- [Christine Zak-Edmonds] Will you consider this?

According to President Theodore Roosevelt, the more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.

I'm Christine Zak-Edmonds.

My guest on Consider This will bring the area's history into focus.

(upbeat music) Another U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, who traveled central Illinois, proclaimed that we cannot escape history.

He well knew that we had, and still have, a rich history.

And here to reflect on that topic is Colleen Otto Johnson, the executive director of the Peoria Historical Society.

Welcome.

- Thank you so much for having me.

I'm really excited to get a chance to talk to you.

- And you are a transplant here, so everything that you're learning about Peoria history is fresh brand new.

And what has surprised you the most?

- Well, the first thing that surprised me coming from the Southeast and moving to the Midwest was how wonderful the people here are.

And that's why we've stayed.

I mean, there's no question.

I could do without winter.

It's a little bit long and a little bit cold, but I wouldn't do without the good people here that we've met and have become like family to us.

So I started, when I moved to Moss Avenue, getting a little bit involved with the Peoria Historical Society.

My house was on one of the tours and I found the people just lovely to work with, got to know my neighbors a little bit better.

And the next thing you know, I'm applying for a job to be the executive director.

- Crazy.

- And only in Peoria can you get involved in the way that we can here.

So going from a volunteer, I'm now the executive director and I'm learning all about Peoria history and I'm loving more and more that I find out.

My biggest surprise was a case that I have just been finding out about the last two years and learning more and more about that Nance Costley Legins was in Peoria.

Fought--was an enslaved person, and fought for her slavery, for her freedom, excuse me.

Fought for her freedom multiple times and eventually, Abraham Lincoln won the case as an attorney in Illinois and it was the case that abolished slavery in Illinois.

And she's a Peorian.

- I didn't know that.

Where did the case take place, in Peoria?

- Yes.

- Or, was that across the river?

- No, I think it was right here.

So she was in Pekin part of the time too, but she last was in Peoria and she-- we found out that, well we suspected that she was buried at the Moffatt Cemetery.

Well, at the same time, I'm finding out all of this in researching Nance with one of the big researchers who wrote a book about her, Carl Adams.

My good friend, and yes, my good friend.

- Okay, your good friend.

They'll come, just shout it out whenever it comes into your mind.

- My good friend, Bob Hoffer, is doing research on the Moffatt Cemetery and I hear she might be buried there.

Well, have you heard of the Moffatt Cemetery?

- No.

- Nobody has because- - Where is it?

- It's paved over!

- [Gasps] - It was paved over back in the 50s and 60s.

It's over a hundred years old and there are more than 2,000 people buried there.

But it's been paved over and it's on the corner of Adams and Griswold.

- Okay, so way down south side.

- Which was way out in the country, back in the day a hundred years ago.

- And we are trying to work on building a memorial there to Nance.

We found out that there are hundreds of Civil War vets buried there.

They're just wonderful people who deserve to be remembered and honored.

So we're working on that now.

- Who paved up over or didn't they know what was there before they did that?

- You know-- - Is there any records?

- There, we have found lots of records.

The laws were really different at the time, and since then in the sixties.

Now, if you find that there are remains there, you actually are responsible for moving those.

So things were different.

So, we're not going to do a memorial over any of the remains.

We're finding a section that has no one buried there, and we feel like that's a better way to honor the people there.

So, that's one of the projects that I'm lucky enough to work with, working with the Historical Society.

We collaborate all the time with different organizations, different individuals, so that we can share, celebrate the stories of Peoria.

- Well, we have this wonderful, huge, I don't know how many ton, painting that's hanging in our lobby here at Channel 47.

- Isn't that crazy?

- And you were instrumental in getting that moved in.

- Oh, well it was just a fun project to work on because again, it's the people of Peoria so back in the 80s, when we were having to find a home for this giant painting, - It's The Satyr and the-- - And The Nymphs and Satyr.

The Nymphs and Satyr, it's a reproduction, but it's an original-- - Oil.

- A reproduction of a famous painting.

It's a little-- - Racy.

- [Laughs] It's racy.

- But it's a really fun, important piece of work.

There was, there's some wonderful story.

