Name This Peoria Landmark

Peoria Landmark #467

Across the street from Get ‘er Done loan and check cashing on and helping reshape Main Street is a new place called Las Delicias.

The PjStar describes it as this:

They serve all-natural Mexican popsicles in flavors that range from mango-chili to strawberries and cream to hibiscus flower to guava. Among the 20 homemade ice cream flavors are coconut, rum raisin, pina colada, coffee and pistachio.

The frozen treats are created in a large ice cream maker the size of a storage freezer that came straight from Mexico.

The store has a juice bar and sells chicharrons (fried dough prepared with cream, pork skins, tomato and hot sauce); papas fritas (fried chips); mangoneadas (a frozen, sweet-sour mango concoction); and rotating flavors of horchata, a water made from sugar and water (recently they offered a milky ricte water with vanilla, and a tart-sweet lime flavor).

I’ve heard noting but great things so far; if you have visited, please leave your reviews here.

Peoria Landmark #439

Plaque is found in Bradley’s quad, south-east of the circle drive and behind the bench in this picture.

Historical Marker

This plaque represents the location of the home plate on the former on-campus athletic field.

The athletic field was used for many purposes by the Braves, including the following: Varsity Baseball, Varsity Football, Varsity Track and Field, freshman orientation assemblies, and parade grounds for the U.S. Air Force ROTC program at Bradley University.

On the occasion of their 50th anniversary reunion in 2006, the 1956 Bradley Baseball Team, which placed third in the 1956 NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, donated this marker as a representation of the history and evolution of traditional excellence on this memorable hilltop site.

Aerial View, 1948:

Aerial View, 1957:

Peoria Landmark #430

update, and sorry for the bird stuff on the plaque, but I sure wasn’t going to clean it off:

Peoria Landmark #399

While there are new gargoyles atop the Hayden-Clark alumni center, this particular one is at Bradley Hall, as John guessed.

Peoria Landmark #398

Well… no-one really got it, but it’s the expansion construction of Bradley’s Westlake Hall as seen through a mesh covered fence.

Peoria Journal Star, Oct 21, 2009:

As if the Bradley University campus was not chock full of construction already, work on the university’s second-oldest building is set to begin.

Preliminary work on Westlake Hall that will touch off a $22 million renovation and expansion project is nearing. When completed, Westlake will be six times its current size and home to the university’s college of education, the new STEM center – Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics – and the Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service.

“Westlake will end up transforming into one of the premier buildings on campus,” said Joan Sattler, dean of Bradley’s College of Education and Health Sciences.

Included in the project is a four-floor addition, a 100-seat auditorium and smart classrooms with new technology and laboratories for science, math, reading, language arts and counseling. A ground-breaking ceremony is planned to take place at 4 p.m. Thursday.

More than a third of the cost, some $8.9 million, to rebuild and add on to Westlake is being paid for by the $31 billion state capital bill that passed this spring, $300 million of which went to private universities.

State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, said he lobbied to get the Bradley project funded in part because the building is used to train teachers.

Sattler said Westlake over the years has been “chopped up” into mostly offices, scattering a number of the education, teaching and health science programs across campus. “This project will pull us back together.”

As it stands, Westlake is 112 years old. It was last renovated in 1961.

Henry Ives Cobb, architect for the University of Chicago, designed the original building, once named Horology Hall, familiar for its characteristic clock tower. From contract for construction to completion took six months.

According to the university, Horology Hall was the only one of its kind in the U.S. to be erected solely for use as a horological school. Horology, the art of making timepieces, was a department in what then was Bradley Polytechnic Institute.

The building was renamed in 1946 to honor Allen T. Westlake, who served as dean of horology.

More aerial photos are available for viewing on Bradley University’s Flickr page.

Peoria Landmark #397

Capacity: 4,200

Construction Cost: $50,000,000

Architect: PSA/Dewberry

Capacity: 4,200

Dedicated: Oct 15, 2010

Peoria Landmark #384

I knew someone would  say “a telephone pole”! Yes, that is Main Street Commons in the background. Photo taken from Bradley’s parking deck adjacent to St. Mark’s Church.

In looking at the amenities offered for Bradley students, “Free Tanning” is listed… I guess I’m out of touch, but that just strikes me as odd.

Peoria Landmark #356

University at the curve, just south of Main St.

Sign directs Bradley students to the crosswalk at Campustown / St. James St.

