POPULATION OF PEORIA

           

Peoria     1845     1,934       215 voted to decide if we were to become a city;     

                                            Vote:    52  NO      163   YES

 

           HERE 1845       575 kids    under 10    399  Over TEN

                                      874   OVER 20

                                         88    Over 50                   Total:   1,936

                                                  TOTAL POPULATION  1845 

                                                                     1,936  

 

                1850     5,095      Just five years the city population increased by

                                             3,161.

 

                 1860     14,045    Just one year before the Civil War… we had

                                             9 Distilleries and 6 Breweries perking

                                              here along the Illinois River.

 

1865                                         War is over and we have 14 Distilleries and

7 Breweries in Peoria.

 

                  1870    22,849    The Civil War has been over for 5 years and 

                                              city is on the grow, thanks to booze.

 

                  1880     29,259     Tenth Census

 

                   1890    41,024      The Gay Nineties

 

                  1900     56,l00     Turn of the Century.

 

                   1910     66,950

 

                  1920     76,121    The beginning of Prohibition in Peoria.  The

                                              taverns are shut down and the breweries and

                                              distilleries were closed down because of the

                                              Lever Act in September of 1917.

 

                   1930    104,969     In just ten years, and remarkably during   

                                                 Prohibition Peoria’s population gained

                                                 28,848 people…Unreal!

 

                    1940    105,187    One year before WW 11 and we had gained

                                                  218 people.

        

                     1950    111,856     Five years after the war.  We sent 23,010

                                                    men away in the war.  Thousands moved

                                                    in to take the wartime jobs. 626 Peorians,

                                                    city and county did not make it back                     1960    103,162     Population slides downward.     1970     126,963     Annexation plays a role.   1980      124,160     1990     113,504