at c-span.org, or listen on our free c-span radio app. history tvcan exclusive, pew area, illinois, to learn more about -- pe oria, illinois. you can watch more of our visits at c-span.org/citiestour. most people know -- they may not know the details but they know it was king in the 1800s and early 1900s. 1880-1920.was the distilleries lined the illinois river from where the post office is just south of downtown all the way down to the southern suburb called barton bill. -- barton bill, 73 different distilleries. currently in the riverfront museum, located in downtown in this particular portion is called the street. it represents the history from its founding back in 1890. variousthrough the .tages brewing inted with 1837, distilleries came in 1943 -- 1843. it was because of the quality of the water. it is filtered through limestone and that was perfect for brewing and distilling. havecame a good place to breweries and distilleries. transportation was critical. back when they were first built, the illinois river was a prime transportation mode. the packets would come up and down the river and carry the whiskey to and fro as it was produced. water and transportation and the workforce. the irish came here and they were good workers. brewing and distilling are not about alcoholism. they are about the economy. about people working to support a family. a lot of distillers had cattle yards next year, cooper's next-door. a lot of people generated income because of the wealth of the distillers. when you talk economy, you are talking distilling and brewing. the success of the distilleries and breweries attracted immigrants. the irish were the first wave to come here. then the germans came and brought their quality brew techniques into peoria. those waves of immigration created a city. growth in the city is one way to measure that. the gorgeous theaters that dotted the landscape, beautiful architecture built with whiskey money. the grand opera house. the vaudeville actors who came here. all of that was made possible because of whiskey money. there was an interesting mix of money and people at the time. opposed to woman liquor and she was very prominent. try a she might, this was still the whiskey capital of america. it was difficult for a woman like her to fight against the money that was made. liquor licenses alone in one year generated $160 -- $160,000 for the city. all came froms of kansas. that was the woman with the hatchet and she was invited. after her speech, she went to the golden palace. well withoing quite his saloon and she saw this painting, a very famous french isist, the painting currently in the basement bar of all places called richards in downtown. she threatened with her hatchet to tear that painting apart. we are talking a large painting. i will give you $50 if you leave the painting alone. there were various organizations that tried to push prohibition. until the anti-saloon league got behind the effort that there was a serious thought given to prohibition. the man behind the anti-saloon league was out of ohio. he had a religious background. he was fervent about his thought that whiskey and beer was not good for america. the way he went about killing the industry, and i use that term intentionally, he said i will not stop the brewers and the distillers, but i can get people elected to office who will be opposed to it. he would run campaigns for congressman and legislators to those that are opposed to the industry will get elected. because liquor generated so much income, they had to find another source of funding. the personal income tax when into effect in 1913. use foodstuff to brew or distilled liquor. and then came the 18th amendment. ,o enforce the amendment because it said you cannot transport or sell alcoholic averages, to enforce it, you needed another act. thingsbination of four that enable the government to say, no more liquor. most people refer to the probation as the enactment of the 18th amendment. for many, the 18th amendment was not a law. it was merely a suggestion. they really did not think you could stop the flow of liquor. and that was true. there were soda parlors and they were selling more than just soda. gambling.em included the city lost a lot of money in terms of fees that liquor establishments were selling -- paying to the city. said, ielson woodruff will bring jobs to peoria and he did -- with gambling. people would come from outside the area to take advantage of the chip boards and things of that nature. they would gamble on sporting events, boxing matches, things of that nature. and there was the moonshine. it was a wild time. woodruff did bring jobs so people kind of looked the other way. woodruff was elected several different times. not consecutively. the longest-serving mayor in on consecutive terms in our history. historians will look back and say, yes, he created jobs by bringing gambling. it also brought a nefarious type of person into the city and many regret that reputation that pure you had -- peoria had. prohibition ended in 1933 and there was an attempt to bring alcohol production back. famously.er, most siter built on the same and it became the largest distillery in the world. other distilleries and breweries that existed prior to 1920 try to reopen but the long-termssful one was the hiram walker distillery. post prohibition, nothing compared to pre-prohibition. >> peoria is a good bellwether for the country. it has fluctuated back and forth between republicans and democrats. it is a good cross-section of the country. manufacturing and we have small manufacturing and we have good common sense midwestern people. people who have good judgment. people work hard, play by the rules, strong faith in god. not always real happy with government but those attributes reflect pure you, illinois. -- peoria, illinois. -- hastrict i represent a rich history. proud to tell people i represent the district that abraham lincoln represented. it does not