And we're just getting to all the facts of it that when Carrie Nation came to town, she slit it.

And she had a big thing because of Prohibition, and we're encouraging men to see these lurid paintings and drink and get drunk.

And so the painting was restored.

The painting's been saved all of these years since the 20s.

And now we find ourselves in a position where, well, no one's getting to see it anymore because it's in Richard's Steakhouse-- - Which is down underground.

- Down underground.

Well, Tom Leiter, who's the owner of the building, so graciously took possession of this, at his own expense, made provisions.

He had to dig into the foundation to make room for this giant painting-- - To get out of there.

- Well, to put it in to to begin with.

- He had to take out rails to get it out.

We were taking out railings.

We had, you know, everything.

We had a lot of construction.

Let's just say it seemed like major construction.

We thought we knew where we were taking it, back to Creve Coeur Club, where it had been previously.

Well, it wouldn't fit through the doorway.

We could fit it on the wall, but we couldn't get it through the doorway.

And WTVP, we were working with several other artifacts to bring over here.

Well, you guys said, "We've got the room, we've got a great space for it."

So, we actually had to take out a center section of metal steel beam-- - Through the doorway.

- To get it through the doorway.

But people get to appreciate this beautiful piece of art.

And you guys have so many people come through here from - All walks of life.

- All walks of life, everything.

Including me, who loves to come here for different things.

- Well, that's good.

And you have a special little, short video with the Peoria Historical Society and a partnership with Channel 47, to see these old things that were state-of-the-art back then, and people guessing "What in the world is that?"

- So we've been thinking forever, People don't know what these wonderful artifacts.

Well, it turns out WTVP has had this idea too, which I think it's pretty fabulous, to look, bring in, 40 or 50 different people from the community and just ask them, "What do you think this is?"

And it's so much fun to watch.

They're just so natural on camera.

- Right.

- And they're are a lot of fun.

They were so much fun to work with to tape.

It was just a wonderful experience.

And we brought over 20, 25 different artifacts.

So you'll be seeing those all through fall and winter, and then they're going on Facebook after that.

So you can keep watching them.

- Well, that'd be good.

- Really fun.

- Peoria Historical Society wasn't established in Peoria until... 1934.

- Right, there's actually records that it was meeting before then, but those are articles of incorporation.

- All right.

And so the meetings before that, they knew that preserving history was very important.

And how many historic homes and buildings are there in the Peoria area?

- Oh my gosh, well, unfortunately we've lost a lot of them as you know.

There were some great neighborhoods right around Roanoke Randolph.

We've lost some of those neighborhoods.

But gosh, you can't even count the number of historic, beautifully preserved buildings that we have.

And ones, right now is a great time in history.

It's a great time for Peoria because of Kim Blickenstaff and others getting excited about preserving some of these, like the Hale Church, of course, the Scottish, right?

And we've been so fortunate to be able to just work with them on small things like showcasing the Scottish Rite for one of our holiday home tours.

They've invited us to come back and do another tour once it's complete.

And because of all the work that they've done, we honored Kim Blickenstaff with an award for historic preservation.

You can't thank them enough for the work that they're doing.

- Well, you have several different, you have two historic homes that are featured, and-- - Those are my two favorite homes in all of Peoria!

- The Flanagan House and the Pettengill-Morron House, one's on Moss Avenue, one's on Glen Oak.

Again, beautiful neighborhoods.

They're open for tours or by appointment?

How do people-- - Yes, both.

So what happens a lot is we get calls from people who say, "I'm going to spend the day in Peoria or a weekend, or I'm coming for a class reunion."

And we set up private tours for them.

We love doing that because that means they're really interested and they want to come back and see a piece of history.

Maybe they were there when they were a little girl, as some of my friends have told me, and they helped with what was called candlelight then.

- Right.

- And we did the tours.

Friends tell me about, "Oh, I was the little girl that the mom was in bed reading to."

You would go through the house.

They would do reenacting and all sorts of fun stuff.

But we also are open at the Pettongill-Morron House every Thursday from 10-2.

And there are wonderful things happening.

The exhibits are changing all the time, so just because you've seen it once means you've seen it once.

And we also have a gift shop there.

