Posts from further afield
Fredericktown is the picturesque county seat of Madison County, Missouri, south of St. Louis quite a ways in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It was the site of a Civil War battle due to the nearby lead mines needed… Continue Reading
I came across this fascinating terracotta detail on the top of a commercial building in downtown Peoria. I’m not sure who it’s supposed to represent–maybe Andromeda–but it would be interesting to find out.
Horses have come to my family’s farm in Illinois, and they are enjoying the wide open space of the pasture on the west side of the road. The cattle peacefully coexist at the southern end of the pasture on the day… Continue Reading
Perhaps I was being too optimistic when I first documented Peoria northeast of downtown back in 2013. I have been back, and while there is a wonderful group of houses that have been carefully restored back to their original grandeur,… Continue Reading
West Main Street shoots up the bluffs from downtown Peoria towards Bradley University, and there is a line of college-related businesses and other amenities. It is sort of a strange mix of buildings, such as the one below, which clearly… Continue Reading
More precisely, this should be West High Street revisited, and in the first several pictures, an introduction to Moss Avenue, which continues further west along the bluff line above downtown Peoria. The houses along Moss Avenue are from the Twentieth… Continue Reading
As I mentioned yesterday, most of the historic residential core of Peoria northwest of downtown was destroyed, but one of the few buildings that survived was St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church. It stands beautifully among the low-quality 1960s and 70s… Continue Reading
It’s hard to explain, but all of central Peoria to the northwest of downtown but below the bluffs has at some point been completely annihilated by urban renewal and replaced by public housing and in-fill. It is very bizarre. Other… Continue Reading
I went by Hirstein Cemetery, where many of my oldest ancestors in America are buried, in the first weekend of August. It was a hot day, but the clouds in the sky made for beautiful light. This obelisk had not… Continue Reading
Getting off of U.S. Highway 24 eastbound out of Peoria towards Washington, just to the north running parallel is Dutch Lane. It is one of those roads that is only a half mile north of sprawl, but is a hundred… Continue Reading