Native Americans lived in the area surrounding present-day Peoria for 12,000 years before the coming of Europeans. They took fish from the fresh waters of Peoria Lake and hunted for game in the surrounding valley. They called the river valley Pimiteoui (pronounced Pee-Mee-Twee), meaning "land of great abundance" or "fat lake." The valley was known far and wide among Native Americans as a great winter hunting ground.
Peoria was the first European settlement in Illinois and one of the earliest in the middle of America. French explorers Louis Joliet and Pere Marquette canoed into the river valley in 1673 during their exploration of the Mississippi River. Six years later another French explorer, Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, ventured down the Illinois River with a party of 30 men to establish forts and trading posts in order to strengthen France's hold on the middle of America. Because it was winter and the weather inclement, the party was forced to land; LaSalle built a small fort on the east bluff of the Peoria river valley and called it Fort Crevecoeur ("broken heart"). The fort was the first European building to be built in the middle of America. It was mysteriously abandoned after four months and these words were found burned into the side of an unfinished boat found on the site: "Nous sommes tous sauvages" (We are all savages).
With the help of the tribes of the Illini nation, in 1691 the French military, under the charge of Henri de Tonti, built a massive fortification, called Fort Pimiteoui, on Peoria's shores, near the site of present-day Detweiller Marina on the popular Pimiteoui Trail that winds along the riverfront. Outside the walls of the fort, a French settlement grew among the Illini villages, becoming the first European settlement in the state of Illinois.
By 1763 the British flag was being flown over Illinois, but the French Peorians persevered and enjoyed life much as they would have done in the rural countryside of France. One of the villagers, Jean Baptiste Maillet, moved the core of the French village to the site of present-day Downtown Riverfront Park in 1778. Another villager, Jean-Baptiste Du Sable, left in 1784 and became the founder of Chicago.
Following the American Revolution, a number of Peorians received land grants from the U.S. Congress in gratitude for their support during the war. In October 1812, the area felt the pressure of thousands of American settlers heading west; Native American Potawatomi villages in the region were destroyed by troops under the command of the Illinois Territory Governor Ninian Edwards. A month later, American soldiers overran the French village and deported its inhabitants to a wilderness around Alton, Illinois. After 120 years, French Peoria was gone forever.
American soldiers built Fort Clark in 1813; today the fort is commemorated in the riverfront Liberty Park Pavilion. The first American settlers began farming there in 1819. Soon the small village experienced a great economic and population boom.
With its abundance of natural resources, Peoria industries grew up. They included meat-packing, casting foundries, pottery makers, wholesale warehousing, distilleries, and earthmoving and farm machinery manufacturers. Ancient Indian trails were turned into solid roads, and steamboats and ferries replaced canoes. The city became a massive railroad hub. The area's fresh, clear water, abundance of corn, and ease of transportation contributed to make the city the "Whiskey Capital of the World" by 1900. Distilleries and their related industries brought tremendous wealth, and Peoria became one of the largest tax-paying districts in the country. Prosperity enabled city leaders to strive to develop a model city.
State-of-the-art municipal buildings were erected, such as the red sandstone City Hall (1889). Models of Peoria's innovative schools like the Grail School (1892) were exhibited across the nation. Massive churches such as St. Mary's Cathedral (1889) were built. Beautiful parks such as Glen Oak Park (1896) and Laura Bradley Park (1897) were laid out. Present-day historic districts such as High Street-Moss Avenue, Roanoke-Randolph Street, and Glen Oak Avenue evoke an era that Peoria endeavors to preserve.
The city of Peoria has been the site of historic events and the home of famous Americans. In 1854 Abraham Lincoln, rebutting a speech by Stephen Douglas, for the first time publicly denounced slavery as incompatible with American institutions; this clash predated the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates by four years. The original mold strain for penicillin was discovered by scientists in Peoria. The first African American person to vote in the United States did so in Peoria on April 4, 1870. Peorian Herb Jamison was a medalist in the first modern Olympics in Greece in 1896. A short list of native Peorians include the late Senator Everett Dirksen; Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique ; and comedian and actor Richard Pryor.
In the second half of the twentieth century Peoria was awarded an All-America City designation three times; it exists today as the quintessential Midwestern American city. In 2004 Forbes ranked Peoria the " #1 most affordable U.S. metropolitan area in which to live." A vaudeville-era phrase "to play in Peoria" is still used to characterize the thoughts and habits of a "typical" American.
Historical Information: Peoria Historical Society, 611 SW Washington Street, Peoria, IL 61602; telephone (309)674-1921