HIS HONOR THE MAYOR

                                    HIS  HONOR  THE  MAYOR

                                             NORMAN  V  KELLY

In Peoria’s long history, starting in 1845, our mayors played a major role in shaping the growth of Peoria, Illinois.  We had a total of 81 men that ended up as our leader and some of them were truly remarkable in their leadership, many of them were basically useless.  Since I write about our early days, I’ll let you decide on the value of recent mayors here in the great River City. I thought that I would zero in on four of those mayors and tell you just a little about them and the path they took Peoria, Illinois during their administrations. I will start with Mayor John Warner. 

Most Peorians have heard of Warner Homes, which was a housing complex named after Mayor John Warner.  Mayor Warner served seven terms beginning in  1874.  By then the mayor’s terms were two years and Warner would eventually serve his final term from 1897-1899.  He was a remarkable man and served this city well.

My favorite mayor was Nelson Edward Woodruff. I do not remember David McCluggage, whom I will tell you about, but I certainly remember seeing and hearing Mr. Woodruff.  During the war years, 1941-1945, Mr. Woodruff spoke on the radio and of course we saw him during parades and read about him in the newspapers. He was born in 1899 and lived his life right here in Peoria, Illinois on Jefferson Street, with his wife and daughter.  He was our mayor eleven times for a total of twenty-four years. I can tell you that he was a major force during Prohibition, allowing the taverns to re-open as Soft Drink Parlors.  That bold move restored a lot of taxes for the city and preserved our neighborhood ‘tavern society.’  During WW 11 he was a driving force  in town, and allowed this city to be the liberal town we all heard about .   A powerful politician, he loved this city, and his controversial ‘Funny Money’ program brought him national attention.    He died etc.

 

Everyone knows of the McCluggage Bridge, and that bridge was named after David McCluggage.  He was the mayor for two  terms, 1937-1949.  During his time the terms were for two years. Tell us about McCluggage.

 

I included Carl O. Triebel in this mix because his decision to cease taking ‘Funny Money’ from the gamblers was a bold, and decisive move way back in 1946.  He took over from Woodruff and if you have been told that he was a reformer, then you have been mislead.  I could quote you at least seven of his speeches to prove he was not.  He was elected in the spring of 1945 and it was not until 9-1946 that he finally made his ‘No Gambling In Peoria’ Speech.  Of course gambling walked across the river to Tazewell County and out into our county, but believe me, it stopped here in the city. NO…not the slot machines, that was not gambling, I mean all nine of our casinos and every other form of gambling in our 242 city taverns.  Tell us about him  dead etc.