         
Location
The city flower is the marigold. The Marigold Festival is held each year in Mineral Springs Park. Many activities are held that attract many people from neighboring communities. Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen is from Pekin. He was a U.S. Senator. This statue of Senator Dirksen is located in the Mineral Springs Park.
Scott Altman who is an astronaut is also from Pekin. We were all very excited about him going up in space.  
Pekin is located on the Illinois River. Here is a view of the Illinois River from Pekin.
This is the Pekin Bridge that crosses the Illinois River and connects us to the west side of the river.
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Pekin is the county seat for Tazewell County. This is the Courthouse used for Tazewell County. The eagle that is shown below the courthouse is above the door in the blue circle.
Our city library is named after Senator Dirksen. The Dirksen Congressional Center is also located in this building. The Center houses all of the papers and accomplishments that Senator Dirksen accomplished while in office.
Our hospital was
built during three different periods of time. This is the first section.
The second section
built is still used for patients accomodations.
The third section that was built houses doctors' offices, a pharmacy, x-ray, a restaurant, and lab offices.
Pekin Hospital just recently added a new emergency room to their facility.
Outside the hospital facility a Cancer Treatment Center was built. A fountain is located there where music is played all the time. This fountain is dedicated to the Wright Family who were a group of doctors that worked at the hospital. This can be a very relaxing area to sit.
Across the street from the hospital you will find a bigger fountain, where weddings and people go just to relax. The fountain is beautiful at night with the different colors the lights exhibit.
Across the street from the fountain is
We also have a wonderful lagoon where children can rent boats to ride in during the spring, summer, and fall. What fun they have!
In the evenings you can usually find a baseball game going on to watch.
Another facility that the park runs is Dragon Land. The children have fun swimming, using the water slides, and playing volleyball.
When swimming isn't enough entertainment you can go across the street and play miniature golf at Putt the Magic Dragon. This is a new facility.
If you are actively involved in skateboarding, biking, and rollerblading, and using ramps, a new facility has opened for those interested in these sports.
The Pekin Park District also has several other smaller parks throughout town. There is the Tot Lot, that offers summer programs for children, Coal Miners Park, that got it's name from being built on an old coal mine. It has some nice trails to walk and, soccer, and football games are held there for younger children.
Kiwanis Park is located by Starke School. Children at Starke enjoy using the equipment at recess time, because the location is so close.
Our park district also takes care of two golf courses. The greens are immaculately kept and they have a pro shop that has various items you may need for golfing.
Pekin has two school districts. The
elementary Dirksen, Jefferson, Smith, Starke, Sunset, and Willow, middle
schools Washington, Wilson,and junior highs Broadmoor and Edison are in
Pekin Public Schools District 108. Each school has a website that
you can access through the District 108 site. They have a wonderful
website at http://www.pekin.net/pekin108.
Check their site out!
We have a new addition to Pekin Community High School (PCHS). Just three years ago freshmen and sophmore students attended school in another building. The campuses were named West and East Campus. Today everyone attends school on one campus. Pekin Community High School is comprised of students from Pekin, South Pekin, North Pekin, Georgetown and Spring Lake grade schools. Check out their website at http://www.pekinhigh.com Pekin High also has it's own stadium. It is fun to go to a football game on a fall evening and watch them play many of the teams in the Mid State 6. The nickname for PCHS is the Dragons. Their colors are red and white.
This will be a short ungraded quiz about the city of Pekin. If you have carefully read about our town you should have no problems at all. |
