This week we bring our history of the house at 920 Broadway to a conclusion with an overview of the four most recent families who have owned or resided in that house.
After the Rotramels moved to South Fifth Street, Pekin city directories show that 920 Broadway was briefly the home of Ronald and Gale Bowman. The 1979 city directory shows them living at 920 Broadway, and identifies Ronald as a carpenter. The directory that year also shows the apartment at 920 ½ Broadway to have then been vacant. The Bowmans did not remain very long at that address, because the following year the directories not only show new residents at 920 Broadway, but the Bowmans themselves do not appear in the 1980 Pekin city directory.
After the Bowmans’ brief residence at 920 Broadway, Pekin city directories show that the next people to live there were the family of Paul C. and Connie Eames, who resided at 920 Broadway in the early 1980s. Paul worked in the factory of Lews & Son and was also a salesman for Sears before enlisting in the U.S. Navy. His wife Connie was a checker at Vogels Market Square (which later became County Market). Following is the city directory record of the Eames’ residence at this address:
- 1980 – Paul L. Eames, wife Connie, fcty wkr Lews & Son; Cath Eames nurses aid Pekin Convalescent Cntr, 920 ½ Broadway
- 1981 – Paul C. Eames, wife Connie (chkr Vogels Mkt); 920 ½ vacant
- 1982 – Paul C. Eames, slsmn Sears, wife Connie, chkr County Mkt
- 1983 – Paul C. Eames, USN, wife Connie, chkr County Mkt
A notable detail of the above 1980 Pekin city directory entry is that the apartment at 920 ½ Broadway was then occupied by Catherine Eames, a nurse’s aide at the Pekin Convalescent Center (now Timbercreek). That was the last time directories list a resident in that apartment. The following year the apartment was vacant, and at 1981 the apartment is not listed in city directories at all.
Around 1983, the Eames family moved from 920 Broadway (presumably due to Paul’s service in the U.S. Navy). Online public records show that Paul and Connie Eames later moved to Maine. Afterward, the house at 920 Broadway remained vacant for about five years.
Directories shown that the next residents of 920 Broadway were Donald S. and Pamela A. Davis. Donald Davis was a warehouseman working for the Kriegsman’s KMI Warehouse in Pekin. The Davises lived at 920 Broadway from the late 1980s until the latter 1990s. This is the Pekin city directory record for their tenure at that address:
- 1989 – Donald S. Davis, wife Pamela A., whsemn KMI Warehouse
- 1990 – Ditto
- 1991 – Ditto
- 1992 – Ditto
- 1993 – Ditto
- 1994 – Donald S. Davis, wife Pamela A., whsemn KMI Warehouse, Ian T. Davis, student
- 1995 – Ditto
- 1996 – Ditto
- 1997 – Ditto
Pekin city directories show that the Davises moved from 920 Broadway in 1997. The directories as well as Tazewell Country property records also show that on 5 Jan. 1998, Jennifer M. Bradshaw, a real estate agent, acquired the 920 Broadway property for $39,000, and then sold it after repairs and improvements for $76,500 on 15 May 1998.
County property records and city directories show that 920 Broadway was acquired in 1998 by Robert and Jody D. Zurhorst. The Zurhorsts are the property’s current owners and residents. City directories from 1999 to the present list them every years as 920 Broadway’s residents (though in 2013 and 2015 the directories also list Jessica Pennell and Christine Pennell as residents).
With that, we complete our account of the history of the 175-year history of the 920 Broadway property, from Jonathan Haines’ arrival in Tazewell County in 1849 until the present day.
