PEORIA

city, seat of Peoria county, central Illinois, U.S. The city lies along the Illinois River where it widens to form Peoria Lake. With Peoria Heights, West Peoria, Bartonville, Bellevue, East Peoria, Creve Coeur, and Pekin, Peoria forms an urbanized industrial complex. Named for one of the five Indian tribes in the Illinois Confederacy, Peoria represents one of the state's oldest settled locations. The French under Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, built Fort-Crvecoeur on the river bluffs opposite the present city in 1680 but the fort was plundered and deserted later that same year. There were later settlements around Peoria Lake by the French, Indians, and later colonists. After 1813 the location was known as Fort Clark, named for the Revolutionary War general George Rogers Clark; but when Peoria county was formed in 1825, the community, chosen as the county seat, reverted to the French-Indian name of Peoria. There, on Oct. 16, 1854, Abraham Lincoln denounced slavery in rebuttal to a speech by Stephen A. Douglas. A major port on the Illinois River, Peoria is a trading and shipping centre for a large agricultural area that produces corn (maize), soybeans, and livestock. The economy is well diversified, but the city's traditional manufacturing industries are still important and make earth-moving equipment, trailers, steel, wire, paper products, and chemicals. Caterpillar Inc., a heavy-machinery company and the city's largest employer, has its international headquarters there. The city's distilling and brewing plants were also major employers but had closed by the early 1980s. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (completed 1940) is located in Peoria. Educational institutions include Bradley University (established as Bradley Polytechnic Institute in 1897) and Illinois Central College, in East Peoria (1966). Peoria's cultural and recreational facilities include the Civic Center (1982), which hosts music concerts, exhibitions, and other events. Lakeview Park contains the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria Players Theatre, and a swimming pool and ice-skating rink. Riverfront developments in the late 1980s and '90s included riverboat gambling and have stimulated the local tourist trade. Jubilee College State Park and Historic Site is 14 miles (23 km) west. Inc. town, 1835; city, 1845. Pop. (1990) city, 113,513; Peoria-Pekin MSA, 339,172; (1996 est.) city, 112,306; Peoria-Pekin MSA, 346,501.