Peoria, Illinois, the seat of Peoria County. It is on the Illinois River where it widens to form Peoria Lake, about 150 miles (240 km) southwest of Chicago. Peoria is the manufacturing, trade, and transportation center for the surrounding agricultural and coal-mining area. Farm equipment, heavy machinery, wire products, and beverages are produced. Much of the manufacturing activity is concentrated near the river. The city has rail and air service and is an important port for the shipment of coal, grain products, and machinery.
Bradley University was founded here in 1896. A research laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is in Peoria. The public park system is connected by boulevards. Fort Creve Coeur State Park is a short distance south of the city.
Peoria is one of the oldest settlements in Illinois. Its site was occupied by the French in 1691. The British won control of the area in 1763, and in 1778 it was captured by American forces. Fort Clark, built here in 1812, became the center of a United States settlement in 1819. In 1825 Peoria County was created, and the settlement was officially named Peoria and made the county seat. (The name comes from a tribe of the Illinois confederacy of Indians.) Peoria was incorporated as a town in 1835, and as a city 10 years later.
Population: 112,936.