So, people are so generous.

They donate more upscale items that they, you know, grandma's china that nobody in the family happened to want, and they don't want it to go to waste.

So they give it to us for us to sell at one of our upscale porch sales.

And then the Flanagan House is opened first and third Sunday.

And then Pettongill-Morron, we also open one Sunday a month.

So there's lots of opportunities.

- And then the Moss Avenue sale, you do have, generally it's in June, but because of COVID and all that, it's been pushed back, but you have a sale on the lawn of some of these items, but not necessarily the porch sale.

But, that is money that stays with the Historical Society for the preservation of those two homes.

- Well, we do, we try to do really creative things too.

One year, we had antique cars on the lawn, so it was really fun for kids could get up, and the owners of the cars were there, so kids could get in behind the wheel.

And you know, those of us with grandchildren love to take our kids out and have fun like that.

But then we also offer a tour of the house.

And so that money goes towards preserving the houses as well as the big sale that we do.

And we partner with other organizations that we think are like-minded that might want to also use that beautiful lawn for part of their sale.

We love partnering with our neighborhood as well.

And having 4th of July there.

We do porch parties, whatever is needed in the community.

- And as you said, they're beautiful scenery, beautiful settings for weddings and receptions and things like that.

Even, even class reunion, it's probably smaller ones.

I don't think you could fit several hundred people inside any of those homes.

- Our bigger ones, people schedule it for either the houses outside, which is wonderful because the views are spectacular.

We've spent lots of time and energy.

Mostly, I don't want to say money because mostly our volunteer efforts to restore the gardens to what they should be.

And I'm very, very proud to take people on a tour of the gardens because it's just spectacular.

When you look out over the bluff or, and you can almost see the water from Flanagan House.

So we do a lot of outside events there, and that's where you do 100-200 people.

I also have hosted small events there where you put up a little tent and you might have a garden party, a baby shower, any of those beautiful teas.

When we do front porch parties, we do parties inside the house, but those are usually a little bit smaller, but everything from birthday parties to special events.

- At Christmas, that like you said, it used to be candlelight, but now it's holiday home tour.

- Yeah.

- Last year, 2020, you really weren't able to have it.

Are you planning to have it this year in 2021?

- Well, we're wishing right now we could look into our crystal ball and predict what the future has for us.

Unfortunately, what we've learned to do is adapt to the changing-- - [Laughs] Everyday!

- Every single day, listen to the new and changing guidelines, what the CDC is asking of us and what our governor is restricting us to.

So last year we were really disappointed that we couldn't do a holiday home tour.

But Kathy Ma and Zach Oyler were gracious enough to put a little video together that showcased both of our museum houses.

It was such a success that we decided this year, we're going to figure out a way to do an open house at our two museum houses that's scaled back, but also have a virtual tour.

So we're figuring that out right now.

What would that look like?

A way that we could see other houses in the community, but within the safety of our own home, I think it could be a huge win for us.

- See, that's that's good.

You have, you have the mind for technology if it can work.

- Yeah.

Well, our volunteers are a lot of older people in the community, so you don't think, well, they're going to be looking for all of this new technology, but they have embraced all of it.

They're coming up with wonderful ideas.

I have to say our volunteers actually range from anywhere from 30 years old, I think our oldest volunteer is... in his late 90s, so we really do hit everybody.

- Right.

And you have a board of directors that you work with, and they make a lot of suggestions and they bring in some volunteers as well?

- Our board is wonderful.

They're best people you could possibly work with.

Yeah, I feel so fortunate.

We have 22 members and they're just filled with ideas.

It's a working board.

It's not just a board that you lend your name to, so they really roll up their sleeves and do everything from help with workdays, working in the gardens, providing leadership for committees that we need to work on.

They're wonderful people.

- Last year.

I don't remember, was it the Peoria Historical Society?

There was, you know, we, we had the little luminaries and will you want to do something like that again?

And in some of the older neighborhoods?

- Well, we really do.

And last year, it was wonderful, in Moss Bradley neighborhood as you said.

They put out luminaries all through the neighborhood and then certain porches had, you could come up and say hi to your neighbors.

You get a little gathering place.

