Peoria Landmark #281
*Photo submitted by commenter LeTUMBA.
Josh says “As a rough guess, it looks like the Cohens building downtown.”
Indeed.
Other views can be found here: http://namethispeorialandmark.blogpeoria.com/2008/10/26/258/
Peoria Landmark #278
This interesting architectural detail can be found near the rear entrance to Illinois Antique Center on Commercial street near the corner at Liberty. The physical address is 311 SW Water St and resides in a building originally known as the The Clark Quien & Morse Building. It is now called Waterfront Place.
A Journal Star article dated Dec 3, 2008 says “The Water Street location has been a place to find “stuff” since the building was originally built by the Clark, Quien & Morse Co. in 1904 for wholesale hardware merchandise. Clark’s bargains of the day – circa 1911 – included dynamite that sold for 34 cents a pound, roller skates at $1.50 a pair and a baseball glove for $3.50.”
While running some errands, I looked at thought the windows of these buildings in the 400 block of SW Washington and saw the sky.
I drove around through the alley, correctly identified by David as the alley backing up to 401 Water Street and took the original photo and this other below. The entirety of the buildings have been gutted with the exception of the front facade which I imagine will be getting a nice face lift. I don’t know what the interior looked like previously, but it must have been bad.
It’s heartening to see more preservation and renovation going on in this area.
tsheets knows his landmarks. “Is it the Cohen’s Furniture building on Oak / Washington??” 800 SW Washington, to be exact.
Cohen’s vacated this building in 1997 and ceased all operations in 2006. Used But Nice furniture was this handsome building’s most recent tenant, but it now sits vacant.
Original photo courtesy of Josh Harris.
Vogue.
I wasn’t quite sure where this building was. Odat did. So I drove on down to the 1000 block of SW Adams, as advised, and low and behold, at the corner of Maple St, there was the building. A building I had seen many times but yet never really noticed. It still holds the Chic Manufacturing letting on the front and has been rehabbed with brand new windows. It is currently empty but has an “available” sign on it.
From what little information I could find, Princess Peggy was a line of clothing manufactured by the Chic Manufacturing Co., but there are also some references to Princess Peggy, Inc. Of all the books I own, I do not have a phone book or business directory from this time period.
The postcard came from this site, which lists the date as 1916. The caption reads “The largest exclusive manufacturer of ladies and children’s aprons in the United States.”
The Vintage Fashion Guild says “Princess Peggy was a line of day and housedresses produced starting in 1929 and through the 1950s by Chic Manufacturing Co. of Peoria, Illinois.”
An article published on April 22, 1996 in Peoria Journal Star, written by columnist Bill Adams includes this: “1975: April 25 * Princess Peggy Inc., a women’s dress manufacturer at 1001 SW Adams St., was declared bankrupt in U.S. District Court.”
As of this writing, a vintage Princess Peggy dress is currently for sale here, which claims the business existed into the 1950’s.