Name This Peoria Landmark

Peoria Landmark #299

I couldn’t find any information on the carving, but here’s some info on the church courtesy of Genealogy Trails.com:

Father John Blaise Raho, the first priest assigned to serve the settlers of the area indicates in his letter that the corner stone was laid on August 4, 1839. [...]

The church ground and the cemetery that surrounds it was donated by William Patrick Mulveny, a native of Dublin, Ireland. His grave lies a few feet South of the church. The church was built by the men and women of Kickapoo. timbers were hand hewed and pegged. the sandstone was quarried near Joliet, Illinois and hauled by oxen cart to Kickapoo. The stone was laid by men and the mortar was mixed by the women.

St. Patrick’s Church remained the only Catholic Church in the area until 1861. At that time the German Catholics purchased a former Episcopalian Church in the Village of Kickapoo. this became St. Mary’s Church. Mass was offered in both churches until 1921 when the present St. Mary’s Church of Kickapoo was built. the two parishes were then combined and Mass was no longer offered in St. Patrick’s Church on a regular basis.

St. Patrick’s Church was abandoned and allowed to deteriorate until the early 1960’s. At that time the Bishop Rosati Council, Knights of Columbus, in cooperation with several other Knights of Columbus Councils in Central Illinois, requested permission from Bishop John Franz, then Bishop of Peoria, to begin a restoration program for the church. Bishop Franz granted permission and the many back breaking hours for the men who volunteered their time and talent began. The restoration program took three years and two months to complete. On the Feast of All Saints, November 1, 1964 a rededication ceremony was held.

The 1938 cemetery is also the first Catholic Cemetery in Peoria County.

Thanks to NoLemon and Billy Dennis.

Peoria (area) Landmark #296

407 N Walnut St, Princeville.

During the pastorate of Father McGair, the parish again having outgrown the limits of the old frame church, the building of a new church was agitated. In 1889 both pastor and people, working together in harmony and with much zeal, soon obtained sufficient funds to enable them to lay the foundation, and in the summer of 1890 the new church was completed and dedicated.

Read more {here} and {here}.

Thanks, Tom.

Peoria Landmark #276

sctobrien and LeTumba are both right. It is the bowling alley in the basement of St. Ann’s Catholic Church, formerly known as St. Boniface, located at 1010 S. Louisa.

In a 2007 capital campaign case statement [pdf], their parish history is detailed-

During the summer of 1881 Father Frederick Von Schwedler organized the parish of St. Boniface in the southwestern section of Peoria. The first church, school, and rectory cost a total of $16,000. In 1892, the rapidly growing parish was turned over to the Franciscan Fathers from Cincinnati, Ohio, with Father Nicholas Holtel, OFM, as the its first pastor. It was under his pastorate that the present church was constructed for a cost of $37,000. A convent was built at the turn of the century. With the parish growing a new school building was constructed in 1916. By 1931 – the 50th birthday of the parish – the parish community consisted of 480 families and almost 300 students in the school. A rather unique activity began in the parish in the 1940’s – the construction of a bowling alley beneath the church. It has continued to the present in providing pleasant gatherings for the members of the present day St. Ann parish.

On December 18, 1966 fire completely gutted the church. Under the leadership of Father James, in April, 1969, the church was rededicated
– very different from its predecessor, but still and outstanding building.

In 1971 St. Boniface School consolidated with St. John School in an effort to preserve Catholic education in the parishes. The school
closed in 1999.

St. Boniface and St. John parishes worked together for many years before it became necessary to close St. John parish and bring everyone
together at St. Boniface which became St. Ann parish in 1994. The present pastor, Father Terry Cassidy, has been pastor since 1999.

I don’t know the details on how to rent this space, but it is an interesting place that seems to capture a moment in time. Maybe someone will find this post and fill us in.

Grotto. noun. (1) a cave, especially one with interesting natural features. (2) an imitation cave, especially as an ornamental shelter in a formal garden on a hill.

My apologies for the long delay in updating this.

Piecing together various stories, this was built in the 1920’s by the orphans and nuns who called the Guardian Angel Orphanage home. It is located at the end of Heading Ave in West Peoria which continues to operate as a small orphanage under the oversight of Peoria Catholic Charities. To find the grotto, park on the right-hand side of the parking lot just as you enter through the gates and head down the steep hill to the north. Be careful, it’s a steep grade, but completely worth the effort. As my fellow adventurer mentioned, the coolest thing about this place is that no-one knows it’s here and you can’t see it from any road. When viewing it up close, one wonders how they pulled this off.

My personal thanks to commenters ImaSwede who originally took me here and to Josh Harris for joining me in a return visit. This easily made my top 10 “Peoria: off the beaten path.”

Located at 2900 W. Heading Ave, Peoria Il., Guardian Angel Home is run by the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria.

Purpose:

Guardian Angel Home is a long-term residential treatment facility for boys and adolescent males ages 6-18 referred by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). These young men often present significant mental health and behavioral issues, and many have been abused and neglected. Guardian Angel Home meets the social and emotional needs of its residents by providing a structured environment, focusing on behavior modification. Residents are generally DCFS wards who need significantly more structure and treatment than what is available in a foster home placement.

History:

1880 – St. Mary’s Orphanage was established in Metamora by Archbishop John Lancaster and operated by the hospital Franciscan sisters.

1913 – Bishop Edmund M. Dunne decided to move the orphanage to Peoria.  For $13,000 the 28-acre Oesterles’s Grove, a popular picnic ground in West Peoria, was purchased.

Aug. 15, 1914 – St. Mary’s orphanage moved from Metamora to Guardian Angel Home in Peoria.  The name change is attributed to Bishop Dunne’s fond memories of his Chicago Italian parish, Guardian Angel.

1925 – Bishop Dunne asked a community of sisters from the East to organize a Peoria Diocesan Catholic Charities.

1972 – Bishop Edward O’Rourke assigned the ration of Guardian Angel Home to CSS.  This was the first major change in 50 years at Guardian Angel.  Under the direction of CSS, Guardian Angel facilit were expanded to serve a variety of needs including an emergency reception center for emotionally-disturbed children and a long-term home for pre-teen and teenage boys and girls. The Heading Avenue Sisters (Sisters of St. Francis of Immaculate Conception.) withdrew from Guardian Angel after 83 years of service.

1979- Tha Huong residential program for unaccompanied refugee children opened in a wing of Guardian Angel. The program ended in 1991.

There’s a joke here somewhere about the leanings of the religious right, but I can’t seem to put my finger on it.

Allen Abel: “This is St. Mary’s Church in Metamora. The attached building at left is the rectory. Here’s a bigger picture.”

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any historical information either online or in my books, but I did find a postcard supposedly from the 1940’s.

St. Mark’s Catholic Church & School are located at the corners of Bradley Ave & Underhill. Specifically, this statue is located at the corner of Bradley Ave & University and is often shrowded by trees and not always noticed at first glance.

I’ve already briefly wrote about the Church; no need to repeat myself.