13. E.W. Wilson Home
Site Coordinates: N 40˚33'43.4" W 89˚38'45.3"
Your Clue: "How many pillars stand at the front of the porch? Take that number times two and you’ll have the number you need for the puzzle."
These informational sites along with 10 cache sites placed around Pekin will provide letters or numbers you'll need to unscramble a prominent name and important year in Pekin's history. Once you've unscrambled the name and year, submit your answer to be entered into a drawing for a one-of-a-kind, locally 3-D printed "flat" Everett, $50 in Chamber checks & some official Pekin swag!
Please be courteous and respectful of your surroundings! We hope you enjoy this historic tour of Pekin & participate in other events throughout 2024 to celebrate this milestone.
If you have any questions, please email us at pekinhistoricadventurequest@gmail.com.
A Bit of History...
Everett W. Wilson: Spirits of an American in Pekin, Illinois
When Everett Woodruff Wilson was born in Peoria in 1861 during the first year of the Civil War, patriotism for the United States was in the Midwest air. Born in England, his grandfather, Henry Wilson, had emigrated to the America early in the history of the Republic settling initially in Poughkeepsie, New York. In the 1830s, perhaps following the national push Westward, he took his family and headed to Peoria, Illinois.
That is where Everett’s father, John, was educated, grew up, married a local Peoria girl named Emily Woodruff and became a highly successful Peoria businessman.
Eventually he occupied the presidency of the Cave Valley Land & Cattle Company, a large and wealthy organization doing business in southern Illinois, was the president of the Elk Grove Land & Cattle Company of Kansas, and the chief stockholder in the street railway company of Topeka, Kansas.
John Wilson also had an interest in making whiskey. A man named C.J.D. Rupert in 1861 had founded an early distillery in nearby Pekin, Illinois, and called it the Hamburg Distillery. Sometime during the 1870s, John bought out the owner and became president of the company. At the age of 18, apparently at his father’s behest, Everett left Peoria for Pekin to work in the Hamburg Distillery. The 1880 census found him there, listing his occupation as “bookkeeper.” A year later, he was managing the whole operation.
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