Peoria Heights, Illinois
| Peoria Heights | |
| Village | |
 Tower Park water tower, 1970
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Illinois |
| Counties | Peoria, |
| Coordinates | 40°44′N 89°34′W / 40.733°N 89.567°WCoordinates: 40°44′N 89°34′W / 40.733°N 89.567°W |
| Area | 6.97 sq mi (18 km2) |
| - land | 2.65 sq mi (7 km2) |
| - water | 4.32 sq mi (11 km2) |
| Population | 6,156 (2010) |
| Density | 2,509.0/sq mi (969/km2) |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 61616 |
| Area code | 309 |
   Location of Peoria Heights within Illinois
|
|
Peoria Heights is a village lying almost entirely in Peoria County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 6,156 at the 2010 census, down from 6,635 in 2000. Peoria Heights is a suburb of Peoria and is surrounded by the city except for its eastern boundary on Peoria Lake, a relatively wider section of the Illinois River. It is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.
According to the 2010 census, Peoria Heights has a total area of 6.969 square miles (18.05 km2), of which 2.65 square miles (6.86 km2) (or 38.03%) is land and 4.319 square miles (11.19 km2) (or 61.97%) is water. That most of the village is water is due to the fact that most of Upper Peoria Lake lies within its boundaries; this can be seen on official state maps.
Topographically, the village can be roughly divided into three zones. The Illinois River floodplain, the bluff, and the plateau. While its eastern border is fairly regular with the river's edge, the rest of its municipal border, with Peoria, is quite irregular and convoluted.
According to the Census Bureau records through 2007, Peoria Heights lies in three counties (Peoria, Woodford, and Tazewell). While neither Tazewell nor Woodford counties consider Peoria Heights to be within their jurisdiction, the state of Illinois does show that across Peoria Lake from the rest of the village, a small, uninhabited area exists both within Peoria Heights and Woodford County. However, the Census Bureau claim that Peoria Heights is also within Tazewell County is unsupported by any state, county, or municipal websites.
The village is perhaps most noteworthy for its Grand View Drive, a residential street on top of the bluff overlooking the Illinois River with many elegant homes and a country club. The road also has several panoramic look-outs of the river and beyond into Tazewell and Woodford counties as well as a park with a children's playground, picnic area, and baseball diamond. Teddy Roosevelt purportedly called the street the "World's Most Beautiful Drive" when he visited the Peoria area in October 1910; WMBD, a local radio and TV station, gets its call letters from Roosevelt's expression.
...
Wikipedia