People were mostly masked, but we were outside and you could get a cookie and a drink and visit.

It was a way to bring the community together.

We're wanting to collaborate more with that, so that the Pattengill-Morron and Flanagan houses in each respective neighborhood could have a presence and provide some warmth and welcome to our neighbors.

- You have several other fundraisers and recognition.

The Henri de Tanti Award goes to... Tell me about that because he was, he was a pioneer.

He was back in the 1600s?

- Yes.

And actually Lonnie Stewart is responsible for creating this wonderful statue for us of de Tanti.

And he has done so much research on him.

So it was just a perfect marriage that he would work with us.

Our first honoree was Caterpillar for leadership and innovation and preserving history.

You know, at their Caterpillar Visitor Center, as well as in their archives, they have a wonderful collection of history.

So we look at some organization or an individual in the community that's really made a difference through philanthropy, through preserving history, and especially leadership.

So we've honored people like, well, as I said, Caterpillar, last couple of years... You know, all those things just come to you and I need an MRI.

- [Laughs] Just blurt them right out.

Well, you have Rhythm on the River, you have bus tours.

Have you been able to have them the past couple of years?

- Okay.

Well, I think this is one of the best ways that we share the history of Peoria.

We have the best tour guides in the world.

And I'm from Charleston, South Carolina, so I know history tours!

I know how hard docents work.

I came here, and that is one of the biggest surprises for me.

Our history tour guides are amazing people.

We have always sold out of our bus tours.

And last year, we were really in a pickle because that brings in a lot of income for the organization and it engages the community.

So we didn't know what we were going to do.

And our group got together and said, "Let's just hit the pavement."

And we started our walking tours, which were hugely successful.

So that meant that my tour guides had to relearn tours and this expanse, instead of driving around the community.

They did a stellar job, and I got to be a tour guide this year.

They were so successful that we decided we're going to keep the tour guides exactly where we had them, walking tours, and that we would ease into the bus tours.

So hopefully, we'll be back up and running in next year-- - In 2022.

- For full on bus tours.

But I don't think the walking tours are ever going to go away completely.

- Well.

That's the incredible thing, because you learn about the ghosts, you learn about the history of the different buildings, just the history of who lived there, how it hit.

I know there's a story down at the library because there was a fire on that property or something.

So they think there might be a ghost in the basement of the library?

- If you ask 10 people around historic districts of Peoria, you're going to get 10 ghost stories.

It's really true.

Everything from people who have heard noises, to they've seen... [Eerily] Something?

and they've seen things move, so there's a lot of fun ghost stories around.

We also do a tour highlighting the old theaters in town.

And of course we've highlighted the Madison and now look, - It's about to get new life.

- I hope so.

I really think so.

- Right.

What do you look forward to on a daily basis?

You go down to the office and, and you dig through history, you dig for artifacts?

- So the best thing about my job is every day is completely different.

So one day I'm working on the website in the morning, and in the afternoon I'm giving a tour, and then I'm meeting with one of our major donors to talk about our capital campaign.

So there's just a variety of things every day.

When we were working on the What Is It project, we actually started with creating, compiling 60 different artifacts that we would go through.

So my curator, Maureen Naughtin, and I ended up literally just going through boxes.

We were in our collections room, which is quite expansive, and we're just going through pushing the tissue paper aside, "Look this number up.

Let's see."

Because there were a lot of things we didn't know what they were.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Interesting.

- Everyday, I'm learning new history.

My volunteers are in the office, doing everything from data entry on our collection, into our software, PastPerfect software, database.

And they'll come to me and say, "Did you know?"

And they've, they've just read this important legal document of someone in Jean Morron's family.

So, there's, it's constantly, we're finding out more history, and trying to preserve it as we go.

So it takes a lot of time and a lot of energy.

It is not for the faint of heart, truly.

- Well, it's so nice that the volunteers also want to do that and want to help and want to dig through the past and you know, discover it.

- And you know, there are enough volunteers that are like me, they're transplants to the area and they've fallen in love with the city, as there are lifelong Peorians.

This is their home, and they want to make sure that those stories are preserved forever.

So, it's a fun partnership because we're all different.

