THE SAGA
OF MORTON SQUARE
NORMAN V.
KELLY
It would be my guess that very few Peorians, excluding
the locals of course, have ever stepped foot in the little park located in what
we used to call The North End. Yet, it
has a unique and long history within the park district here in Peoria,
Illinois. The fact is it was our first
park, having been added to the Town of Peoria way back in 1837.
Peoria started it’s life as a city in 1845 with a one
square mile and the truth is since that very day, our founders have sought more
space to expand our city limits.
Historically we were interested eventually in Bartonville, West Peoria,
Peoria Heights and most certainly Averyville to our East. And so it was true way back in the 1800’s
when our city fathers encroached on the north side the folks living there
rebelled a bit about being pressured by the City of Peoria. The
compromise was what we would call a ‘green-space’ today. The city leaders agreed to toss the folks a
bone and thus Morton Square was born. It
was only one city block bordered by Perry, Monroe, Morgan and Evans and by 1852
it was truly a remarkable little oasis amidst a rather densely populated area. The folks there were happy with their little
park and of course the City managed to keep growing. A bitter battle over annexing Averyville took
place later and in 1928 the Illinois Supreme Court found in favor of Peoria and
little Averyville and its assets and people were swallowed up.
It was not called a park although it had ornamental
lampposts, surrounded by walks and numerous areas of flowers and shrubs.
Later, under some local pressure the park district
established a children’s playground, a softball diamond and later, after they
took up the lampposts, a practice football field. A small gazebo was erected and finally the
local neighborhood regained control of the property. A solid iron fence was
erected and as always the population in the area grew. By the turn of the
century the park was enjoyed by numerous kids from four different grade schools
in the area. The truth is a total of
$275,000.00 was spent on that area and it was all privately financed. Talk about community support, it was alive
and well in the North-end.
Of course there was some controversy and even some
criticism aimed at the park district for allowing the neighborhood home owners
to take over the park, but after all, they were paying for it, and they meant
to keep it and enjoy it. They called
themselves ‘The Olde Town North,’ and they were a prideful group I can tell you
that.
Starting way back the area was owned by George Morton
and records show that he listed his home address in Saint Louis, Missouri. On
August 19, 1852 old George up and deeded lots 1 through 121, Block 85 to Mary
M. Clark of Peoria and George Douglas Morton and his wife Mary Helen
Morton. The deed included their children
who would own the property upon their death.
A very interesting aspect of the deed indicated that when all these people
were dead the title would vest to The City of Peoria, Illinois. Now they were required, according to the
document, to use the property for the benefit of orphans. Interesting, wouldn’t
you say? Well right after that the one
square city block was known as Morton Square.
Let’s take a peek at the old Peoria Transcript dated
October 16, 1889.
Here is a rather terse quote the newspaper attributed
to Attorney H.W. Wells: “It is a suit
of ejection and petitioner prays that his honor will seize this village by the
nape of the neck and yank it off the Earth or at least such part of the earth
as goes to make up Morton Square.”
The ensuing trial was pretty sensational and of course
‘somewhat shocking’ for the times.
Evidence produced showed that Mary Helen Morton was not lawfully the
wife of George Douglas Morton, a shocking revelation it seems in those days. At
any rate Ben Clark put up a weak defense and in the end he lost his claim to
the property. After the decision Mary
Clark deeded the property to the City of Peoria and was paid $1,200 for Morton
Square, which now belonged to Peoria, Illinois.
The lawyer brought the suit on behalf of his client because since Morton
did not have a ‘legal’ wife then she could not inherit. Understand?
At any rate the city won and retained control of Morton Square. Case closed.
In 1954 Spalding High School’s Men’s Club developed a
football gridiron on the property which was meant for football practice only
and not scheduled games. Throughout the years kids from all over convened at Morton Square
Earl Martin and a lot of Royce’s friends would like to
see Morton Square renamed “Royce Elliott Park.”
It appears to me that Morton gave up the rights to that honor way back
in 1858 and then again in 1889 so I don’t think we will hurt any relatives of
the Morton’s if we change the name. Of
course this is up to the Peoria Park District and officials like Tim Cassidy
and Bonnie Noble. So…what say you should
the Peoria Park District change the street sign? Also, should we kick in a bit of our own
change to have a small plaque placed there as well? So, get busy and help get it done. Don’t leave it to someone else, make some
calls and get involved.
Editor’s Note: Norm Kelly is a Peoria Historian, author and
friend of Royce Elliott.
Norm is a monthly
contributor to ASO. norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net
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