Peoria Automobile Club

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

From the record

“Shore Acres Park Clubhouse is the central feature of Shore Acres Park in Chillicothe, Illinois. The site of the clubhouse, which is located on the Illinois River, was originally part of Columbia Park, a Chillicothe city park established in 1890.”
Wikipedia article Peoria Automobile Club, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 35 National Register listings published here for Peoria County · listed in 1995 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 100 Park Blvd., Chillicothe, 61523
When was it listed? August 1995
Category. building
Township. Chillicothe township
National Register reference number. 95000984 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

The ground it stands on

3,549 words

The chapter on Chillicothe Township in The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a History of the Northwest--history of Illinois--history of the County, Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Etc. .., published 1880 names Chillicothe. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

The first cabin erected on the present town site was Ijy Jef. Hickson, a blacksmith, some time before the town was laid out, and stood on the bank of the river, where he also buill a shop and pursued his trade. The second cabin Wiis built aud occupied by Esq. E. Jones, now of Marshall county, iminedi.itely after the town plat was surveyed. He put a small stock of goods in one room of his double log cabin, and was the pioneer merchant of the place. Mr. Jones was also elected the first justice of the peace. He conducted the store for seven or eight years. About 18.38, Mr. Lehart came to Chillicothe ami erected a small frame house of one room, wiiich his family occupied ; and he kept a store in a cabin on Water Street, for several years, then removed to Indiana. In 18.35, James M. Brown - tiien a 3'oung single man - came from Ross county, (Ihio, and soon after built a story and a half frame house on First Street, containing four rooms on each floor, and opened a tavern, to which he gave the euphonious title of " AnK-rican House." A part of the old building still stands on the site. It was first kept by William Dunlap - afterwards Mr. Brown's father-in-law - for aliout five years, during which time liis house was a stopping ])oint on the Pioria and Chicago stage Jine.

Passage source: The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a History of the Northwest--history of Illinois--history of the County, Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Etc. .., published 1880.

The second tavern i)uilding was erected by John Hayes, and stood opposite to Messrs. Mathews & Holman's store. It was a frame structure containing ten to fifteen rooms, and known as the "Chillicothe House." Mr. Hayes kept it for a number of years. It was destroyed by fire in April, 1873.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Chillicothe Township - 3,549 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Mines and quarries near this property

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Peoria Automobile Club: 3 producers, 2 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Caul Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Chillicothe Sand & Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Chillicothe Sand Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Mitzelfelt Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Riverside Materials Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Peoria County

Storms near this property

38 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chillicothe, the town this property stands in, in 38 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 16 thunderstorm wind, 16 hail, 3 flash flood, 3 flood. The reports record 1 death. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 2013	Flood	North Chillicothe	1 killed, $28,000,000	High impact flooding on the Illinois River continued from April.\|\|Numerous homes along the Illinois River in Chillicothe, Rome, Mossville and Mapleton suffered flood damage due to record river levels. Several businesses were damaged, and numerous streets were flooded, along the Illinois River in downtown Peoria. A total of 505 homes and businesses were damaged by the flooding in Peoria County. Early in the morning on May 4th a man drowned when he drove his vehicle into the floodwaters northeast of downtown Peoria. High impact flooding subsided when the river level at Peoria fell below a stage of 22 feet on May 8th.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	North Chillicothe	$150,000	Several trees were blown down, including one that damaged a car and part of a house.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	$30,000	A tree was blown over onto a house and two cars. Numerous tree limbs down throughout town.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	$20,000	A tree was blown onto a house in Chillicothe.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	$20,000	A 70-foot tall tree was blown down onto a car and numerous tree branches were knocked down around town as well.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	$10,000	Power lines were blown down in Chillicothe.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	$10,000	Numerous large tree branches were blown down in Chillicothe.
August 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	$5,000	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
March 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	-	A 61 mph wind gust was measured by the emergency manager.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	-	A few large tree branches were blown down in front of the fire department building.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	-	Several 3-inch diameter tree limbs were blown down.
August 2022	Hail	Chillicothe	-	Quarter sized hail mixed with smaller hail.
August 2022	Hail	Chillicothe	-	Nickel sized hail lasted around 3 to 4 minutes.
April 2020	Flash Flood	North Chillicothe	-	Two feet of water was flowing across Yankee Lane and Rt 29 just north of Chillicothe.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	-	Multiple trees and tree branches were blown down.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	-	An 8-inch diameter tree branch was blown down.
June 2017	Flash Flood	Chillicothe	-	Torrential rainfall of 2.00 to 3.00 inches was reported within a 90 minute period during the evening hours, which resulted in rapid flash flooding. Numerous streets from the northwest side of Peoria to Dunlap, and in the village of Chillicothe were flooded. Several county highways were also impassable from Kickapoo to Mossville.
June 2017	Flood	Chillicothe	-	Torrential rainfall of 2.00 to 3.00 inches was reported within a 90 minute period during the evening hours, which resulted in rapid flash flooding. Numerous streets from the northwest side of Peoria to Dunlap, and in the village of Chillicothe were flooded. Several county highways were also impassable from Kickapoo to Mossville. Additional rainfall during the late evening and overnight hours kept many roads flooded. The flooding subsided by daybreak on June 18th.
October 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	North Chillicothe	-	A 12-inch diameter tree branch was blown down.
April 2013	Flood	North Chillicothe	-	Numerous homes along the Illinois river in Chillicothe, Rome, Mossville and Mapleton suffered damage due to record river levels. Several businesses along the Illinois River in downtown Peoria were also damaged by the flooding. The river stage at Peoria climbed to a record level of 29.35 feet on April 23rd at 19:30 local time, which was nearly 12 feet above flood stage. High impact flooding continued into the month of May 2013.
June 2010	Flash Flood	North Chillicothe	-	Rainfall amounts of 1.50 to 2.00 during the evening fell on saturated ground from previous flooding. This resulted in widespread flash flooding across nearly all of Peoria County, including the city of Peoria. Many streets in Peoria were flooded, which caused vehicles to become stranded and forced up manhole coveres. Outside of the city, many rural roads were impassable, as were portions of State Highway 8, 28, 90, 91 and 116.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	-	Numerous trees and tree limbs were blown down along a line from Chillicothe to Rome to Peoria.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	-	Thunderstorm winds blew an aluminum shed and a plastic storage shed into a nearby field. Also, numerous tree limbs were blown down.
June 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Chillicothe	-	Numerous trees and power lines were downed as a severe thunderstorm moved across the county.
March 2024	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
April 2020	Hail	North Chillicothe	-	no account filed
April 2020	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
July 2020	Hail	North Chillicothe	-	no account filed
September 2019	Hail	North Chillicothe	-	no account filed
May 2018	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
February 2017	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
April 2015	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
May 2003	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Chillicothe	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Peoria County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 95000984 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Peoria County	All 35 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.