A Long Time Ago

On May 24, 1878 there was a bit of excitement downtown because the old courthouse that was built in 1836 in Peoria, Illinois was being torn down. 

People stood around the perimeter or sat on old chairs or boxes and just watched.  Now there were no bright yellow Caterpillars tearing up the place just men and a few mules and all kinds of tools lay around. But still, there was movement over there and for the older men of Peoria that beat just sitting on a bench telling lies.  There were rumors that there might be treasure of some kind hidden in the walls or a maybe something interesting in the old corner stone that was put in place so many years ago.

 

One of the workers was along side the building virtually working alone.  A few younger men watched and suddenly they moved up a bit closer.  The man held a bottle in his hand momentarily before he quickly tucked it inside his jacket.  Now that was curious the men thought so they called out to him to show them what he found.  That frightened the worker and off he ran away from the courthouse yard and ran down Jefferson Street with the men chasing after him.  Within a few blocks they gave up but the younger man named Mike Brady was persistent and finally caught up with the fleeing worker.  Witnesses said that the two men talked for a few moments before the worker handed over the whiskey bottle to the Mr. Brady and grabbed the twenty-five dollars he was offered and disappeared.  Triumphantly the new owner of the old whiskey bottle went back to his friends and proudly held the bottle up in the air.  “I got it,” he said, with a huge grin on his face.

 

The small group gathered beneath one of the old elm trees as Brady carefully opened the bottle, sniffed its contents then poured a small amount of the whisky in his palm.  That action brought a round of laughter from the men and an angry reaction from the young man.  “It’s just water! Twenty-five dollars for a bottle of water. I’m gonna go find that guy.”

Only then did the young man look at the label.  The label clearly stated that the bottle was from a local distillery and dated 1878.  The trick made the local newspapers and Mike Brady stayed away from the courthouse from then on, according to his ‘friends.’

 

If there was a peak time for our distilleries and breweries in Peoria before the turn of the century it was probably 1878. There were 14 distilleries in Peoria at that time distilling thousands of gallons of ‘booze’ into bottles and barrels and shipping it ‘Hither and yon,’ as folks used to like to say.  We had a lot of wealthy whiskey and beer Barons here and their product, at least the whiskey was often referred to a ‘High Wines.’  Do you think High Street might have gotten its name from that phrase?  The owners bragged about the high taxes they were paying and that comment was hurled at the do-gooders and anti-whiskey people that were relentless in their attacks on ‘Demon Rum.’  All during the Civil War our local beer and whiskey makers paid well over thirty-five million dollars annually to help support the Union cause, and they were proud of that fact. The local farms in Peoria and surrounding counties virtually lived off the massive tons of grain these distilleries bought, and yet even some of them, especially their wives and church members continued their assault on the liquor industry. Those attacks eventually led to the dreaded Prohibition Era.

 

In 1878, Valentine Jobst was awarded the contract to build a City Workhouse and promised he could do it for $10,791. I am assuming he was the same Val Jobst that did so many construction jobs around here.  Well, I feel certain it was a relative at least.  The site for the building was at the foot of Grant Street. The workhouse was a unique building and it was built to house people who owed the city money in the form of fines.  They even had an area for women.  To me it was totally unconstitutional but it lasted for over forty years and was never challenged.  The city fathers got tired of having the police officers arrest a person for some kind of violation, having trials and the people simply did not pay the fines.  Now the courts would sentence the man or woman to the workhouse where he or she would work off the fine.  The prisoners were paid fifty cents a day so some of them were incarcerated for up to six months.  Most of the men and women sentenced in booze related charges went in and out of the ‘jail’ for as long as they lived.  They closed the doors the day Prohibition began in 1920.

 

On June 9, 1878 thousands of people flocked to the river to watch a boating classic called the Mississippi Valley Rowing Association held on the Peoria Lake. Later a grand ball and reception were held with Governor Cullom as the guest of honor. “A hot time in old Peoria, Illinois”

Editor’s Note:   Norm is a Peoria Historian and author and monthly contributor to 50 Plus NEWS & VIEWS.      norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net