Peoria Landmark #351

This home is at the “corner of Moss & Sheridan” and is the “Bush” home and is also “across from #204 and caddy-corner from #95” which used to look like #96 and the carriage house/stable in the backyard of the “Bush” house is #166.

A 1912 book available for reading online called Peoria City and County, Illinois – A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement says “William R. Bush, came here from Indiana in 1836 and established a distillery which he operated for many years.” Although the names are similar I have found no relationship between William Bush and the the Anheuser Busch company.

The plaque out front reads:

BUSH HOUSE
CIRCA 1858

William Bush, one of eleven children, was born Indiana, the son of a traveling minister whose ministry moved from place to place along the Ohio River. While still a child, William Bush with several other lads, left home and started down the Ohio River to seek his fortune. The disappointments of that trip were a starting point from which William Bush educated himself and forged a life of a varied and successful business career.

Drawn to the river town of Peoria while still a young man, he learned the brickmaking business, finally owning his own brick yard. Then as many of his later Bluff neighbors, William Bush entered the distilling business. Bush and Brown Distilling Company was one of the more successful and prominent companies in Peoria’s extensive distillery industry.

Construction of William Bush’s new home on Peoria’s rural West Bluff was completed in 1858. The style of this structure is termed “Bracketed Italianate.” The strong roofline with very massive ornate supporting wood brackets and the heavy cast iron lintels flanking some of the windows mark this home as a fine example of this style of architecture.

Peoria Landmark #346

This photo is from the historical marker in front of the “Erastus D. Hardin House” at 511 W. High St. The plaque reads:

This house, one of the earliest on High Street, was built by Mr. Erastus D. Hardin about 1859. The Hardins, a socially prominent and active family, occupied the house until 1904, a period of about 45 years.

Upon his arrival in Peoria in 1857, Mr. Hardin was associated as a partner in the private banking firm of S. Plsifer & Co. After the liquidation of the bank about 1878, Mr. Hardin entered the real estate business.

The design of the house is influenced by the French Second Empire style, a style just coming into fashion in the United States at the time. The style is best characterized by the use of the mansard roof and the pavilion or tower. The two story portico in front is a later addition.

The Hardin House is listed on the Illinois Historic Structures Survey and has been designated a significant structure in the West Bluff Historic District.

House as seen today:

Addition photos, including interior, are found at the Zerla Properties website.

Peoria Landmark #333

This cute little guy, and his twin, sits atop the entrance pillars to the shuttered Peoria Castle Lodge, formerly known as the Radisson Castle Lodge, formerly known as Jumer’s Castle Lodge.

117 N. Western Ave.

Peoria Landmark #326

According to Bradley University’s website, this building was named after 1914 graduate and major donor Mabel Dingeldine who helped to transform this building from the Second Church of Christ Scientist into what is known today as the the Dingeldine Music Center. It opened in 1983.

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of some Bradley University supporters, most notably the late Mabel Dingeldine (class of 1914), the University’s music center is a reality. The Eleanor Sikes Peters Recital Hall with 440 seats is used for Chamber Orchestra, Chorale, Community Chorus, recitals, Jazz Band, Symphonic Band, and Symphonic Winds. Six practice rooms are also available.

Located at 1417 W Barker Ave, it opened in 1983. There is also a Mabel Dingeldine Scholarship at ICC which was established by the estate of Mabel Dingeldine. Interestingly it notes “Preference to residents of Washington Township or graduates of Washington High School” as one of the criteria.

My thanks to Woodford_AL.

Peoria Landmark #315

This has one of the more interesting discussions in quite a while. Go read the comments.

Peoria Landmark #307

Dan Dickerson Says: “This is the Norval Wright Memorial. He was a Peoria Police officer killed at the site of the memorial on Hamilton Blvd. at North St. He was a motorcycle officer and was killed in an accident.”

Officer Down Memorial Page has this information:

Age: 29
Tour of Duty: 6 years, 9 months
Badge Number: 472

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Motorcycle accident
Date of Incident: Thursday, September 17, 1953

Patrolman Norval Wright was killed in a motorcycle accident while en route from the police station to his patrol area. His motorcycle crashed when it struck a patch of gravel near North Street and Bigalow Street at approximately 3:00 pm.

Patrolman Wright had served with the agency for just under 7 years. He was survived by his wife, two children, and parents.

The plaque reads “Let this be a constant reminder of your part in the Peoria school safety program. Dedicated June, 1954.”

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).