Quite a title huh?
However that is what the chamber of commerce here in Peoria, Illinois
liked potential customers to think about.
We also touted our so-called Indian heritage too, and most of that was
just a myth. But for a small town that managed to exist with from one square
mile in 1845 to eventually 12.28 square miles, Peoria was a remarkable place
indeed.
It is 1937 here in Peoria and I thought I would give
you an idea just what was going on here.
The Great Depression and Prohibition were in our past and since 1934
this was a city on the grow. We had a population of over a hundred thousand and
by 1940 we reached the magic number of just over 105,000 souls, 90% of them
born in America.
We had an Aldermanic Government and usually a very
strong, active mayor. People seem to love facts, figures and statistics, so I
thought I would give them probably a lot more than they care to read.
We were always cutting edge here because we had so
many wealthy people living here and when they wanted something…they got
it. They invested in those new products
and the common folks of Peoria benefited from it. We had 24,000 phones in operation, just over
100 churches and 271 manufacturing companies making jobs rather plentiful
here. We made tractors, washing
machines, wire and steel and so many, many more products adding up to just over
a thousand made right here in town. Everyone knows about our many breweries and
distilleries and after 1934 we were once again the ‘alcohol capital of the
world.’
In 1937 we had seven newspapers, three dailies and 4
weeklies, stove makers, cigar makers, and nine downtown movie theaters with
8,844 seats. We had an exciting, viable downtown shopping area with 13
principal hotels that offered 2,000 rooms.
Of course we had a lot of tiny places called ‘dives, dumps, rat holes,
flop houses and if you count all of them, there were fifty-nine of those. Our merchants loved to tell anyone that would
listen “If you can’t find it in downtown Peoria…you don’t need it.” We had 5
hospitals consisting of 775 beds. Peoria bragged about an exceptional school
system that consisted of 47 different schools, including 7 high schools, 16
parochial and several other specialized schools, which included a Horology
school and Bradley College. We were
hugely into music conservatories and believe it or not, we had fifty-eight
music teachers, which included voice, instruments and of course piano.
Peoria was a major Railroad town with 15 companies
serving this great little town. We had the Alton, Big Four, Burlington,
Eastern, Illinois Central, Rock Island, Sante Fe and TP&W, just to name a
few. We bragged about our 200 miles of streets especially the 137.66 miles that
were paved. We had a first class fire department of 127 men and a police force
consisting of 121 men with 9 of our police cars equipped with two-way radios.
Our Chamber of Commerce reminded visitors that Peoria
was the home of the first ‘practical’ gas powered auto and the center of horse
racing, auto racing, bicycle and dog racing and a beautiful fair grounds. We called
ourselves Convention City and touted our parks and recreational river front. Our
Peoria
We were served by American Airlines and our
politicians promised that the airport would grow along with our great city.
Automobiles were big in Peoria and we had 23 auto
dealers in town and over 60 auto repair shops, so apparently the product was
not perfect. The aroma of 60 bakeries was in the air, along with the odor of
the breweries and distilleries and the black smoke belching from the
locomotives on the tracks down by the river which made us a bit odiferous Add all that to the chemical makers and the
stock yards and on a hot August night folks knew they were in Peoria. Some critics sloughed it off with, “That’s
just Peorians making money.” Along with
the 162 barbers working within the city limits were the 170 beauty shops and 50
shoe retailers and 9 shoe shinning shops in town. Peoria manufactured shoes…repaired
them… sold them and shined them all within close proximity of one another.
We had seven major pool and billiard parlors in town,
six bowling alleys and a whopping 258 saloons in town. Some of these were elegant restaurants, bars,
taverns and night clubs. We also had
despicable places with scary reputations. Some had colorful names like Bucket
of Blood and Hole In The Wall. Most of
Peoria’s violent crimes emanated from these places during the early morning
hours.
Since 1845 we have had our share of brothels, gambling
and dope dins, and by the time Prohibition rolled around, Peoria’s reputation
as a wide-open bawdy town was well deserved.
We had 4 brewers and GIPPS was clearly Peoria’s
favorite beer, along with our 6 distilleries the aroma of our money makers
added to the so-called ‘Flavor of Peoria.’
In the Alliance Life Building our radio station WMBD broadcast the news
and our favorite radio shows to us and almost every household had a radio.
Open the telephone book up in 1937 and you will find
every profession known to mankind. Peoria
boasted nine Chiropodists, nine Christian Science Practitioners and 21 Chiropractors
and of course, far too many lawyers. At least 120 dentists, 45 drug stores, by
the way only one was a Walgreen. Almost
50 dressmakers were looking for business and well over 250 filling stations, as
they were called sold gas and oil and actually looked after our cars. It seems that on every corner was a grocery
store adding up to well over 300 of them. One was even a drive-in grocery
store. Our major shopping center brought
thousands to Peoria to marvel at the things they had to sell.
PSSST! Wanna
rent a hall for a wedding or a meeting?
Well, we had fifty-nine of them and enough insurance agencies and
insurance companies to insure every person and thing in town. Jewelry was big
and the new bride had 60 to pick from.
Peoria was a union town, although from the strikes and battles that went
on here …one might doubt that. There were sixty unions here and our history
reveals they were active. We had dozens
of lumber stores and enough liquor dealers to make New Years Eve a happy one
here in town. Meat sellers numbered 77,
but we only had one museum along with a great library system.
Nurses were listed at just over 100, with an abundance
of osteopaths, optometrists and physicians and surgeons numbering 125. Peoria
had almost fifty plumbers and too many
contractors to count. That goes for real estate people as well. No reason to go hungry in Peoria…even if you
were broke because we had several missions and 158 restaurants including cafes
and lunch rooms.
Tires were a major item in town and we had
vulcanizers, repair shops, trucking companies and dozens of moving companies to
serve us. We had over 100 so-called Society Clubs in town from Elks to Moose
and far beyond. We had one club in town
called ‘Swastika’ whatever that was. We
had all kinds of bath houses, some public and some very ‘private’ if you get my
meaning. Our banks flourished here…all
fourteen of them. We had 5 very active blacksmiths in town and they soon
learned to adapt even when most of our horses had disappeared.
Peoria, Illinois in 1937 was a wonderful time in our
history, and throughout our years we continued to grow and prosper. Then a
strange thing happened along about 1954, we began to just slip away. By 1980 and beyond all we had downtown were
lawyers. Now just what did they do to keep downtown Peoria alive? You guessed
it.
Editor’s Note:
Norm is an author and Peoria historian. norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net
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