We all come from all walks of life and we're all having, really having fun working on these projects together.

If it's not fun, why do it?

We have to, we have to have fun while we're doing it.

- While you've been digging through, what is the thing that really blew you away that you really had no idea what it might be or what it was used for?

You know, there's, there's, there's the stereoscopes that I think a lot of people know what those are, where you can see things in 3D.

- You know, we, and the same thing, our tool collection, that's in the Flanagan House.

I'm stumped all the time at what all is this old-- - What was state-of-the-art back then?

- And then you see how it works and nothing old is new again, and the new is old again.

Oh, okay, I've seen an apple peeler before, but I wouldn't have guessed that's what this was or, so many of our collections, and you can go to the Flanagan House to the basement and see that tool collection.

It's really quite extraordinary.

And if it weren't for Tom Krupa, who's our volunteer down there, I wouldn't know what any of it was.

None of it.

I could pick up a hammer and nail and that'd be about it.

- [Laughs] Yeah.

Maybe a screwdriver.

- [Laughs] Yeah.

- Well, how many more volunteers do you need?

How many more ideas, functions do you need to keep really healthy and keep vivid and strong and keep going and preserving?

- I'll tell you one of the surprises through COVID was how faithful and caring our volunteers and our donors are.

So they really gave in extraordinary ways that really surprised me, but they've been involved with the society for a really long time, and they want to see that we still are going to be here another hundred years from now, so they are very forward thinking people.

We're always looking for volunteers to be docents in the houses to give tours.

We have wonderful docents, but you know, if you end up having a need and we have a big group coming in, we can always use more help, and we always are looking for more history tour guides, and it's so interesting.

As I learned the tour I was giving, I couldn't believe how much I didn't know about that neighborhood that I was touring, and I thought I was very well versed.

So I found it-- - What neighborhood was that?

- I was doing the Roanoke Randolph neighborhood.

- Just two streets, really.

- Yes, yes.

But there's so many important houses over there and the architecture, it's very up and coming right now too.

The houses are selling fast and you're seeing people really restore and bring those houses back to their grandeur.

- And that's happening everywhere in the country, which is awesome.

- I know, it makes me so happy.

We're really appreciating history.

And the young people are getting involved in history.

As I said, some of our volunteers are in their 30s, they're tour guides, they're docents, they're giving talks.

It's really extraordinary to see them get involved.

We're always looking for more events that we can partner with or that we can have ourselves.

So we love having people that like to work on special events and fundraising.

But our biggest thing coming up is we're starting our comprehensive capital campaign.

So, you know, you're in your own, and you're in a historic home, so you understand this more than anyone.

You have every five years or so, something that you have to work on.

This year, it's the plumbing.

Next year, it's the roof.

The next five year-- - Electrical.

- So the museum houses are no different, and what can happen is you can go out five, 10 years and things haven't gotten done on a regular schedule because everything looks okay, but then you scratch the surface-- - And you're behind.

- And you're behind, and it costs more money once you get behind.

And we don't want to be in that position where we're letting these houses deteriorate.

We need to keep them.

We've been working on the idea of the Pettongill-Morron House to be painted or to strip the paint, so it hasn't looked as pristine as it should, but it will get there again because we've had to consult with experts on what the right way to take care of this house is.

So, as we start our capital campaign, you're going to see a lot from us because we are not only going to have events, but we're going to be meeting with our major donors.

And we're going to be engaging the community in ways that they can partner with us to preserve these houses.

- And when will that begin?

- Well, we're in the silent stage right now, so... - Okay, don't tell anybody.

No, tell everybody.

- [Laughs] Yeah, yeah.

Tell everyone it's a secret and we want you all to know about it.

- Sounds good.

Well, Colleen Otto Johnson, we're so happy that you're a transplant, and that you moved here, and that I'm a transplant too, that you have embraced Peoria and all of its wonderfulness, and all that you're doing for the Peoria Historical Society.

What's the website?

- Peoriahistoricalsociety.org.

- Okay, great.

Thanks so much.

- Thanks.

- And thank you for joining us.

Hope you learned a little something.

We'll get into more history lessons at another time and you enjoy and stay healthy and safe.