Ask Dean: How many homes were demolished to build Interstate 74 through Downtown Peoria?
Ask Dean is a new Journal Star series focusing on all things Peoria: its history, new developments, mysteries, quirks and culture. Send your questions to dmuellerleile@pjstar.com.
Question: When I-74 was created, how many homes were torn down and are there photos of them? Was anything saved, such as fireplaces, and used on other homes? — Lois Wahrenburg
Answer: The section of Interstate 74 from Glendale Avenue in Peoria to Illinois Route 116, including the Murray Baker Bridge, opened on Dec. 12, 1958. It was briefly dubbed the "Illini Expressway." Five years later, the interstate had been extended westward from Knoxville Avenue to University Street. In 1965, I-74 reached Kickapoo.
Related: Murray Baker Bridge brought big changes to Peoria, good and bad
According to Journal Star archives, Peoria was the site of the first leg of the nation's interstate highway system to pass through the heart of a city. To do so, of course, something had to give.
From an article on June 30, 1996: "As I-74 cut through the city during construction that finally reached Kickapoo in 1965, neighborhoods disappeared. St. (Cecilia's) Parish alone lost about 30 families and a new convent building. In all, 300 houses, 20 apartment buildings and 70 commercial buildings gave way to the earth movers."
A contemporary article from Dec. 10, 1958, stated, "In the stretch from Knoxville Ave. to the bridge alone, there were 180 pieces of property."
The razings were not without controversy. A letter to the editor published on Aug. 1, 1958, lamented the destruction of the John Reynolds house on Northeast Jefferson Avenue to make way for the expressway.
The Reynolds-Morron home at 305 NE Jefferson Ave. was one of the 88 oldest in Illinois still standing when it was destroyed in 1954, according to the Dec. 10, 1958, article, which added, "Jean McLean Morron ... moved many of its furnishing and the wrought iron fence which surrounded it to a home on Moss Ave.," presumably the Pettengill-Morron House.
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Also razed was a building on Northeast Monroe Street that had been, in turn, Peoria High School, the William Hawley Smith school for delinquent children and the Peoria public schools administration building.
And while the expressway/interstate further linked Peoria and East Peoria, it separated downtown Peoria from the North Valley.
"What they did is cut right through the city, and that disconnected two neighborhoods," local developer Kim Blickenstaff has said about the interstate. "The north side was vibrant."
More: A park above I-74 in Downtown Peoria? Here's how Kim Blickenstaff believes it can happen
Blickenstaff has proposed what he believes is a remedy: platforms between vehicular overpasses that span much of the downtown segment of I-74. Atop those platforms would be a public park with green spaces and plazas with fountains, trees and walking paths.
Related: If you have questions about Peoria, Ask Dean. He's worked here for a quarter-century
Whether it's a person, place or a product, send your "Whatever happened to ...?" and "Wasn't there a ...?" questions, comments and suggestions to dmuellerleile@pjstar.com. Please put ASK DEAN in the subject line.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: To build Interstate 74 in Peoria, hundreds of homes were destroyed
