The Henry de Tonti Award

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By Mark Johnson, Vice President, Peoria Historical Society

The Peoria Historical Society has been proud to have been a collaborative partner in the development of the new Peoria Riverfront Museum. At long last, a first class museum quality exhibit will present the extraordinarily unique history of the city and the region. Recently, the Historical Society celebrated 75 years of preserving and telling the fascinating events associated with the settlement and development of the oldest community in the state of Illinois.

Now the Historical Society is looking forward, to expanding its focus and outreach to the community. The commitment of the Society to preserving and enhancing the two historic homes (Flanagan House and the Pettengill-Morron House) entrusted to its perpetual care requires it to move forward as an organization separate from the new Museum. The Historical Society is now working on implementing new technologies available through the Internet to expand the opportunities for the general public to access the documents and images that reside in our extensive collections.

The Historical Society is also now proud to announce a collaborative project with the Institute for Principled Leadership at Bradley University. Together as partners, these two organizations have developed a new award for the Tri-County area, named after the founder of Peoria, the French explorer Henri de Tonti. Tonti originally explored the Illinois River and Mississippi Rivers as an associate of René-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de LaSalle. Upon LaSalle's death in July of 1690, the King of France granted Tonti and his partners, the exclusive trading rights to the entire Illinois Country. The following year, in the fall of 1691, under Tonti's direction, his partners moved their trading outpost from Starved Rock to the western shores of Lake Pimiteoui. When Tonti arrived at the new outpost, he directed that a fort should be constructed to provide shelter and protection for both the French as well as Native Americans living in villages adjacent to the outpost. These activities are generally accepted as establishing the foundation for the development of the City of Peoria.

The Henri de Tonti Award will be presented annually to an individual, business or organization from the Tri-County area in recognition of their outstanding community principled leadership. The Peoria Historical Society together with the Institute for Principled Leadership are pleased to announce that the inaugural Henri de Tonti Award will be presented to Caterpillar Inc. in recognition of the company's commitment to providing principled leadership to communities and organizations throughout the Tri-County area for over one hundred years. This award recognizes not only the corporate continuous dedication to local principled leadership, but the individual efforts of company employees in providing principled leadership to both governmental and non-profit organizations in Tri-County communities both large and small.

Intrigued by the concept of an annual award named after the founder of Peoria, artist Lonnie Stewart is creating a sculpture of Tonti which will serve as the annual Tonti award. A Peoria resident, Stewart has advocated expanded recognition of the founder of Peoria. He is well known for his painting of Tonti's founding of Peoria which the Peoria 1691 Foundation commissioned for the Tri-Centennial celebration.

The inaugural Henri de Tonti Award will be presented during a celebration at the Peoria Civic Center Ballroom on Saturday, September 15th beginning at 6 p.m. Associate sponsors for the Henri de Tonti Award and celebration include The Peorian Magazine, WTVP – Public Television for Central Illinois, and the Central Illinois Business Publishers. Tickets for the celebration are $150 per person. A table of eight may be reserved for $1,200. Other sponsorship levels for the event are also available. Reservations for the event may be made by phoning the Historical Society at (309) 674-1921, by sending an email to: deTonti@peoriahistoricalsociety.org, or online at www.PeoriaHistoricalSociety.org.

Directing his trading operations from the Lake Pimiteoui outpost, Tonti was the principal figure in the fur trade in the Illinois Country for over a decade. It is estimated that he traveled over 85,000 miles by canoe and on foot negotiating with Indian tribes, discovering new sources of supply, hiring and supervising voyageurs as well as struggling with the regulations of the French bureaucracy in the New World.

By 1702, continued restrictions placed on the beaver trade by the King of France, forced Tonti to abandon the Lake Pimiteoui trading operation. He moved south to the French colony at New Orleans where he served as an ambassador to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian tribes. In August of 1704, Tonti contracted yellow fever and died at Old Mobile. According to local lore, the founding father of Peoria was laid to rest in an unknown grave near the Mobile River.

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