An occasional series on WCBU looking back at the stories and people who brought Greater Peoria to where it is today. Produced by Steve Tarter.

If you take a cruise on the Spirit of Peoria riverboat you’ll hear a recording provided by Brian “Fox” Ellis with background on the Illinois River.

Before the Illinois River was murky and muddy, it was a highly valued supplier of ice

Frederick Douglass, the renowned reformer, writer and orator, was well known in 1870. The former slave was probably the most famous African American of his time and on a cold February morning that year, he found himself in Peoria.