 |
| |
| Princeville,
Illinois |
| The area of Princeville was home to
the Illinois or Illiniwek Indians until the late
1600s - early 1700s. Princeville was incorporated
on March 24, 1874. Before the railroad was built,
Princeville was one of the stopping places on the
stagecoach route running from Peoria and Chillicothe
to the west and northwest. |
 |
For more than 40 years, passenger
and freight trains rumbled through the small towns
of Alta, Dunlap, Princeville, Stark, Wyoming and
Toulon. By the late 1950’s rail traffic through
these communities had ceased completely. Peoria's
Forest Park Foundation acquired the abandoned railway
corridor in June 1965, and deeded the property to
the Department of Conservation four years later.
Officially dedicated in 1989, the Rock Island Trail
is the first railway conversion completed by the
department. |
|
Rock Island Trail State Park stretches for 26 miles from
Alta, in Peoria County, to Toulon, in Stark County. The
park offers many natural and architectural attractions
in a tree-canopied corridor. Rock Island Trail is in the
Grand Prairie Division, a vast plain formerly covered
with tall prairie grass. As the trail has reverted to
nature, much of the prairie has returned. A dedicated
Nature Preserve with abundant native grasses and flowering
perennials lays North of Princeville. Fourteen acres have
been restored to native prairie at the Kickapoo Creek
Recreation Area. Hardwood trees and wildflowers can be
found along the streams and rivers that cross the trail. |
 Besides
its association with the Rock Island Trail, Princeville
is known for being one of two pumpkin producers responsible
for canning 90% of all canned pumpkin. The canning company
has gone through many changes since its establishment
in 1921. In 1923 it was relocated from Chillicothe to
Princeville as the Princeville Canning Company. Pumpkin
processing began in 1946 and the migrant workforce started
the following year. The plant has gone through multiple
changes and owners over the years but the migrant workforce
has remained a constant. With the help of migrant labor,
the canning plant goes from about 30 year round employees
to 130 peak seasonal employees every summer. Families
reside in a 55-house migrant labor camp. |
| Pumpkin
Harvesting |
 |
 |
| TOP |
|
|
|
