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.
Of Pekin’s remaining historic downtown storefronts, perhaps Hamm’s Furniture’s high-peaked façade at...
Jared L. Olar
March 30, 2024
Our Bicentennial series on the history of Pekin continues this week with...
Jared L. Olar
March 28, 2024
In a previous post here, we looked into the historical accounts and legends...
Jared L. Olar
March 21, 2024
Since the early 2000s, the building at 337 Court St. has been...
Jared L. Olar
March 20, 2024
The first 19 years of Pekin’s history cover the period when our...
Jared L. Olar
March 14, 2024
The final resting place of Nance Legins-Costley’s eldest child now has a...
Jared L. Olar
March 7, 2024
As we continue our Bicentennial series on Pekin’s history, this week we...
Jared L. Olar
March 7, 2024
The buildings in Pekin’s historic downtown range in age from about a...
Jared L. Olar
March 6, 2024
In previous installments of our ongoing Pekin Bicentennial series, we have recalled...
Jared L. Olar
February 28, 2024
Among the historic buildings in Pekin’s old downtown is a structure at...
Jared L. Olar
February 27, 2024
For this third in our series of Pekin Bicentennial Black History Month...
Jared L. Olar
February 22, 2024
By Jared L. Olar Local History Program Coordinator The decade of the...
Jared L. Olar
February 15, 2024
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