PEORIA MAGAZINE September 2023

A likeness of Norma Jean sits atop the grand monument at the elephant's gravesite in Oquawka, where the circus performer was struck by lightning

PEORIA RETRO

NORMA JEAN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE But the three-ton elephant felled by a lightning bolt continues to make her mark in Oquawka to this very day

BY PHIL LUCIANO

T he village of Oquawka barely knew Norma Jean but will never forget her. The circus elephant was in town less than a day when she was killed in a freak weather accident. Her unexpected demise left the small town with a curious quandary: What do you do with a 6,500-pound dead elephant? The answer: Create central Illinois’ only elephant graveyard. More than a half-century later, her memory is still honored, by the town as well as tourists.

“It means a lot,” said Susan Cochran, a volunteer for Oquawka Parks and Tourism. “You can’t believe the people that come to Oquawka just to see Norma Jean’s grave. It’s about the only tourism attraction, other than the river.” THE CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN Almost 70 miles west of Peoria, Oquawka enjoyed a 19th century hey day as a mill and shipping center along the Mississippi River. These days, with

1,400 residents, Oquawka survives as the seat of Henderson County. But its biggest moment, along with its biggest guest, arrived with an unexpected flash in 1972. That July, Oquawka bubbled with excitement: The Clark & Walter Circus was coming. It was a big deal, especially to a small town decades before cable TV and the internet came along. Clark & Walter Circus hoped to sell a lot of $1 tickets in Oquawka. At the time, circuses nationally had been

56 SEPTEMBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE