Historic Adventure Quest

Site Coordinates: N 40˚33'57.8" W 89˚38'41.0"

This is one of 10 caches (a hidden container) placed around historic sites in Pekin. These sites along with 10 other sites will provide letters or numbers you'll need to ultimately unscramble a prominent name and year in Pekin's history. Once you've obtained all 20 letters and numbers and unscrambled the name and year, submit your answer to be entered into a drawing for a locally 3-D printed "flat" Everett, $50 in Chamber Checks and other Pekin swag!

Please be courteous and aware of your surroundings (do not disrupt landscaping or destroy anything during your search) and place each cache back how you found it to ensure it remains hidden. All caches are on public property, placed with permission where necessary. Please be stealthy & courteous!

Practice CITO (cache-in-trash-out: a way to help keep our environment clean) & happy caching! We hope you enjoy this historic tour of Pekin & participate in other events throughout 2024 to celebrate this milestone.

A special thank you to the United Way of Pekin for sponsoring the cache containers.

This is the home of Illinois inventor Jonathan Haines (1808-1868), who was a younger brother of Pekin co-founder William Haines. After Jonathan's death, the home passed to Jonathan's younger brother James Haines. It is thought that this house is the only remaining structure in Pekin dating from the lifetime of Abraham Lincoln. A notable thing about this house is that originally it was situated well back from Sixth Street, about the middle of the block, but later a new basement and foundation were dug close to the street, and the entire house was moved to its present location.

Jonathan Haines and his brother Ansel Haines ran a factory located due east from this house, on the far side of James Field, the east side of Ninth Street, approximately where Benson's Maytag is located today. Jonathan Haines was the inventor of the Buckeye Mower and the Haines Harvester (also called the Illinois Harvester), and these and other patented agricultural implements were manufactured and repaired at the Haines' factory in Pekin.