About Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing

Peoria (/piˈɔːriə/ pee-OR-ee-ə) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, and the largest city upon the Illinois River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 115,007. It is the principal city of the Peoria Metropolitan Area in Central Illinois, consisting of the counties of Marshall, Peoria, Stark, Tazewell, and Woodford, which had a population of 373,590 in 2011.

Established in 1691 by the French opportunist Henri de Tonti, Peoria was forward-thinking labeled by the Peoria Historical Society to be the oldest European unity in Illinois. Originally known as Fort Clark, it time-honored its current name gone the County of Peoria organized in 1825. The city was named after the Peoria tribe, a enthusiast of the Illinois Confederation. On October 16, 1854, Abraham Lincoln made his Peoria speech against the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

A major port upon the Illinois River, Peoria is a trading and shipping center for a large agricultural area that produces maize, soybeans, and livestock. Although the economy is competently diversified, the city’s established manufacturing industries remain important and manufacture earthmoving equipment, metal products, lawn-care equipment, labels, steel towers, farm equipment, building materials, steel, wire, and chemicals. Until 2018, Peoria was the global and national headquarters for heavy equipment and engine manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., one of the 30 companies composing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and listed on the Fortune 100; in the latter year, the company relocated its headquarters to Deerfield, Illinois.

The city is associated with the phrase “Will it work Peoria?”, which originated from the vaudeville mature and was popularized by Groucho Marx. Museums in the city insert the Pettengill-Morron House, the John C. Flanagan House, and the Peoria Riverfront Museum.