Talk:Pekin, Illinois

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Dan Fogelberg was born and raised in Peoria and attended schools there. His only link to Pekin (a suburb of Peoria) is that his father taught music at Pekin High School.

Pekin is part of the Peoria-Pekin MSA area which includes five counties. It is part of a conurbation with the central urban core being the City of Peoria. A suburb does not need to be in the same county. Most of Peoria's suburbs are in Tazewell County, with the remaining in Peoria and Woodford counties. For example, a majority of the suburbs of Chicago are located in five other counties - Will, Lake, DuPage, McHenry, and Kane. Some of its suburbs are even located in other states such as Indiana. Joliet, once its own metro area, is now a suburb of Chicago due to extended urban growth. Also, a town can be in the same county and not be a suburb by definition such as Brimfield in Peoria County which is rural and not in a continous urban spread. Peoria's suburbs in Tazewell county range from Washington and Morton, through East Peoria to Pekin - consisting of a continous population strip from the urban center of Peoria.

why was michael layne removed?

Dan Fogelberg's father taught music at Woodruff High School (Peoria) - my mother was one of his students.

I grew up in Pekin. I notice there is not one word about Richard Griener, the little boy who disappeared in Pekin, one of the earliest child abductions to make national news.

As well, only passing mention is made of the 'Pekin Chinks' atheletic teams. It was far more than a nickname, it was the official team name for all the teams - baseball, football, and basketball. Their mascot was a cartoonish 'chinaman' with exaggerated features - slanted eyes, sampan hat, pigtails, clogs, a fu manchu robe, and hands in the opposing sleeves like a Peter Sellers caricature. The name was only changed, as I understand it, in 1981, long after I left Pekin. Pekin and 'Peking' were sister cities, the Chinese used to send over a girls slow-pitch softball team to play exhibition games against Pekin teams. How they managed to avoid taking offense to the team being called "The Chinks," I'll never know. Looking back on it, I cringe.

I'm surprised it was given only a few words.

People of a certain age still remember Pekin as that place with that nickname. It is still embarassing to cite my hometown to people who grew up in Illinois, as it is so often the first connection they make. Almost certain that the article is incorrect on the date of the change in the nickname, it should read 1980, my freshman year - I remember because about 1/3 of the student body walked out in protest. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.181.201.5 (talk) 17:21, 3 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

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I've noticed some good faith back-and-forth here. There is sourced information regarding indigenous communities in Pekin, and that should be retained. Some information may need be moved to an appropriate (and existing) page, if possible. Either way, indigenous communities are part of the city's history.

“In Illinois as elsewhere, indigenous peoples lived along rivers for transportation, water, and fishing. At the time of European exploration, the several historical tribes in the area were of the Anishinaabe-language family, within the larger Algonquian-speaking tribes.”

While the citation for this confirms the presence of indigenous communities along the Illinois River, there is sourcing that is specific to Pekin from historian William H. Bates:

“The high ground, from the upper end of Pekin Lake to the southern limits of Pekin, was the home of a tribe of Pottawatomie Indians, under the leadership of Shabbona, an able chieftain, who gained the friendship and gratitude of the white pioneers by warnings and tribal protection, for which he was appropriately named ‘The White Man’s Friend.’ In the Indian war of 1832, because he refused to join Black Hawk, in an attempt to exterminate the ‘pale face,’ he had to seek refuge near his white friends in order to save his life.” ^[1]


“In January 1680, Robert de LaSalle and 33 fellow explorers landed their canoes on the eastern bank of the Illinois River. They built a winter refuge in what is now the southeast quarter of section 1 of Pekin Township (25N 5W).”

Sources state that this would be named Fort Creve Couer. If it can be verified that this is actually Pekin (and not the later village of Creve Couer), it should be retained.


“On the southern edge of Pekin on the Mackinaw River was the site of Chief Lebourse Sulky's Village in 1812. Illinois Territorial Gov. Ninan Edwards stated: At Little Makina, a river on the south side of Illinois, five leagues below Peoria, is a band, consisting of Kickapoos, Chippeways, Ottaways and Pottowottamies. They are called warriors, and their head man is Lebourse or Sulky. Their number is sixty men, all desperate fellows and great plunderers.

