuff wrote this goodbye poem to his friends departing for war:
The themes of patriotism and American pride would permeate all
his art the rest of his life.
