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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in the city of Peoria, Illinois.
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Overview
Peoria is the county seat of Peoria County, is the largest city on the Illinois River and is the oldest European settlement in Illinois.
French explorers René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Henri de Tonti constructed Fort Crevecoeur. This fort would later burn to the ground, and in 1813 Fort Clark, Illinois was built. When the County of Peoria was organized in 1825, Fort Clark was officially named Peoria.
Established in 1691 by the French explorer Henri de Tonti, Peoria is the oldest European settlement in Illinois. Originally known as Fort Clark, it received its current name when the County of Peoria organized in 1825. The city was named after the Peoria tribe, a member of the Illinois Confederation. On October 16, 1854, Abraham Lincoln made his Peoria speech against the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
A major port on the Illinois River, Peoria is a trading and shipping center for a large agricultural area that produces maize, soybeans, and livestock. Although the economy is well diversified, the city's traditional manufacturing industries remain important and produce earthmoving equipment, metal products, lawn-care equipment, labels, steel towers, farm equipment, building materials, steel, wire, and chemicals. Until 2018, Peoria was the global and national headquarters for heavy equipment and engine manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., one of the 30 companies composing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and listed on the Fortune 100; in the latter year, the company relocated its headquarters to Deerfield, Illinois. During January 2018, OSF Healthcare and Caterpillar Inc. excited the community with the announcement of the regional healthcare giant's planned rehab and headquarters relocation into a historic downtown landmark building originally designed for a large downtown department store (Shipper & Block, Block & Kuhl's and lastly Carson Pirie, Scoott & Co. Such consolidation of hundreds of scattered administrative employees is planned as a major catalyst for further central business district revitalization.
The city is associated with the phrase "Will it play in Peoria?", which originated from the vaudeville era and was popularized by Groucho Marx. Museums in the city include the Pettengill-Morron House, the John C Flanagan House, and the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Also, the Caterpillar Museum on the riverfront. The Peoria Symphony Orchestra is the 14th oldest in the United States, and Peoria has hosted the Heart of Illinois Fair annually from 1949. The Spirit of Peoria is a riverboat that runs within Peoria on the Illinois River watershed.
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