PEORIA: ANTEBELLUM & PARABELLUM

NORMAN  V.  KELLY

 

Since 1980 I have been lecturing and writing about Peoria history starting in 1828 and ending in 1951. The Civil War was a natural subject for me to write and talk about and I can tell you a lot of folks in Peoria loved that series.  They wanted to know what it was like in Peoria, Illinois before the war, during and after the war and we had some lively talks about that period.  I think most readers know that Antebellum referred to the time before the war, the Civil War that is.  Truth is except in written articles about a Southern City, you would be hard-pressed to see that word in a Peoria newspaper, because that era belonged to the South. 

 

A lot of those stories are on line on the Peoria Public Library link by pulling up Peoria Public Library/Historian.  During my lectures there are some people that will speak right up and it was during that time that I heard the word Parabellum.  In the beginning I cringed when I heard it in reference to the period after the Civil War. However, I never corrected any one and I went on and answered their questions about what was going on here in Peoria right after the war.  I knew what they were asking so I let it go.  The word Parabellum most certainly does not refer to the time after the Civil War and has nothing to do with the Civil War at all.

 

I am betting that many folks out there, especially men and women who carry a concealed weapon or are gun enthusiast know that I must be trying to fool them.  Well, they would be right. The truth is that the word Parabellum refers to a semiautomatic pistol or machine gun, in fact we call the Luger a Parabellum weapon. Maybe I should have corrected those folks, but as a public speaker I knew better than correct the folks that came to see me.  I had a lot of verbal battles with them over local gangsters and that was upsetting enough for many of them.

 

                                     A  DECADE  IN  PEORIA

 

Peoria’s population in 1860 was 14,045, remembering that we were not a designated city until 1845, starting out on a one square mile plot.  When the Civil War began we were divided a bit and some of our young men took off for the South to join the Confederate Army, but the majority stuck with the Union.  Even then we were known as ‘The Alcohol Capital Of The World,’ and quickly became a safe-haven

for civilians and soldiers alike.  There were no bombs going off and folks here in town welcomed the role they had handed to them, and believe me our population grew and our businesses thrived.   Our trains and steamboats served the Union Army well, and our many distilleries and breweries helped finance the war, paying on average thirty-five million dollars a year in taxes.

 

All along Water Street were the taverns, saloons and bordellos, and our bawdy reputation brought thousands of soldiers to Peoria, Illinois.  We had two Army Camps of our own, one in Glen Oak Park and the other in and around what we now know as Mary Street. When the War ended the local folks chipped in to build a Civil War Monument locals called ‘The Shaft,’ which was ‘temporarily’ removed when the new courthouse was built. The last I saw of it was a pile of rubble out at the Detweiller Marina.  It was not until 1899 that the current Civil War Monument was dedicated by President McKinley; bringing thousands of people and Civil War Veterans to our town to honor our dead from that war. I did not count the names on that monument but ‘historians’ tell us there are 505 names on it. Actually the first Civil War Monument was erected in Averyville which was not part of the city at that time. They, however, listed only the Averyville veterans on their monument.  The Park District restored that monument and it was re-dedicated in 2014.

 

In 1865 the war ended and it was only then that the local citizens really began to understand the tragedy that had just occurred.  The City and County of Peoria lost all those men and as the wounded found their way home the horror of what they went through was finally told. Five years after the war in 1870 the population of the City of Peoria was 22,849. The county also grew by leaps and bounds and Peoria was on her way to becoming a major city in the United States. By 1913, a year that epitomized the growth and vitality of the city the population neared 70,000.  In 1920 Prohibition began and we had 76,121 within the city limits. What happened to us during those thirteen years is indeed quite another story.

Editor’ Note:   Norm is a monthly contributor to News and Views, a Peoria Historian and author of numerous books and articles on Peoria.  norman.kelly @sbcglobal.net