As Pekin continues its Bicentennial events throughout this year, the Pekin Public Library’s Local History Room is now exhibiting an array of artifacts and mementos from Pekin’s history. Among the items in the exhibit are first edition copies of Pekin’s first city directory (1861) and the first-ever published history of Pekin from Pekin’s second city directory (1871), both of which originally belonged to Pekin’s pioneer historian William H. Bates. Other items include a Dirksen commemorative silver coin, Pekin Bicentennial medallions, Pekin Community High School athletic medals, a copy of the 1924 Pekinian yearbook (from Pekin’s centennial year), and bricks salvaged from West Campus and the old Pekin Daily Times building.
Centerpiece of the exhibit are the Pekin Daily Times articles that reported on Pekin’s three-day Centennial Celebration that was held 2-4 July 1924.
The exhibit will be displayed through the end of September.
Among the items currently exhibited in the Pekin Public Library Local History Room are a Pekin 175th anniversary commemorative plate, Pekin Bicentennial medallions, an Everett McKinley Dirksen silver coin, and first editions of Pekin’s first city directory (1861) and of the first-ever published history of Pekin (1871) that were owned by Pekin’s pioneer historian William Henry Bates.
Historic items now displayed in the Pekin Public Library Local History Room include a copy of the 1924 Pekinian, PCHS pins and athletic medal, and a brick salvaged from the demolition of West Campus.
On display in the Pekin Public Library History Room is a copy of a special section of the Pekin Daily Times that commemorated Pekin’s “Terquasquicentennial” (175th birthday) in 1999. Also displayed is a brick salvaged from the demolition of the old Pekin Daily Times building in 2013.
A spread of historic Pekin Daily Times articles covering the city’s three-day Centennial Celebration in early July 1924.
On display in the Pekin Public Library Local History Room are copies of the Pekin Daily Times articles that reported on Pekin’s three-day Centennial Celebration that was held 2-4 July 1924. The city’s population was then about 14,000, but over the course of the three days the celebration attracted well over 100,000 people to Pekin.
More Pekin Daily Times coverage of the Pekin Centennial Celebration in early July 1924.
From the History Room 