get any richer than that in terms of history. years.hael served for 38 house minority leader for 12 of those years, thought in world war ii. ronald years. reagan, who spent his life growing up in illinois, he lived -- there is a great book called reagan's roots and it talked about the seven homes he lived in. he was born not far from here. he was raised in dixon. he attended eureka college, which is in my congressional district. he went there on a football scholarship. a great organization over there. yearsute to his formative at the college and is a great museum over there. dirksen was a senate minority leader from just across the river. he had a great career and was very involved in the civil rights movement. he helped pass that as a republican. that is not a lot to live up to, right? i am proud of that and i love telling people when they ask about where my district is that to tell them about abraham lincoln. seat forrved in this 14 years and did a great job. he carved his own path. he took a pass of bipartisanship, working with the other side. he focused on constituent service and being a strong advocate for his district and washington, d.c. a long time ago, they used to market things here in peoria because it represented the midwest part of the country and it reflected that it can play anywhere. you look at those men that served in this area and it had a great effect. abraham lincoln at the top of the list in terms of what he did for this country. we have a beautiful museum in springfield, illinois, that reflects that. ronald reagan, those midwestern values, religion played a deep role in his life growing up. you know how that formed who he was later in life. something about the midwest and the agrarian values that are here that helps those men. >> c-span is visiting peoria, illinois, to learn about its history. our next spot is the riverfront museum. encounter -- river illinois river and counter. it talks about the river as a means of transportation. the gallery begins with a historical look at both how the river was formed, about 15,000 years ago, and about the people who lived here in prehistoric times. geological event about 15,000 years ago. this was in a period of great gracia nation, there was a great that-- glacial lake and burst its dam so most of the water would have come through the basin or over this hump. out -- a lot of people from peoria or illinois don't realize why there is this canyon like structure. it was from that phenomenally powerful rush of glacial water coming down central illinois and carving out these canyons. we talked about the paleo indians and the archaic group. they were followed by the woodland indians. the groups we are most known for here, mississippi and culture. a lived here from a thousand years ago to 5000 years ago and you see a great representation on the wall of an item called to the peoria falcon. the actual falcon is in chicago for restoration. it is a copper headdress about a lot of speculation about what the falcon was for. it was part of a headdress because of where it was found. they were wonderful farmers and in order to make use of the crops you cultivate, you have to be able to store them and that is where pottery comes into the picture. both of those groups made wonderful pottery, a tradition that continues today. you can see examples of that pottery in the exhibit as well. what we are looking at is a representation of the illinois waterway, really steps in the river. from the elevation of lake michigan down to where the illinois river meets the mississippi river, there is a in order to make it easier for large ships to travel to illinois, a series of blocks were built in the 1900s. in 1840's, both in chicago were growing cities -- both peoria and chicago were growing cities. something would happen in -- tois would happen change that dramatically. in 1848, the michigan illinois canal was built and that connected the mississippi river to lake michigan. open, the size of chicago more than tripled in a decade. absolutely phenomenal. at the same time, telegraphs came to chicago and the railroad and that allowed peoria to grow as well. such demand for transportation that another system had to be developed. started just was before the start of the 20th century to reverse the flow of the chicago river. unprecedented. i do not think it would have really happened except for a scare. the public can be scared and that move things along. a lot of typhoid and cholera outbreaks in chicago because of the sanitation problem and the fear of another outbreak gave the project enough push to dam off the rivers, the chicago river flowed into lake michigan. their public drinking supply sat offshore from their. they reversed the flow and created the chicago sanitary and shipping canal. that connected lake michigan to the des plaines river and sent all of their waste downriver. it sent it down river to peoria as well. 1900ew system opened in but the illinois waterway was not completed for another couple of decades as they needed to create these dams to allow large ships to move with greater facility up and down the river. and thee eight lohs hsrgest ones -- eight loc and the largest ones are near chicago. as you get farther down the river, they only bring you down another 10 feet. every boat that leaves chicago on its way to the gulf of mexico will pass through peoria as well. in the early 1900s, the illinois river was frequently used by paddleboats, steamboats for trips around the area. at the base of main street, which is just a block north of us, we now have a wonderful little park. in the early 1900s, it was a shallow bank into the river. parked where these boats or docked. they just ran up onto the sand and these gangplank's came out from the bow onto the land and that is how the passengers came in and out. at any given time, there were a dozen of these boats docked at the base of main street. this is a representation of the columbia, which was one of