Peoria Riverfront Museum

Artifacts found in the park confirm the presence of Native Americans by about 12,000 years ago and document their use of the area since. More than 100 Native American sites have been documented in the park. In the winter of 1682, men led by LaSalle and Henri de Tonty built Fort St. Louis on the crest of Le Rocher, the Read more...

Michael Heizer constructed the mounds between 1983 and 1985 as part of a mine reclamation project. He was inspired by effigy mounds constructed by Native Americans during the Late Woodland Period (1400-750 years ago) mostly along the Upper Mississippi River and extending east to Lake Michigan. In Illinois, a few effigy mounds have been found in the Rock River valley. Read more...

In October 1812, Ninian Edwards, Territorial Governor of Illinois, launched a three-pronged attack on Native American villages at Peoria Lake. He believed the villages harbored warriors who had attacked American settlements. Edwards led a horse-mounted force and destroyed Black Partridge’s village on the east side of the lake. On November 5, 1812, Captain Thomas Craig arrived by boat at the Read more...