PEORIA, a city of north-central Illinois, U.S.A., on the Illi nois river where it widens to form Lake Peoria, midway between Chicago and Saint Louis; a port of entry and the county seat of Peoria county. It has a municipal airport and is a station on the Chicago-to-Gulf airway; is on Federal highways 24 and 124; and is served by the Big Four, the Burlington Route, the Chicago and Alton, the Chicago and Illinois Midland, the Chicago and North Western, the Illinois Central, the Illinois Traction (electric), the Minneapolis and St. Louis, the Pennsylvania, the Nickel Plate, the Peoria 0,nd Pekin Union, the Peoria Terminal, the Rock Island, and the Toledo, Peoria and Western railways; and by river steam boats and motor-bus and truck lines. Pop. (1920) 76,121, 87% native white; and 104,969 in 1930 by the United States census. The local estimate for 1928, including contiguous suburbs, was 108,50o. The city extends for 8 m. along the river (6,000 ft. across at its widest point) and has an area of 11.5 square miles. The com mercial and industrial districts lie on a plain running back 200 5,00o ft. from the river to bluffs 200-400 ft. high, occupied by the residential sections. Peoria lake, the adjacent reaches of the river, its tributary brooks, the wooded bluffs, canyons and waterfalls, provide beautiful scenery in and about the city. The public parks cover 1,450 acres. At the western edge of the city is the 25 ac. campus of Bradley Polytechnic Institute, a co-educational col lege of arts and sciences (including a school of Horology) , founded in 1896 by Mrs. Lydia Bradley, and endowed by her with $2,000,000. There are 3 high and 3o elementary public schools, and 8 parochial schools. • In the heart of the corn belt and of a vast coal-field, with de posits of sand, gravel and gypsum in the immediate vicinity, the centre of a network of railroads and highways, and on the water (way from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, Peoria is a great shipping and distributing point, has a large wholesale and retail trade, and has developed important manufacturing industries. The
wholesale and jobbing business is estimated at $30,000,00o an nually. The output of the 172 plants situated in the city in 1927 was valued at $66,237,820. Among the principal products are commercial solvents, washing machines, tractors, agricultural im plements, furnaces, oil burners, stock feeds and corn products.
In the village of East Peoria (pop. 1920, 2,214) is the plant which produced the "caterpillar" tanks used in the World War (now used for farm tractors). The first successful gasolene motor-boat was launched on Lake Peoria; and in the experiment shop of Charles E. Duryea was built the first practicable gasolene engine in the United States. Before the adoption of national prohibition the manufacture of distilled liquors was the city's principal industry. Peoria is the headquarters of the National Swine Show and ships large quantities of fish. The city's assessed valuation of property for 1927 was $88,722,802.
Peoria was named after one of the five tribes of the Illinois Indians. In 1680 La Salle built Ft. Crevecoeur on the bluffs op posite the present city, but it was destroyed and deserted within the year. A French mission was probably established in the vi cinity as early as 1711 ; and by 1725 there was a settlement of ,French and half-breeds known by the name of Peoria on the west shore of the lake. This village was abandoned during the Revolution, but another had been founded about 1778, on the present site, by Jean Baptiste Maillet, and was called by his name. In Nov. 1812, about half the town was burned by a company of Illinois militia, sent to build a fort, who alleged that the villagers had fired on their boats. In 1813 Ft. Clark was erected on the site of the old village. It was evacuated in 1818 and soon after wards was destroyed by the Indians. Peoria was incorporated as a town in 1835 and chartered as a city in 1845. In 185o it had a population of 5,095. In 188o, and at each succeeding Federal census, it has ranked first among the cities of the State after Chicago.