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.

Author's Articles

Among the historic buildings in Pekin’s old downtown is a structure at 215 Court...

For this third in our series of Pekin Bicentennial Black History Month articles, we’ll...

By Jared L. Olar Local History Program Coordinator The decade of the Sixties was...

As Pekin’s Bicentennial Year continues and we now find ourselves in Black History Month,...

War

As many have heard, last month Pekin lost one of its hometown heroes, U.S....

As Pekin’s Bicentennial Year continues, this week we’ll take a look back over the...

With the passing of Charles Lohman “Chuck” Dancey at the age of 107 earlier...

Photos by Jared L. Olar, Pekin Public Library Local History Program Coordinator

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Pekin Mayor Mary Burress will formally inaugurate Pekin’s yearlong calendar of Bicentennial celebrations tomorrow...

Before the formal platting and surveying of the little pioneer settlement that would be...