Peoria Landmark #312
Tim Hill: “An old pump house just north of the bridge. It is near the intake that was just posted.”
Although I don’t really know what it is, If #313 really is an old water intake, then this building with large cast iron pipes coming out of it (not shown) would logically seem to be a pump house. This is located just north of the McCluggage Bridge & Water Works on the banks of the Illinois River.
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).
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.”