Remembering Cilco’s Wallace Station
While browsing YouTube, I ran across a video of the CILCO Wallace station being demolished and decided to refresh my memory as to why this happened and why we look across the river at a WalMart.
Peoria Journal Star, December 14, 1995:
EAST PEORIA — The R.S. Wallace Station will be brought down with explosives Sunday to make room for the 500,000-square-foot Riverside Center.
The first 300 feet of Wallace Station property from the edge of the river to the shopping center is being devoted to park space, which will be operated by Fondulac Park District.
The implosion will occur between 8 and 10 a.m., according to a release from Central Illinois Light Co., which owns the building.
The implosion is expected to be completed in about 10 seconds with the remaining structure falling into the basement, which is about 30 feet deep.
Both the Murray Baker and Bob Michel bridges will be closed for approximately 15 minutes during the demolition. Camp Street, the Industrial Spur and the Illinois River also will be closed to all traffic. Motorists are urged to use alternate routes.
The Peoria riverfront provides an excellent view for the event, CILCO announced, and Liberty and Eckwood parks are available to the public. A siren will alert viewers a few minutes before the implosion.
The demolition process was started in August by Bierlein Construction, which began removing the external walls on three sides of the building and removing key structural components inside.
The former power plant, which was shut down in 1985, is being destroyed to make room for Riverside Center, the shopping center that will be anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter, which has 36 merchandise departments. Aside from those found in regular Wal-Mart stores, Supercenters also have grocery stores, bakeries, delicatessens and McDonald’s restaurants. The store is scheduled for completion by spring 1997. Once completed, Riverside Center is expected to generate $100 million in annual sales and create 1,600 jobs. The private investment in the project will be $50 million.
This video is not allowed to be embedded. Here’s the link if you’d like to watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G30_aZ3khTg
Paul Gordon, Peoria Journal Star, December 19, 1995:
Progress is wonderful. And if the riverfront becomes what is envisioned by leaders on both sides of the Illinois River, then it was probably for the best. [...] I hope the plans for a park that will extend 300 feet from the river will indeed be followed so that progress will be hidden.
It’s important now that the rubble that remains, looking like a scene from a World War II movie, be removed as quickly as possible. Only then will we be able to imagine, as we drive across the river, walk through Eckwood Park or pilot boats through between the shorelines, what will be put in its place.
Only then will we be able to decide whether the Wallace Station’s demolition had a purpose.
In retrospect, was it worth blowing up the old power plant? Why couldn’t the plant have been saved and turned into a mix of apartments and retail as was proposed at the time and as what is now happening in Peoria’s warehouse district? The answer, according to Paul Gordan was “renovating it would have been much more costly than blowing it up.” While I’m sure this is true, it’s hardly a good excuse for blowing up buildings.
Progress is what was promised. What we got is a large retail development which now includes an Embassy Suites hotel with a fabulous view of the Peoria Skyline. I guess that’s progress. It certainly has been a boon to East Peoria and I shop and dine there myself, but looking back, wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have that big ol’ building as the anchor to the riverfront instead of a Super WalMart? What progress brought us is a riverfront shopping center from where ironically you cannot see the river, but which can be seen from the river, and the much touted East Peoria riverfront park is closer to 200ft wide, not the 300 that was promised.
Gotta love progress.
Nearly 13 years after the Wallace station imploded, what do you think? Did we get the best possible use of that abandoned and undeveloped property or did we merely settle for a developer’s whims?
September 28th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Interesting. From a tax revenue standpoint, this is one of E Peoria’s finest moves. From an aesthetics standpoint, nobody really likes to see mega-chains lining the horizon. But that’s what we wanted and demanded, and that’s what we got.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Funny, we were just at the park behind Wal-Mart yesterday looking at photos of the Wallace Station.
I wish the building had been rehabilitated.
September 29th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I remember asking that exact same question as it was going on and it seems to me there was a good explanation as to why it could not be rehabilitated. Someone from CILCo should know the answer to this….
October 1st, 2008 at 8:29 am
That ugly old thing that used to dump all that waste into the river? Are you joking? As ugly as Wal Marts are, they look like mini Taj Mahals compared to the old power plant.
The only thing I miss is the little lightbulb cartoon character, which was salvaged and currently resides somewhere along River St. if I remember correctly. (Although the one on River might be a replica.)
October 1st, 2008 at 10:49 am
I can assure you it is not located along Water St.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I LOVE looking at the @ss end of Wal-Mart when I’m along the river in Peoria…
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Water St, that’s it. Are you sure? Drive by all the shops and restaurants sometime and I am positive you’ll find it (or a replica of it). It might even be put up on the wall in one of those old warehouses, so drive by during working hours when the doors will be open. But I know it is there somewhere, and if it isn’t there now, I am positive it was at one point because I remember walking by with a friend who recognized it.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I don’t know for sure what cartoon character you are talking about (it is before my time), but it sounds like something hanging in the Illinois Antique Center on Water St. It is hanging on the wall right when you walk through the doors (not the street level door, the shop’s door). It is a very large, white circle face with a lightbulb nose.
February 18th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I stumbled on this looking for a picture of the Light Bulb Character. But thought I’d weigh in (late) on the talk of why the building was brought down. That building was an impressive structure and many people tried to save it. It was brick, the amount of work that went into building that had to be huge. The cleanup of the building would have been to expensive. The pigeons had lived in it so long that their waste became a toxic mess.
Also the comment above “That ugly old thing that used to dump all that waste into the river?”. As far as I know they did not actively dump into the river. The only contact with the river was that it had cooling tubes that pulled in cold water and released warm water, but no waste. The pollution it put out was from burning coal.
The building had some ugly features, but had they been able to clean up the interior, they would have made some remarkable improvements on the grounds surrounding the building. It’s a shame that it could not have been saved.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
“Reddy Kilowatt” was the name of the character on the side of the power plant that face the Murry Baker bridge. I know, b/c my Dad used to work at CILCO and took me to all of the power plants operated in the area. I was about 11 years old when they finally took Wallace off-line, but remember how cool the building was inside. Too bad a disgusting Wal-Mart occupies that space now. I think they could have done something like they did with what is now “401 Water St”. That area down there now is nothing but shopping carts and trash…..sad.
May 12th, 2009 at 7:24 am
I agree that the building should have been saved. When I see the empty buildings that once occupied Menard’s, and Shopko on Pioneer Park, and the new Menard’s just down the road I wonder how long this country can continue demolishing structurally sound buildings to build new ones. The buildings in Europe are hundreds of years old and still in use. This just proves what a waste full country we live in. We are urged to ” recycle, ” this should also apply to some of the buildings. If they had used the Sears building on the riverfront instead of developing Grand Prairie we wouldn’t be wondering where the money will come from to ” BUILD THE BLOCK”.
May 12th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Reddy Kilowatt – that was his name. Thank You ProudIllinoisan, I was trying to remember that. Always liked that figure. It’s always a little creepy to see his decapitated head on Water St.