Author
Local History Program Coordinator at the Pekin Public Library. I oversee the library’s local history room collection, write a weekly local history column/weblog for the library, and present local history programs at the library and in the community.
One of Tazewell County’s early pioneer families were the Beckleys, a Pennsylvania...
Jared L. Olar
January 2, 2026
On 20 Sept. 1847, a ship that had been aptly christened the...
Jared L. Olar
December 26, 2025
During his lifetime, Charles Leonard Wilson (1863-1928) was notable in both his...
Jared L. Olar
December 18, 2025
Long ago, a large mill, known as the City Mills, was located...
Jared L. Olar
December 11, 2025
In the work of laying the foundations of public education in Tazewell...
Jared L. Olar
December 4, 2025
Courtesy of the Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society, a vintage Hinners...
Jared L. Olar
November 25, 2025
In the roll of German immigrants who became community pillars of Pekin...
Jared L. Olar
November 20, 2025
Among the notables of Pekin’s pioneer past was Col. Thomas W. Cooper...
Jared L. Olar
November 13, 2025
Among the prominent figures of Pekin’s history was Julius Franz Jaeckel (1862-1950),...
Jared L. Olar
November 6, 2025
Last Thursday, Oct. 23, the City of East Peoria unveiled a new...
Jared L. Olar
October 30, 2025
The first two installments in our series on the history of 1119...
Jared L. Olar
October 23, 2025
Part One of our history of 1119 Hamilton Street reached as far...
Jared L. Olar
October 16, 2025
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