those boats. on july 5, 1918, the columbia met with disaster. it had been taking a group of people from a social club up to peoria heights and as they were returning in the fog, they hit a tree stump underwater and the andel unfortunately sank there were almost 500 people on board that night and 87 of them lost their lives and it was the worst boat disaster on the illinois river. this is a replica of the columbia made by a peoria resident and above it you see hull that was recovered and it has the ship's name on it. just in front of the model is a clock that was also recovered from the wreck of the columbia. the rest of the ship is still in the bottom of the river. we are looking at sheet number 39 of the navigational chart for the illinois river. if you look carefully, in the middle of the river, you will see what looks like a little highway and that is the highway that is the illinois shipping canal. it is nine feet deep always, maintained by the army corps of engineers, and it snakes through the river and if you look outside the window at the end of the gallery and you see barges going along, they are always in the same spot. it is an essential part of our economy, moving materials by barge is very economical compared to moving them by semi's on the roads. this is a vital link in our economy. a lot of people take the illinois river for granted, even though we live along its banks and we enjoy the fruits of the river being here both as a recreational venue and from its economic importance to the region. people do not really appreciate its intricate history and the role it played and the unprecedented engineering feats of 1848. i do not think people realize what a tremendous feat that was and how people at him -- how deeply it impacted people in a positive way from an economic standpoint and in a negative way for the environment. the really important story we are trying to tell now is the efforts underway to restore the river as much as possible for its biodiversity and wonderful part in our very complex and important ecosystem. >> there is legacy of the illinois river. people have been on this landscape for 12,000 years, harvesting the abundance of the illinois river. we have lost some of that with commercialization of the river, pollution of the river, development and the upland, development on the floodplains. there is a new interest in restoring some of that natural diversity, the natural resources. a century ago, the illinois river was especially productive. it was the most productive america.shery in north it was renowned for its waterfowl hunting. reason have little to do with the river and more to do with this broad floodplain. rivers are not really that productive, it is their floodplains that are productive. the flat area along the edge of the river that is often times , that can be very productive. that is where the plants grow and the plants provide habitat for organisms and food for some organisms better than eaten by other organisms -- that are then eaten by other organisms. in 1900, they opened a sanitary and ship canal which diverted the waste away from lake michigan down to dust lanes river and the illinois river -- this planes river and the illinois river. a lot of untreated industrial waste, the slaughterhouses in chicago were dumping their refuge into the river. it created a huge oxygen demand to break down that organic matter, human waste, waste from the slaughterhouses, it takes a lot of oxygen as the bacteria start eating that stuff up. as the oxygen was pulled out of the water, the upper river became an oxen and the fish left oxic in the fish left. in 1900, the sanitary and ship canal was opened and within 20 years, it had devastated the river well past peoria. peoria was doing its part to add to the refuge, too. it was cheap and it was easy and it helped develop the city's because they did not have to worry about getting rid of their sewage. they just dumped it in the river. sewage had a real detrimental effect on the river because of the magnitude of the problem. all the people along the floodplain were dumping their sewage along the river. with the clean water act in the 1970's, we started focusing an up the riveraning and we spent billions of dollars on waste treatment in the illinois river valley. water quality still is not what we want it to be. there are still some challenges, the last 10% is the toughest and most expensive. we have stopped 90% of the pollution problem. the river in terms of pollution is much better than it was in the 1970's and we have seen a response from the fish committees and the invertebrate communities. a lot of people have a lot of the assets that -- it is tough for peoria to compete. a lot of places do not have a river like the illinois river, which has so picked -- so much potential. as we continue to do things for the river and its wildlife and fish come back to the river and as we develop recreational act -- activities along the river, and as we educate the public, i think the river will be more important to peoria than it ever was. >> in researching the life of -- i was very fortunate to find the last living descendent of the family in new hampshire. the014, bob killian of peoria historical society one out two concorde, new hampshire, where we had the opportunity to look at the material that the family had. family for with the many years and in june of last 2015, the university provided this room where i began the process of cataloging the entire collection. boxess point, i have 38 of paper documents and am working on the extensive collection of photographs that were passed along, both loose photographs and some very old albums. this is a page from an mosesography that pettengill wrote. he talks about his work on the underground railroad. this is what he says, it was his trip village -- it was his privilege to aid several fugitives from bondage. they were sent by a farmer to illinois 50 miles before they were let out of the