Nacho’s on it! “Old well house located at the bottom of the south trails at Robinson Park in Mossville.” Nearby are two more foundations and another well pump. Anyone have any idea what this used to be?

I was actually told about this once before but I didn’t think I’d actually ever find it but a few weeks ago I decided to take a hike in Robinson Park, on Mossville Rd in Mossville, as I had never been there. I didn’t know which trail to take and I couldn’t find much information available other than a only generally helpful Peoria Park District map so I blindly took the south trail. Inside the park the trails are well kept and marked. I plan to go back and explore more.

Peoria Wilds.com describes the park this way:

Robinson Park consists of glacial drift hill prairies on steep south facing slopes with Oak woodlands along the ridges and valleys. Some of the prairie wildflowers found here include scurf pea, pale purple coneflower, purple prairie clover, yellow false foxglove, stiff tickseed, golden alexanders, bird’s foot violets, and snow trillium. The woodlands include white oak, red oak, chinquapin oak, shagbark hickory, witch hazel, hazelnut, basswood, maple, and paw paw.

Robinson Park north of Mossville Rd. was willed to the Peoria Park District by Laurence Robinson, a Peoria architect in 1951 and was dedicated in June 1959 to the memory of Laurence Eugene Robinson Jr. who died in World War II. This portion of the park was known as the “Big Horn Farm” and was his boyhood home. At the dedication of Robinson Park in her son’s memory, Mrs. Robinson said, “It is my desire that it’s primitive beauty be retained and that it will forever offer an opportunity for young people to enjoy nature and the great out of doors.” Additional land has been added to Robinson Park on the south side of Mossville Rd.

Here are a few other photos I took on my short hike.

Forgive me, but I just couldn’t help laughing at the sign that says “Deforestation” while a pile of logs lay in the background. To be fair, the Peoria Park District did re-use as many of the trees as they could in building the Africa exhibit as is evident to anyone who visits.

Here’s some other pictures. It’s quite nice, but the “older” section appears to be now closed.

This photo was taken only by dumb luck just before it got a new dome of which I wasn’t aware was so soon in the works.

Report on the new dome from Week-TV:

History, via the Peoria Astronomical Society:

Northmoor Observatory is located within the city of Peoria at the Leo Donovan Golf Course, and houses a 9 inch refractor telescope.

The telescope was one of two built in 1913 for the Illinois Watch Company of Springfield, Illinois.  The 9-inch flint-forward lens was ground by Petitdidier, the same optician who ground lenses for Dr. A.A. Michelson’s famous experiment to determine the speed of light. The telescope body was manufactured by Gaertner Scientific of Chicago,

Illinois.  The telescope was purchased by Bradley University, but put away and never used.  It was later “re-discovered” sitting under bleachers in Huff Gym in the old Field House on the Bradley campus.  In 1955, it was reassembled at the Northmoor site where it still stands.  The observatory underwent a major renovation in 2009, and a new rotating dome was installed in place of the original rusted dome.

I couldn’t find any information about the “new” Rock Island Depot, so I’ll do what I like to do best and let the commenters tell the story…

ilstateredbird:

This is the last terminal for the Rock Island Railroad passenger service to Chicago from Peoria. The depot used before this one is what is now known as the River Station.

SD:

This depot was built in 1960. It is commonly known as the new/old Rock Island Depot. The inside has been gutted. Before the Park district was using it for storage bums went in and stripped all the copper wire out and anything else that they could sell. There is a tower room there that was used for the railroad. In front of this is a switch table that was used with the round house that was there at one time. Currently the Park district uses the building to store equipment, in exchange for keeping the grounds up for the city. Constitution Gardens is adjacent to the depot. This entire outfit is on the grounds of what was the original Peoria Riverfront Park. You can park in the parking lot and walk around the building and enjoy Constitution Gardens and the river and have lunch or just hang out.

THill: The bridge at the bottom of “Grand View Drive”.

Historic Peoria: “Construction of Grand View Drive began in 1903, and when it was completed in late 1904, the road consisted of gravel measuring 30 feet wide and 8 inches deep. In 1936, the drive was paved and trees were planted along the road. That year, tennis courts, softball fields, and picnic areas were also added.”

Everyone knows what Theodore Roosevelt said about it, but according to PeoriaHistory.com the exact quote from 1910 is “I have traveled all over the world, and this is the world’s most beautiful drive.”

In 1996 the entire drive and park land was added to the National Register of Historic places.

Here’s a YouTube video of Grandview from a bicycle. The bridge gets crossed at the 7 minute mark.

…and the Changes Statue, says Kara Harris. I didn’t get out of my car to read the plaque. Infact, I didn’t even see a plaque.

Located just to the North of Detweiller Golf Course along Galena Road, it is a basic boat launch area on the Illinois River which features, according to the Peoria Park District, “boat ramp, picnic area with grills, restrooms, parking and open river front. Open dawn – 11 pm daily. Free boat launching.“

Katney: “There are a couple of buildings back in the woods off of Rt 29 owned by the park district – if I remember right this is the smaller one and it is pretty scary inside.”

I didn’t look inside.  As Katney said, it looked pretty scary inside and I wasn’t about to find out what was in there!  If someone would like to go down and check it out for themselves, it’s on the south side of the barn (NTPL#219) located off of SanKoty and Galena Rd.