First of all, there’s great news for the old Elms Restaurant in El Paso, Illinois. I spotted two people working on the roof, so it seems its long-awaited rehabilitation has begun. I first looked at the historic house and restaurant back in July of 2012 and then again in December of 2019. But I had…
Tag: Central Illinois
Family Farm, Late June 2026
The corn is still relatively short at the family farm east of Peoria. It is prime firefly season, with thousands appearing when the sun sets.
Family Farm, Mid March 2026
We made our first trip up to the family farm and things were looking good. While it was overcast at first, the sun came out finally. There was a bull in the barn, but other than him there were no other cattle around. The power lines a mile or so away captured my attention, as…
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Peoria
I stumbled upon this Catholic church in downtown Peoria when I was visiting nearby. The parish dates from 1878 but the current church is from 1903. While it’s known as the Sacred Heart of Jesus, when looking at the cornerstone, it says Herz Jesu Kirche, so I will assume it was a German national church…
Family Farm and Environs, Early November 2025
I visited the family farm east of Peoria for the last time this year, but will be back up in the spring, as usual. The harvest has been over for weeks, so the landscape has been transformed to the fallow fields with its stark beauty. I photographed this corn crib to the northwest of the…
Storms, Central Illinois, August 2025
I determined with a weather app on my phone that the lightning I was witnessing was over fifty miles away, so I thought I would see what my iPhone would capture. These are raw, unedited photos that I thought turned out interesting. I never tried photographing thunderstorms so far away in the pitch darkness of…
Family Farm, August 2025
I somehow managed to miss the hottest day of August in St. Louis by escaping to the family farm near Deer Creek, Illinois. It was still hot up there, and I was treated to an amazing light show both nights as storm rolled through the area on Friday, and then on Saturday, I witnessed a…
Northeast Peoria, Early June 2025
It wouldn’t be a complete visit to Central Illinois without checking in on Northeast Peoria, those streets that stretch out in a diagonal fashion from downtown Peoria. It is an interesting mix of rehabbed and abandoned buildings. This gas station is a find; if you look carefully, there are the letters for Standard Oil on…
Family Farm, Early June 2025
I visited the family farm last weekend, and it’s perhaps evident, if it wasn’t already in the photos of the tornado damage, that the smoke from another natural disaster, the wildfires in Canada, was affecting the sky in the background. Longtime readers will know that the farm was hit by a tornado back in March…
Four Historic Districts, Bloomington, Illinois, Part Four: Franklin Square, Revisited
I’ve actually looked at Franklin Square in Bloomington before back in March of 2016, but I thought I would take another look. The square has served as a public forum in much of the city’s Nineteenth Century’s history, including a speech by William Jennings Bryan, the wedding of Adlai Stevenson’s daughter, and other events.