237 – Peoria Mineral Springs
Located on the bluff just below Moss and above Martin Luther King Drive [map]. When you see the old stone stairway headed into the woods, you’re there.
Peoria’s Mineral Springs is located on a site on the hillside of Peoria’s Historic West Bluff. The cave-like barrel-vaulted brick reservoir, built about 1843, is concealed in the gentle slope of the hillside. The reservoir, built for Peoria’s first water company, captures the flow of three individual springs.Since approx 14,500 years ago when the last vestiges of the great ice sheets still lingered in Northeastern Illinois, a perpetual spring has been flowing at this site. In 1843, five of the founding fathers of the city of Peoria Charles Oakley, Norman Purple, William Moss, Augustus O. Garrett and Lester O. Hurlbert were granted a charter by Illinois Governor, Thomas Ford, to establish the first water supply for the City of Peoria. A cave-like brick reservoir was built into the hillside to contain the three springs at the source and pipes were laid to carry the water as far as Hancock Street, about two miles away. The springs were the primary water source for the City of Peoria for approximately 15 years. At that time another water source was established near the Illinois river to meet the increasing demand for water caused by Peoria’s rapidly growing population. The overflow from the springs was used as a partial supply for Peoria’s historic goose lake, located just below the bluff. The springs are still free-flowing to this day.
According to a Peoria County trivia page, Goose Lake “designates the area formerly covered by a part time lake of that name along the foot of the bluff between Western Ave and Main St.”
The chain holding the door shut was just loose enough to allow me and my band of merry adventurers to stick my camera inside and light it up, revealing the arched brick ceiling and what appears to be about two feet of water, which I can confirm does infact still flow.
A plaque laid here reads:
Peoria Mineral Springs has been in exhistence some 14,500 years and is this area’s last link with prehistoric water sources. Located on Peoria’s historic West Bluff, the springs were the primary source for the first water supply for the City of Peoria. Governor Thomas Ford granted a charter February 20, 1843 for the establishment of this water supply. A reservoir was then built to contain the springs and pipers were laid to carry the water approximately two miles. At this time, Zealy Moss, Revolutionary War soldier, prominent citizen and owner of the property, built a home for himself on the property. The springs are still free flowing today.
This plaque placed by
Illinois State Organization
of the
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
Mrs. Albert Triebel, Jr., State Regent
This Sixteenth day of March
Nineteen-Hundred Eighty-Three
If you are really want an adventure, visit this spot at midnight. According to Ghosts of America.com, its haunted: “The phantom of a young air force pilot is frequently spotted struggling to grip something down at Peoria Mineral Springs around midnight. In any event, it unquestionably is a frightening ghost that should be shunned.”
Proof that the water still flows:
May 24th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I know because you told me. Going to have to lead a field trip there, P.I.
May 24th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I believe this is the entrance to what used to be where they used to store booze in the wooded area along Abington hill.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Isn’t this the water well along 7th Street (or whatever it’s named now) and Sheridan?
May 24th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I know! I know!
May 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
One of the gates to hell?
May 25th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Bill, I’ve seen what you are talking about. It is down the hill from my house.
May 25th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I’ve actually been in that well. Many years ago (early 90s) while flogging my way through grad school, I worked in many jobs for WTVP. On this particular day I was a field grip for a shoot on Illinois Adventure and the adventure that day – probably the closest ever to the studio – was to go down in there and poke around. From what I recall it’s about 40-60 feet long and nicely bricked with a high arched ceiling. There’s a little ladder from that door down into maybe a foot of water. Now – 15 years later – who knows… I may need to dig through the Illinois Adventure archives.
May 28th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Due to technical errors, a few recent comments have gone missing. I apologize for that.
David, I hope you can come across that tape. I’d love to see it. I have a picture of the inside, but my flash didn’t extend to the end of the well. I’ll put it up soon when I find the time to update this.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:13 pm
It was Illinois Adventure episode #501 – which according to the WTVP web-site is no longer available for purchase. Let me ask the series producer – who’s a buddy – if we can find a copy somewhere.
June 7th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
[...] W. 7th Street, Peoria’s mineral springs (#237) reside on this [...]
July 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I grew up at 505 Seventh Street, and went to school at Washington Grade School up on Moss Ave. I went on to PHS in 1969 so it was my early years spent walking past this house as I went off to school. I walked past this house, through those woods and used to marvel at that spring as it trickled down out of the woods, and across the sidewalk (actually Seventh St). We used to take our shoes off and let our feet get wet from the spring water. There were times when we were further up in the woods that the spring was running down and the water was crystal clear!
August 27th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I now have a DVD of the Illinois Adventure episode featuring the Peoria Mineral Springs. Shoot me an email and I’ll arrange to get you a copy. Nice to know I got that done in less then three months – there’s hope for all the other things on my to-do list!
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
First, this is an interesting and unique blog. I like it!
I was just recently (within a month) at the Peoria mineral springs. I’ve heard about it for some time, but never knew where it was. Thanks to this site, I found it.
Just curious though, when I was recently there, the old stone stairway from the sidewalk was almost completely gone (or buried in mud). Only about half a step remained. Also, some of the barrel vaulted ceiling of the springs’ structure had collapsed about 4 feet back from the chained iron door leaving a huge gaping hole big enough for a person to fit through (I didn’t try this though). Is this a recent development? The blog entry above doesn’t describe this or show any pics like this.
Some recent pics for a geocaching site show what I’m talking about (scroll to the bottom of the site for pic links).
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a2241949-47e2-430c-9aa1-9279c20b02b2
April 24th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Wanderer, the cave in is news to me. Thanks for the update, I’ll have to go check that out.
August 1st, 2009 at 8:40 pm
i read your article and loved it. i lived there for most of my life. my family owned it and i spent my entire childhood there. reading your article put a smile on my face. i miss it so very much. if you can get a hold of that dvd please send it to me-i would love it.
October 12th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
[...] was for a “water-bottling operation, museum and microbrewery” at the site of the Peoria Mineral Springs. The approved $880 thousand dollar outlay from the city was for infrastructure to support the [...]