boxes. endured no tong can tell. the father and husband got free but the mother and children were retaken and sent back. by brutal men. moses heard about peoria from a man who had been there and he .as eager to see for himself they found the village of about 150 people, mostly newcomers with about 30 log cabins. thought peoria was the most beautiful town and predicted it would become a great city. this is one of the many photo albums that we found in the pettengill collection. we are fortunate to have the first photograph of a younger moses pettengill. lucy.e of his wife i would think they are shown in their late 40's, perhaps early 50's. we are used to seeing moses at this stage of his life, as an older gentleman. having the younger photo really was very special for us. in november, moses opens the first hardware store. other ventures were plow manufacturing, he owned a lumberyard, manufacturing of bar soap, boot and shoe manufacturing, and a school, the pettengill seminary. he bought two parcels of land and constructed this building. the world has need of educated christian women, the more, the better. the seminary was located in peoria. it did not last very long and it did close in 1910. this had been a livestream. -- a life's dream. moses and lucy also worked to organize a church. it was called the main street presbyterian church. this is the 75th history book for the first congregational church and on the inside, we have a photograph of moses pettengill. he was one of the big four, in terms of leadership. here is the first church building here in peoria, 28 by 50 feet. at the top, it had a belfry where they had a small bronze church bell and it became known as the first bell heard in peoria for god, freedom, and native land. the anti-slavery sentiment was on the rise in illinois and across this young country at the time. in 1833, in philadelphia, the anti-slavery society was organized and it called for immediate emancipation. how do we do this? their program was to establish a society, local societies across the country where speakers would tell the truth about slavery and anti-slavery literature could be distributed. began toe far west establish in different communities, not only local communities and cities, but in the states as well. .hey established one in peoria the first attempt was made in and and they were mobbed did not accomplish their goal. on the anniversary of their first attempt, they were successful. the peoria anti-slavery was organized in 1844. assad immediate -- based thought soughtte -- they immediate emancipation. he said to his men the next day, gentlemen, i expect to live to see the time when there shall not be a slave in all this land. and he did live to see that time. this is the pettengill home that served as the underground railroad station here in peoria. it is located at jefferson-liberty streets. it is a two-story brick structure. whether or not people in peoria new that moses and lucy pettengill's home was a station on the underground railroad, i really don't know. our research has not come across anything but one bit of testimony from a man who speaks of walking by the house and having seen fugitive slaves in the basement area through a window. the house that served as the station for the underground railroad is no longer there. today, the civic center of peoria stands on this property at jefferson and liberty street and on the site, which stood this house, is a commemorative sculpture by preston jackson. the house is listed in the national underground railroad network to freedom program of the national park service. this is the last home moses pettengill build in fewer you, illinois. -- in peoria, illinois. at the time, it was a peoria countryside, four acres of land. it still stands today but during the turn-of-the-century a porch was installed in the front. the structure is known as the pettengill house. legacy is the congregation itself survived. the church building was destroyed in 1936 but the congregation in 1937, through a federation agreement, even with the second presbyterian church -- united with the second presbyterian church and formed the first federated church of peoria. on the lawn of that church is the second bell of the pettengill church, a much larger bell and it was wrong on the occasion of every union victory -- it was rung on the occasion of every union victory. this is a memorial book that was published in 1884 with testimonials to his remarkable character and life. the memorial book has this image of moses pettengill in the front. in the introduction to this memorial book, we read, only the good are truly great. judged by this standard, moses pettengill was indeed a great man, to aid others with his delight. not only were his funds used five --y, but his is but his advice given in the most pleasant way was often more valuable than the money given. >> american history tv is that the caterpillar visitor center in peoria, illinois. inside, we will meet the lead archivist. >> you are in peoria, illinois, at the caterpillar visitor center. caterpillar has been here for about 90 years, a place where it has employed people but is a place of celebration. there have been generation of people who have worked at cat. caterpillar was formed by two families from northern california. you are looking at an exhibit we have at the caterpillar visitor center. foundersas one of the of caterpillar and was -- called tractory ford of the . he was exposed to the tractor industry because of his father. one of the stories we like to tell is that he was an apprentice for his father and we have some of the things in this case on exhibit that tell that story. one of my favorite things i like to tell people, this is a drill press that was owned by daniel shedand he had a little behind his house where he would come up with ideas and invent things. bistro was used in that -- this drill was used in that shed. the other thing on the bottom is a drawing of a