PEORIA MAGAZINE May 2023

Tower Park in Peoria Heights

W ait! What? Is that a bird up there? A woodpecker? It’s huge! Is it real?” So goes a newcomer’s astonished discovery of the 6-foot tall, 300-pound wooden woodpecker clinging to the side of the observation/ water tower in Peoria Heights’ Tower Park. The whimsical landmark, a gift of the late philanthropist, environmentalist and Heights benefactor Bill Rutherford’s Forest Park Foundation, tells visitors, residents and passing commuters that there is something different about this village on the bluff. Something that is easy to experience but hard to duplicate. Peoria Heights is a virtually land locked “suburb” hemmed in by the city of Peoria on three sides and the Illinois River on the other. Within its bound aries are some of central Illinois’ most prestigious and expensive homes and its most spectacular views. The leaders of this community of 5,800 embrace a common vision of where the Heights stands among its peers. As is often the case, that vision grew out of adversity.

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H O M E T O W N

IT’S HAPPENING IN THE HEIGHTS Out of economic despair emerged a regional dining, entertainment and shopping destination

BY SCOTT FISHEL PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

52 MAY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE