Park District sponsored Rails and Trails at the Harry Potter themed Return to Hogwarts event at Glen Oak Park. All aboard the Hogwarts Express!
Granted, that was a toughy. You had to be there to see this, and even if you were, you might not recognize this. I couldn’t give a long-range view without permission from my family to have their portrait published. Permission denied.
It really is a great event.
Well, Billy Dennis finally got his first one. It most definitely is the Glen Oak Lagoon. Props to Anonymous for calling out the Return to Hogwarts!
I’m a bit surprised that no-one identified the “bright red double decker bus,” as Billy put it. I mean, how many red double decker buses are there in town? It’s the old Jumer’s bus, now the Radisson bus.
Built in 1905 and originally named The Squirrel House, it is commonly known as The Monkey House. Contributor JW says “It was originally the Squirrel House, later, briefly, used to house some monkeys and then birds, then closed, to reopen for non-zoolike purposes. (Gift shop, ticket booth, etc.)”
As others have noted, it has served many different purposes over the years, and it is now on the list of 21 Peoria Park District “landmarks” proposed for historic preservation, and is referred to as the “Small Animal House.” Does that mean it housed small animals, or it’s a small building? Or Both?
The colored postcard is from JW’s private collection; sure makes the current white-washed version look bland! I especially like the black and white postcard, which came from rootsweb.com, if only for the message: “Dear Sister: Don’t send any chickens until you hear from me.”
I had a picture of the plaque accompanying the goofy carvings on this tree, but the sun washed it out. Once I go back, I’ll make an update with the specific name of this area.
Kara Harris has been there.
I’ve always wondered who was this Robert G. Ingersoll guy who has the statue in lower Glen Oak Park? I knew he was a famous Agnostic, but why would that qualify as a man worthy of this statue?
Then I did a little research… a highly regard Lawyer, a Colonel in the army, Illinois Attorney General, but mostly remembered as a great speaker. The more I read, the more I didn’t know how to summarize the stature that he held as the great and outspoken orator of his day of whom Mark Twain said “Lord, what an organ is human speech when played by a master.”
Then I found a newspaper death notice, dated July 21, [1899] New York, which seemed to summarize his life better than any of the current historic sites seem to do:
Ingersoll was one of the most eloquent public men of the present day. He was a lawyer of pronounced supremacy and was held in the highest esteem in the courts of his country. There was no office in the gift of his people that he could not have obtained but for his pronounced antagonism to orthodox Christianity. A man of unimpeachable morality and uprightness, honest in all his dealings, overflowing with generous impulses, Ingersoll set his face against the teachings of revelation and, as his spare moments permitted, conducted an energetic warfare against the Church of Christ.
As an orator he had few living equals.
My Creed, by Robert G. Ingersoll, 1895:
To love justice, to long for the right, to love mercy, to pity the suffering, to assist the weak, to forget wrongs and remember benefits, to love the truth, to be sincere to utter honest words, to love liberty, to wage relentless war against slavery in all its forms, to love wife and child and friend, to make a happy home, to love the beautiful in art, in nature, to cultivate the mind, to be familiar with the mighty thoughts that genius has expressed, the noble deeds of all the world, to cultivate courage and cheerfulness, to make others happy, to fill life with the splendor of generous acts, the warmth of loving words, to discard error, to destroy prejudice, to receive new truths with gladness, to cultivate hope, to see the calm beyond the storm, the dawn beyond the night, to do the best that can be done and then to be resigned.
Only know photograph of Mr. Ingersoll giving a speech, at the occasion of the Thomas Paine memorial gathering in New Rochelle, NY, 1894:
Additional Reading:
[Wikipedia]
[Historic Peoria]
[Illinois Alive!]
[old photo and newspaper clipping courtesy of RobertIngersoll.com]
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I think the photo and the corresponding comments say enough.
One of 9 structures in Glen Oak Park designated a local historic landmark by the Historic Preservation Commission, pending council approval. Personally, I hope the council turns down the request and the Park Board, to quote Jonathan Ahl during his post city council roundup “gets their act together.”
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Mahkno: Playground, Glen Oak Park.
Tricentennial Playground
Located in Glen Oak Park
Opened in 1991
Funded and built by the Junior League of Peoria
Managed by the Peoria Park District
Place where I spent many a weekend afternoon chasing my children through the mazes.
