Thursday July 6, 2017 Vol. 5, No. 19 Hot news tip? Want to advertise? Call (309) 741-9790
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Elmwood grocery store reopens By JEFF LAMPE
ELMWOOD – After weeks of cleaning, stocking and planning, Bean’s Family Market opened here last Saturday to steady crowds. Customers who visited the Elmwood business located at 105 S. Rose St. were treated to a brighter, cleaner store with fresh produce and more products on the shelves – even though delivery of a few last-minute items had not yet occurred. Weekly Post Staff Writer
Those shelves will be full soon said store manager Christina Bean, whose life has been a whirlwind of late. She did not get final approval on a liquor license until two days before the store opened. The scramble to stock coolers after the license was approved is fairly typical of recent weeks for the Bean family. Even so, Bean – who has a background of working in retail – said running a grocery store has long been a dream of hers. She got her chance when the former own-
ers of Elmwood Foods sold out in May. Bean and her husband, Aaron Bean, closed on the sale May 26. In the weeks since, they’ve spent plenty of time cleaning and remodeling the store. “We have a 45-yard dumpster that was crushed and dumped three times,” said Christina Bean, who manages the store. “And we’re still hauling out stuff.” Some of that “stuff” was unpleasant, such as the cartons of Continued on Page 2
Bean’s Family Market owner Christina Bean is excited to offer fresh produce at the Elmwood grocery store, which opened on Saturday. Photo by Jeff Lampe.
Streetscape
SCHOOL GETS NEW LIFE
Farmington readying IDOT application
Great-great granddaughter renovates Gibbs’ School
By BILL KNIGHT For The Weekly Post
By BILL KNIGHT
ELMWOOD – About two miles outside of town, a single-story building stands within a wooded lot, framed by a grassy gravel drive, old wood fence posts, wild roses and a rusted well pump. From the outside, it could be one of the 100-plus one-room schoolhouses common in Peoria County in the 19th and 20th centuries, with silence broken only by crickets and cardinals in the mornings and lighting bugs and owls at night – and maybe the wind whispering giggles from 1,600-some pupils taught at Gibbs School between 1855 and 1950. Names of those schooled in its 20x30foot classroom, according to a remembrance by Lois (Miles) Keyser in holdings at the Morrison and Mary Wiley Library here, include LaFollette and Sollenberger, Strappe and Shoff, Proctor and Pack, Miles and Mills, and many more
FARMINGTON – Residents have about three weeks to comment on the city’s proposed Streetscape plan to renovate the business district, as material received will be reviewed and addressed after July 30 to include in a package to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), officials said June 28 at a public meeting on the project that attracted more than 50 people.. The Streetscape concept will improve sidewalks and curbs and add Americans with Disabilities Act access, add ornamental lighting, fill existing vaults under some businesses’ sidewalks, and address drainage at the intersection of Fort and Main Streets under IDOT’s Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP). It’s planned for East Fort Street from Main past East and Cherry Streets to and including Cone Street. “There are a lot of hoops,” said Keith Plavec from the Peoria civil engineering firm Maurer-Stutz. “Having Phase I and Phase II done will help our chances. “The application’s success will depend on who else is applying, and how far
For The Weekly Post
Above: The schoolhouse’s original pine floors were restored. Right: This is the oldest known photo of Gibbs School, which was built in 1855 and served students until 1950.
who sat on benches or desks, played “Auntie Over” and gathered walnuts from beneath nearby trees, snacked on sorghum or cider, and tended the hot stove and chalk boards. The inside, however, has been transformed into a modern cottage. “My grandmother, who played a great part in raising me, spoke so much about Peoria, Elmwood and the relatives there
that I grew up knowing them without ever having seen them,” says Kim Nyquist Elder, the 73-year-old great-great granddaughter of Justus Gibbs, who built the Continued on Page 10
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