tractor, pre-gasoline. he would go on sales trips with them across the state of california. he started designing his own tractors. of earlya time of machinery and people wanted to capture that. back then, you would buy a postcard and you would give your thoughts on it and drop it in the u.s. mail. some steam tractors worked in the pacific northwest. these are from the cl best tractor company. after he broke away and quit working for his father, he formed this company. it was a start up company. if you think about it in these terms, he was president of the company, ahead of manufacturing and the design of the tractors. they were around from 1910 and really struggled until they hit their home run with the machine called the best 60. people have argued it is the forerunner of the modern tractor. it was called the 60, 60 horsepower, but it was one of the first tractors that was used not just for agricultural purposes, but used for road building, the building of dams, it worked on mines. the tractor seat in the back looks like a traditional agriculture seat. it is probably from around 1913 or 1914 and best was making tractors that were pulling things. mainly on the western united states, specifically in california. other things you see, a little day timer, which is interesting. the name caterpillar came from, when hold tested his prototype, as it was moving through the fields, the tracks removing up and down and the press was there shooting the event and one of the reporters said, that machine looks like a caterpillar moving across the field. holt was so successful with the machines, everybody started calling the machines caterpillars. they invented it, they had been around for quite a while. in 1909.d to peoria holt was three times larger than best. best was three times more profitable. they merged in 1925 to form caterpillar. these are grease pumps from a best 60 tractor. this was a representation of a best grease pump around the 1924. 1925, after the merger, the same tractor was sold on the new caterpillar line and it reflects the gray colors of what caterpillar had at that time. a lot of people think the iconic yellow started immediately. it came down the line in 1931. on machines were being roadsides and helping build things like dams and other big construction projects so safety became a huge part of that industry. they made the tractors yellow for a safety feature. this is where cl best had his most prolific innovations, which was making improvements to the track pipe design. our machines are still powered by tracks. things he had improvements on, until the things that made it move and made it more efficient. one thing that makes this exhibit unique from any other workeds done on best, we with the best family, specifically his grandson, daniel best, to make this all happen. what you are looking at here are artifacts from the best family and they were ranchers in northern california and they loved doing family events, such as hiking and horseback riding and this is a saddle that was used by cl best. he was a prolific fisherman. one of the things they did, they would ride through national parks, such as yosemite. they actually filmed these events. we have snippets of that film displayed right here. i think what it tells you, a they were very generational. even within peoria, we have had many families who have worked at caterpillar and it lets you in on that experience. aat you are looking at is tape on the 60 tractor. this was the game changer. he made his business evolve into a global business and it allowed them to be on the same footing as holt. they would have never been able to do the merger without having this tractor, one of the greatest selling tractors in the history of the industry. it ran from 1919 up until the 1930's and it was replaced by d so machines. the first diesel tractor was built on a frame of a 60 tractor. book.s a patent he was very prolific and inventing. -- in inventing. our track shoes are still very much the same track shoes best invented. this other little piece shows you it is a 60 tractor to represent these tractors were sold across the world. after the merger, cl best became our first chairman, our longest-running chairman. 1925-early 1950's and probably one of our most rare things we have in this exhibit, and most meaningful to caterpillar, you will see his 50 year service plan which was donated to us -- 50 year service pin which was donated to us by his grandson. we still have this tradition today. we had an employee that had 65 years of service. we call this our projects while and it shows you all of the projects or a representation of the projects starting with the panama canal and bringing it up until today. some of my favorites are the panama canal, teddy roosevelt was there and he operated some of the products, the golden gate have helpedprojects people on every continent. our products work in antarctica in the 1950's and they still work in antarctica. a few things you do not see on the wall, the holt manufacturing company, their projects built soldier field in chicago. hauled the letters for the hollywood sign up onto the hillside. to us, it is exciting to know you are part of these big projects and making changes like this across the world. the contributions of best lead into today, where whenever you see our machines or are tractors working on the side of the road, you look at those tractors and the design and how they work really goes back to his innovation, which was over 100 years ago. power,e is not staying that is it. >> we introduced you to c-span, for five years and our cities tour we have explored literary and historic sites. at can watch more [indiscernible] www.c-span.org -- www.c-span.org. arlingtonton journal national cemetery, iraq and afghanistan war veterans. ambassadorestinian talks about ending the conflict with israel. the new york post reporting the clintons are making plans

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