— Ninian Edwards, letter of May 1812, Elvirade, Randolph County, Illinois Territory "Five leagues below Peoria" is where Pekin was established in the latter 1820. Sulky oversaw a village with a mixed population of the Anishinaabe-speaking Pottawatomi, Kickapoo and Ojibwa people. He fought alongside Tecumseh in the War of 1812, as did most of the chiefs of the Illinois Valley area. Later, this area was the site of Chief Shabbona's Pottawatomi village in the period prior to and during the Black Hawk War of 1832. Like Sulky, Shabbona had joined with Tecumseh during the War of 1812 and was with him when he fell at the Battle of Tippecanoe. “

The Mackinaw River, while it runs through Tazewell County, is well outside Pekin. Any information regarding Sulky’s village could be moved to the Tazewell County Wikipedia page though.


“After the war, Shabbona made peace with the U.S. government and protected white settlers in the Pekin area during the Black Hawk War. (History of Tazewell County (1879), Charles C. Chapman, pp. 195–196, 254–265)”

This is cited, and should be retained as it directly involves Pekin.


"Following the Black Hawk War, the State of Illinois renegotiated treaties with the Native American tribes in the state to extinguish their claims and remove all Indians from the state. In 1833, the Treaty of Chicago had made a deal with the Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes to give up their land in return for tracts of land west of the Mississippi River and cash payments. The Pottawatomi village was relocated about a mile north to Worley Lake for a short time, until the inhabitants were removed to a reservation near Topeka, Kansas. Shabbona later moved north to Seneca near the Illinois River, where he died in 1859 on land that the citizens of Ottawa had given him."

The 1833 Treaty of Chicago has its own Wikipedia page. The treaty had a state-wide effect, and is not specific to just Pekin. However, if a citation can be provided concerning the village relocation to Worley Lake, which is in Pekin, then it should be retained.

Izzynook (talk) 21:54, 22 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Izzynook: If you have well-sourced information that specifically mentions Indigenous settlements once located inside (please note...inside) the current municipal boundaries of Pekin, please add it. Information about nearby places, the township, the county, the state, or a general history of an area much larger than the city of Pekin (or a source that doesn't specifically identify a location within the city of Pekin), would be out-of-scope . Thanks. Magnolia677 (talk) 18:51, 23 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

After digging a bit more, the only questionable item is Shabonna's protection of settlers in Pekin. There's really not much information available for this, as Chapman only provides the short statement. @Magnolia677, thoughts on this piece? I'd imagine we still leave it out for now until better info is found. I'd just axe it completely though. Thanks!

Izzynook (talk) 21:01, 23 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Sourcing Update

1. The presence of indigenous populations in Pekin is already cited in "Origins of Pekin" with the work of Bates, so it shouldn't need to be added in again.
2. Robert de LaSalle's refuge was not part of Pekin (both at the time, and currently), and did indeed become what is now Creve Coeur.
3. Answers itself, will not retain this. Neither the Mackinaw River and Little Mackinaw River are in Pekin, nor ever were part of Pekin.
4. Shabonna did indeed make peace with the U.S. government after protecting white settlers, but it was not just in Pekin. He traveled throughout Illinois (especially northern Illinois). He may have, at one point, protected Pekinites according to Charles C. Chapman, but there's not much outside of that one statement.
5. Still in the works on this one, so we'll go from there once this information is found.

Izzynook (talk) 21:00, 23 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I do have some information on German immigrants and their contributions to the city, but I am still figuring out how to tie it in so the page doesn't get choppy. Likely new section? Just figured I'd add on talk since there's some reference to it in the 19th century section. Thanks!

Izzynook (talk) 02:47, 25 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

For now, subsection under History seems good. The proportion of the German-born population vs total population of Pekin were calculated based on the 1850 and 1860 census data provided. In the 1850 Census, the only identifier for Germans was "Gy" or "Germany". In the 1860 Census, there were various identifiers since modern day German states existed as their own countries/kingdoms/etc under the German Confederation at the time.

Baden, Bavaria/Byren (Bayern), Bremen, Brunswick, Byren, Colone, Corhessen/Korhesson/Kurhessen, Darmstadt, Frank, Hamburg, Hanover, Hartsbum, Hessan (Hesse), Holstein, Mecklenberg, Nassau, Oldenburg, Ostfritzland (East Frisia), Prussia, Sachsen/Saxony, Saxwermer, Waldren, and Wertenberg/Wurtemburg were all identifiers used to denote people who came from what would become Germany.

Izzynook (talk) 18:57, 27 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This article is currently up for deletion. If you would like to participate in the discussion, click this link. QuicoleJR (talk) 15:53, 6 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

perhaps a list on the page for Pekin? 04:39, 13 April 2023 (UTC)