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The Village of Peoria Heights came into being when the Prospect Heights Land Co. began a subdivision on a bluff overlooking the Illinois River. The area was developed in 1898, incorporated and dubbed Prospect Heights. That name, as so many good vanity plates, was already taken by a Chicago-area community, and so it became Peoria Heights.
The village is the birthplace of Charles Duryea, who built the Duryea automobile, the first gasoline-powdered car in America in 1893, today housed in the Smithsonian, the car that is, not Duryea.
Another bit of history lost to time was the Midwest?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s Coney Island?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????Al Fresco Amusement Park?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????? built here in 1906, featuring a giant Ferris wheel, figure-eight roller coaster, merry-go-around and boat dock. Problems with river flooding put the kibosh on the park shortly after WW II.
The water tower, a uniquely shaped structure, is a focal point for Tower Park, this featured project. The first water tower was razed for scrap metal during World War II. The new iteration takes riders up 170 feet via an exterior glass fa????????ade elevator to one of three observation decks located atop the village?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s one-half million gallon water reservoir. The requisite coin-operated telescopes allow juveniles to zero in on the neighbors. A ring of lights illuminate the tower top, creating a halo effect that can be seen for miles. I note the Peoria Heights (I just wrote Pretoria) Chamber of Commerce?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s logo on its website is the very same water tower of Tower Park.
Tower Park is connected to Prospect Road, the area?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s retail area and historic Grandview Drive. It is purported that in 1910 President Teddy Roosevelt called Grandview the ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????world?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s most beautiful drive.?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????? There is also nature?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s beauty in close proximity. Just one mile north of the tower is the Forest Park Nature Center and 500 acres of Illinois nature preserve.
Trolleys were once a functional mode of transport in Peoria Heights, but you can still see Peoria Heights on a variety of two-hour tours (just $8) aboard the gas powered History Trolley operated by the Greater Peoria Mass Transit District on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings May through October. One tour runs along Grandview Drive with views of the spiffy homes and Illinois River, then through Peoria?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s Averyville area and downtown Peoria. Note to crime aficionados: One trolley tour drives by the site of ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????Peoria?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s most notorious crime scene?EUR??,,????'?????<??????????????????EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????the Bernie Shelton murder,?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????? an episode of prohibition gang warfare.
Peoria Heights is basically in the center of the state (Illinois, in case you?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????re lost), a little to the northwest of dead center and on the left bank of the Illinois River. Peoria Heights has a land area of only 2.6 square mile. Its elevation in 789 feet, its population 92.3% Caucasian, an ancestry of German (25.9%), Irish (18.7%) and English (13.2%).
There are 516 females to every 484 males; the median resident age is 38, the median household income is $32,161 (year 2000). On the village website (we are a global village, after all) Mayor Mark Allen terms this community ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????city convenience, village charm,?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????? the reason being the village is home to only 6,500 people, though surrounded by a metro area of 300,000.
The Peoria Heights Chamber of Commerce purports a population in ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????excess of 7,000.?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????? I will get to the bottom of this yet! I?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????m just jealous. I have more people than that tailgating me on the 405 Freeway each a.m. There are people nearby in case villagers get stir crazy. Peoria (pop. 112,936) is just 2.9 miles west, home to Bradley University and East Petoria is, yep, on the east bank of the Illinois River, a little over five miles away.
As I write this, Dec. 13, 2005, the weather here, Tustin, Calif. (near Anaheim?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s Disneyland) is mid-70s and sunny. I see the high temp in Peoria Heights will be the mid-30s?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????let?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s just say freezing, shall we.
The mayor notes Peoria Heights has a ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????vibrant and exciting shopping area,?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????? but he amends it?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????the shopping you might remember from a generation or two ago.?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????? Now, I lived in a one-horse town during my elementary school years (actually there was an entire horse stable), so I know what he speaks of?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????kind of like strolling downtown Mayberry?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????a certain charm in locally owned small business establishments.
A quick look at Google news shows things are jumpin?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'???? in Peroria Heights as Christmas approaches?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????Parkview Church is holding a cookie walk, there?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s a screening of ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????It?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s a Wonderful Life?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????? at the Apollo Theater, St. Bernard?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s Men?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s Club will hold a fish fry and there will be an evening of ballroom dancing to the music of Glenn Reader and The Countrymen at the Miller Center.
The mayor does point out some viable reasons for living here?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????very affordable housing (median house value $61,600 in 2000); a small school district (P.H. High School has 199 students, according to one source, but the chamber of commerce, always more optimistic, says 250 students); miles of hiking trails through the woods and the scenery of the Illinois River Valley, best viewed, he notes, from the ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????Observation Tower in Tower Park.?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????
The Village of Peoria Heights, Ill., needed to spruce up its park, Tower Park, that is. Tower Park was built in the 1960s around the water tower. The ride up the tower and view from atop affords a great panorama of the Illinois River Valley.
It?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s kind of Peoria Height?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s Eiffel Tower, the tallest structure in these parts that naturally attracts people. The park, however, apart from the site?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s mature trees, had little to offer?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????narrow, winding asphalt sidewalks affording various tripping opportunities, dozens of common looking benches and picnic tables, a small nonworking water fountain?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????????hardly inspiring people to stay and enjoy the park once they?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????d seen the view.
Shive-Hattery, landscape architects of Cedar Rapids, Iowa worked with the village to create an engaging park, a design to accommodate larger groups yet inviting for individuals and smaller gatherings. The master plan reconstructed the entire park.
The starting point was Village Hall, a structure with a flat roof and two sloping sides, basically a half-hexagonal cedar-shingled building on the corner of the lot and diagonal to the tower. The building?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s shape inspired the idea to incorporate hexagonal patterns in the new design.
The park has two plazas, Tower Plaza, the area immediately around the tower, which has a hardscape of connecting exposed aggregate, and Park Plaza, the area in front of Village Hall. Park Plaza incorporates stamped and colored concrete in hexagonal patterns and showcases a large two-tier limestone water fountain with a series of bubble sprays, an elevated 44-foot wide hexagon pavilion with an illuminated three-tier roof, limestone seatwalls, two-ton free-standing limestone seating slabs, limestone signage, colorful pole lighting, a play area with safety surfacing and equipment, decorative umbrella tables and chairs, plus wooden benches and ceramic tile planters festooned with colorful annuals.
Speaking of limestone, we are talking about Anamosa limestone, named for Anamosa, Iowa. This limestone contains dolomite, a light-tinted magnesium-rich sedimentary rock deposited across the Midwest about 420 million years ago. Anamosa limestone is known for its light to moderate gold color and distinctive veining.
The pavilion and water fountain are on the axis line of the Village Hall. From its interior, the large windows in the council meeting room affords a great view of Park Plaza hardscape, the fountain and the pavilion.
Raleigh, North Carolina
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
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