Welcome to the City of East Peoria. The city is located in the heart of Illinois along the eastern bank of the Illinois River and offers a wealth of activities and special events for all ages. It is a growing, modern city, and is an outstanding place to work, do business, and raise a family.

Residential

Residents enjoy exceptional living places in a seemingly endless array of beautiful homes built among the trees that cover the high hills and steep ravines to the east of the river bottom lands. Almost everyone in East Peoria lives in a home backed by or near dense woods growing out of the steep inclines of a ravine. Many homes have impressive views of the Illinois River, the skyline of Peoria beyond, or the distant hills. There is a home in East Peoria to match any budget and any lifestyle. Even in areas where cozy looking apartment buildings and duplex homes stand, the character of the landscape is equally pleasing.

Education

Strong believers in education, the people of East Peoria have provided high quality public school systems and support with an equal vigor an in-town community college. Two public schools systems serve much of the community. A third operates one school on the far east side of town. East Peoria Elementary District 86 has six grade schools and one junior high school.

Approximately two thousand one hundred students are enrolled in the district that lives up to its motto: "Excellence in Teaching, Pride in Learning," Robein School District 85 operates the kindergarten through eighth grade. Robein School in the far eastern East Peoria and serves youngsters in the immediate city and rural areas. Its curriculum emphasis parallels that of District 86.

East Peoria Community High School, District 309, offers a comprehensive four-year high school program and has about twelve hundred students enrolled. The school offers more than one hundred and fifty separate courses. There are advanced courses in which students receive college credit while still in high school. East Peoria High also offers a comprehensive special education program for developmentally disabled students. There are also several day care centers and preschools that are assets for working parents and provide quality learning experiences for youngsters.

East Peoria is home to Illinois Central College's four hundred acre, wooded campus with over seven thousand part-time and full-time students, giving residents convenient access to higher education. The college also operates a branch campus in downtown Peoria. It is a two year community college, offering associate degrees in art and sciences, engineering, general education, and applied science.

Neighboring Peoria is home to well-known Bradley University, with more than six thousand students on campus. The university is divided into five colleges - business administration, communication and fine arts, education and health services, engineering and technology, and liberal arts and sciences.

A twenty-five acre campus in the heart of Peoria is home to the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Peoria's most distinctive college is MidState College. It offers training in aviation and related fields, including travel and tourism, aviation management, and hotel and motel management. It also offers other career training.

Recreation

East Peorians live close to nature and enjoy outdoor activities. The natural hilly and wooded terrain that makes up much of the city's eastern area, enhances the quality of life enjoyed by residents. So, too, do the splendid facilities of Fondulac Park District. This grand system of parks totals more than one thousand, one hundred acres in twenty-five well-equipped parks and two golf courses. In addition, the district maintains seven miles of River Trail of Illinois.

East Peoria's newest recreation facility is EastSide Center, covering one hundred acres atop a bluff that overlooks the city and neighborhoods. It was built with funds contributed by individuals, businesses, and government entities, and with the labor of dozens of volunteers.

EastSide Center is an enviable recreation resource. It contains five baseball fields, five softball fields, four soccer fields, six batting cages, and a four thousand- seat stadium for football, track and soccer. It features a recreation center with indoor soccer, basketball, and aerobics facilities. In addition, the recreation center has indoor batting cages, a running track, classrooms, and lockers.

A prominent feature of the Center is its aquatic complex - featuring a seven - lane lap pool, and a "Lazy River" for inner tubing that provides a rapids-like ride into the pool. In addition, there is a shallow water playground for toddlers, a lagoon for paddleboating and fishing, a miniature golf course, large playgrounds, picnic area and walking trails.

Enjoy attractions such as our shopping plaza with several restaurants nearby, or take a stroll through the antique mall, which houses more than two hundred dealers. Eastlight Theatre offers an evening of live theatre drawing on talent from Chicago, the Midwest and beyond. The East Peoria area is the setting for dozens of festivals and entertainment events each year.

East Peoria's unique Festival of Lights has given it the title - "The City of Lights." This festival draws more than two hundred thousand visitors each December. In late November, people line the streets for the "Parade of Lights" that kicks off the month-long festival. Floats made entirely of lights are mixed with live bands and recorded music. Hundreds of volunteers have spent ten months creating the delicate frameworks and stringing the lights that bring these creations to life.

Business and Economics

The economic incentives of an Enterprise Zone and a Foreign Trade Zone are encouraging commercial expansion and redevelopment of industrial lands. As a result, the East Peoria riverfront is a changing character. New hotels and restaurants flank a floating casino that contributes substantially to city revenues. New townhomes and condominiums overlook a large, new marina, complete with retail shops and restaurants.

East Peoria's large industrial area spreads along the Illinois River, west and north of the city's downtown center. A principal facility of Caterpillar, Inc. dominates the area, but numerous buildings await occupants. Access to customized worker training at East Peoria's Illinois Central College and across the river at Bradley University is another important incentive for business and industry looking for a place for expansion.

East Peoria's largest employer is Caterpillar, Inc., maker of earth moving equipment and generators. Illinois Central College and the Par-A-Dice Riverboat Casino are the next largest. Other large employers include Key Industries Services, an advertising specialities firm, Fleming Companies, Inc., food distributors, and an Elementary Schools District 86.

We are confident that you will find East Peoria a pleasant and friendly place in which to be a part of. Thank you for choosing our community.

Check out these links for more information:

• Morton Chamber of Commerce

• Pumpkin Festival

• East Peoria Chamber of Commerce

• East Peoria

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