289 – Retaining Wall & Mystery Road off High St.
Peoria Landmark #289
Scio: “I think this is a retaining wall from one of the houses on High St. Looks like this picture was taken from the dead end road that curves off High St. and goes halfway down the bluff about 2-3 houses down from Giant Oak Park.”
That is precisely where this is located.
The road was paved with brick all the way down to where it ends behind the U of I College of Medicine. Just past this very impressive retaining wall, the road curves down and to the right at which point the road resembles more of a creek bed than anything else, but curbs and steps to non-existent places still remain. It appears the road used to extent to N. State St (see map).
May 11th, 2009 at 8:20 am
I was with PI when he “shot” this, so I can’t reply. Pretty amazing structure (and this is just a section of it) and I wonder how old it is. There are also other very interesting things in the same “neck of the woods” where this is found
May 11th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I think this is a retaining wall from one of the houses on High St. Looks like this picture was taken from the dead end road that curves off High St. and goes halfway down the bluff about 2-3 houses down from Giant Oak Park.
May 12th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Yeah, I was gonna say the resevoir over there at the back of Moss Avenue, but pretty close to the High Street area.
May 13th, 2009 at 6:21 am
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!!!!”
Am I close?
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Is it the bridge where MacArthur Highway goes over Garrett, down the hill from Moss?
May 25th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Leave it to PI to find something interesting off the beaten path.
May 25th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
probably where the mob buried a bunch of dead boddies, LOL
May 25th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I just happened to walk down that road a few months ago (forgotten roads disappearing into the woods always peak my interest). When I came back up the dead end road to High St. the lady that lives in the house on the right at the top of the dead end road was outside and wanted to know what the hell I was doing. Eventually she backed off when I told her it was a nice day and I was just going for a walk. Can’t say I blame her though, if I lived there, I’d be suspicious of anyone popping up from the bottom of the bluff on a defunct road.
I’ve noticed that there are a couple old crumbling defunct roads that lead from the bottom of the bluff to Moss Ave and High street. I guess those that live at the top of the bluff don’t want to many paths up these days.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:27 am
The State Street reference by PI made me think (OK, that and an ample amount of boredom at work). After a short web search, I came across a Peoria, IL street map from 1896. The map showed that the dead end street that veers off High Street is actually a remnant of State Street. State Street used to run unbroken from High Street, down the bluff through town, around the now gone “State House Square” and then turn into “Chestnut street” which is actually State Street today.
Anyway, random interesting things.