Name This Peoria Landmark

Peoria Landmark #277

PeoriaPeepers: “Is it along the East Peoria River Park path?”

This little steamboat birdhouse can be found at the South West end of RiverFront Park directly behind TGI Fridays. There are two of them.

City of East Peoria:

RiverFront Park offers a relaxing view of the Central Illinois skyline set against a working river. This 8.5-acre public park along the Illinois River, immediately behind Wal-Mart SuperCenter in the Riverside Center shopping complex, officially opened in December 2003 and has been the location for several major events and small group gatherings.

The park sits on the former location of Central Illinois Light Company’s R.S. Wallace Generating Station. Wallace Station closed in 1985 and was imploded a decade later to make way for Riverside Center and the new park.

Portions of Wallace Station are still evident in the park. The large circular overlook area originally served as an ice diversion for Wallace Station, and the smaller square overlooks functioned as water intake points for the power generating plant.

RiverFront Park is the annual site for the Illinois Art League’s Eagle Landing Fine Art Show and Sale, as well as the Luther Allison Memorial Blues Fest sponsored by the River City Blues Society.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 at 10:09 am and is filed under East Peoria. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.