PEORIA MAGAZINE July 2022

The Red Covered Bridge runs over Big Bureau Creek, north of Princeton

The one-time home of the well-known abolitionist and friend of Abraham Lincoln is a national historic site

Jyl Morse, a third-generation owner of Hoffman’s Patterns of the Past, works in her shop on Main Street

A BUSTLING MAIN DRAG Impressive as those historic creden tials are, they are merely a foundation for the living, breathing, tax-generating buildings crowding for attention along Main Street, the primary commercial district stretching over some 2.5 miles. Browsers and buyers find clothing stores, boutiques, restaurants, pubs and antique shops. There’s a record store with seemingly no end of vintage vinyl, day spa, gift shops, a jeweler, and the legendary Myrtle’s Pies and Café along an accessible, pedestrian-friendly throughfare. At the north endofMainStreet, across from a 1917 grain elevator converted to apartments, is the Amtrak station. Travelers can catch eight daily trains to Chicago and points east, and west to Galesburg, Quincy, and ultimately,

Los Angeles. More than 40,000 ride the rails in and out of the depot every year. Embedded in the sidewalk in front of the town’s only movie house, the Apollo, is the Princeton Walk of Fame. Four former Princetonians are honored with a star: Doobie Brothers drummer Keith Knudsen, actor and Oscar nom inee Richard Widmark, CBS journalist Nick Young and soap opera actress Kathryn Hays. In the summer months, a swath of Main is blocked off for a series of street concerts. Grace Theater is home to Festival 56, an annual theatrical series that brings in promising actors from across the country. Many of them stay with local families while in town. Even during the depths of the pandemic, record sales tax revenue

filled the city coffers as local residents committedmore than ever to shopping local, said City Clerk Pete Nelson. “The growth in this city is amazing,” said Jyl Morse, third-generation proprietor of Hoffman’s Patterns of the Past. Her gift shop and china pattern matching service are known worldwide. She praises the local entrepreneurs who continue to push a welcoming, youthful image that draws visitors from across the region. The community draws a steady stream of visitors – from Peoria, the Quad Cities, the west Chicago sub urbs — pining for an escape, unique shopping and dining. “Part of being successful is constantly evolving and responding to people’s needs,” said Gary Bruce, a third-gener

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