THE HISTORIC AMERICAN PHOTO ARCHIVE • FRAMED PRINTS • STOCK IMAGES

The Caterpillar Dieselettes, from Mary Maxine's (Schutt) scrapbook. "Max" played from 1943 to '46. Also featured are Irene "Pepper" Kerwin and catcher Marian Kneer, pitcher Marie Wadlow, outfielder Carolyn Thome and second baseman Shirley Coney.

The Dieselettes are the oldest continuous softball team in America, playing since 1930. They were known as the Caterpillar Girls from 1930 to 1993, the Caterpillar Dieselettes from 1933-1955, the Sunnyland Lettes from 1956 to 1958, and became the current Pekin Lettes in 1959.

The man seated on the running board is my wife's paternal grandfather, Eliseo Diaz. The photo was taken (we assume) in San Antonio, Texas in the late 1920s. My father-in-law, a sharp 91-year-old himself, isn't sure if his father owned that Model T or was just resting himself there on his friend's car. Either way, he was happy to have recently discovered this shot of his father in his familiar, cross-legged pose. I am equally happy to scan it and present it here on my favorite daily haunt, Shorpy.

October 1956. From an 8x10 glossy photograph. "Old office in small church. Staff of St Luke's. L to R, Mabel Getchell, Rev. John Sanford, Elmer Nigg (Sexton), Rev. Morton Kelsey, Bernice Pursel, and Virginia Speer (in front). 1956"

This was St Lukes in Monrovia CA.

Man wrestling an alligator. Late 1960s or early 1970s Florida. From my grandparents' slides.

New York City. Looks like the late 1960s. From my grandparents' slides.

Photo of a full scale model of a lunar lander. Taken in Florida. Date unknown. From my grandparents' slides.

Snake River Park in Wyoming during the 1960s. From my grandparents' slides.

The Music Hall & Peoria Women's Club Building, located at Fayette and Madison Streets, 301 NE Madison, Peoria, Illinois. The Women's Club was established in 1886 by Clara Parsons Bourland. The Club raised $25,000 for the construction of the club building and upstairs music hall, erected in 1893, being dedicated on Jan 15, 1894. The second floor houses an unused grand Vaudeville stage, that seats 453, a fire in 1970 did much damage. Formed in 1886, the club continues to hold meetings in a distinctive red brick building at 301 NE Madison Ave., in use since 1893.

Original photos taken by William A. Gregory who lived on North Sheridan in Peoria. William worked for Frank D. Murray, a Peoria contractor (1881-1957) who built 100+ houses, including a good number on Frye Ave. William A. Gregory was an amateur photographer, picking up the hobby early on, taking thousands of architectural and event pictures of Peoria.

The Peoria Corn Exposition (or Corn Carnival) was a late summer attraction in Peoria from 1898 to 1902 with headquarters in this building on Globe Street between Main & Hamilton Streets. This wooden octagonal building which seated 7,000 was first built as a tabernacle for religious meetings. As the Corn Palace, the entire theme of decoration was corn, both inside and out. The week-long carnival included street shows with music or jugglers at nine different downtown corners, concerts by numerous bands, a governor's day with an industrial parade, bicycle races, a ladies day, husking matches, fireworks displays, premium awards at the Exposition Building and a Grand-Masked Parade and Carnival. The 1900 program lists the official song with music by Prof. Eugene Plowe and words by Peoria poet Edna Dean Proctor. "Blazon Columbia's Emblem, the Bounteous Golden Corn."

Original photos taken by William A. Gregory who lived on North Sheridan in Peoria. William worked for Frank D. Murray, a Peoria contractor (1881-1957) who built 100+ houses, including a good number on Frye Ave. William A. Gregory was an amateur photographer, picking up the hobby early on, taking thousands of architectural and event pictures of Peoria.

The Peoria Corn Exposition (or Corn Carnival) was a late summer attraction in Peoria from 1898 to 1902 with headquarters in this building on Globe Street between Main & Hamilton Streets. This wooden octagonal building which seated 7,000 was first built as a tabernacle for religious meetings. As the Corn Palace, the entire theme of decoration was corn, both inside and out. The week-long carnival included street shows with music or jugglers at nine different downtown corners, concerts by numerous bands, a governor's day with an industrial parade, bicycle races, a ladies day, husking matches, fireworks displays, premium awards at the Exposition Building and a Grand-Masked Parade and Carnival. The 1900 program lists the official song with music by Prof. Eugene Plowe and words by Peoria poet Edna Dean Proctor. "Blazon Columbia's Emblem, the Bounteous Golden Corn."

Original photos taken by William A. Gregory who lived on North Sheridan in Peoria. William worked for Frank D. Murray, a Peoria contractor (1881-1957) who built 100+ houses, including a good number on Frye Ave. William A. Gregory was an amateur photographer, picking up the hobby early on, taking thousands of architectural and event pictures of Peoria.

Leaving for the Spanish-American War, downtown Peoria, IL (1898).

Original photos taken by William A. Gregory who lived on North Sheridan in Peoria. William worked for Frank D. Murray, a Peoria contractor (1881-1957) who built 100+ houses, including a good number on Frye Ave. William A. Gregory was an amateur photographer, picking up the hobby early on, taking thousands of architectural and event pictures of Peoria.

Peoria City Hall, built in 1897, completed in 1898, dedicated January 5 to January 7, 1899.

“This building will stand as a monument to the zeal and energy of the present, and be enjoyed by those who may not remember that we ever existed.” - Mayor of Peoria, John Warner, 1899

"The present City Hall was completed in 1898, at a cost of $234,592 and is one of the finest structures in the city. It is four stories high and built of rough brown stone. A tower extends from the roof, in which is hung the old alarm bell, formerly used in the tower of the old City Hall, simply for preservation, as the telephone and electrical appliances of the present day have superseded the fire bell for all time." -- Peoria of Today with Peoria Blue Book Directory (1915)

Original photos taken by William A. Gregory who lived on North Sheridan in Peoria. William worked for Frank D. Murray, a Peoria contractor (1881-1957) who built 100+ houses, including a good number on Frye Ave. William A. Gregory was an amateur photographer, picking up the hobby early on, taking thousands of architectural and event pictures of Peoria.

Lemon H. Wiley, band leader and principal musician of the 77th Regiment, Illinois Infantry (M539 ROLL 98), Aug. 15, 1862. He was promoted to Principal Musician June 29, 1864, Elmwood, IL (CdV).

From "Peoria City and County, Illinois: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Volume 2" by James Montgomery Rice, Pub. S. J. Clarke, 1912.

Hiroshima children holding burnt rocks from atomic blast. They moved down to the city from the hills after the atomic bomb explosion. Occupied Japan, March 7, 1948.

Captain Clarence V. Ward was sent with the US Army to provide ophthalmology care to war-refugee Japanese children and adults as well as American Service personnel.

From a photo album titled "Pictures from Japan and Elsewhere." Occupied Japan era, Captain Clarence V. Ward, US Army from 1947-1949, 28th General Hospital, Osaka, Japan. Clarence lived in Peoria, Illinois (Feb. 13, 1922 - June 5, 2009).

Ward served in the US Army from 1947-1949, 28th General Hospital, Osaka, Japan attaining the rank of Captain. He graduated from St. Bernard's Grade School in 1936; Spalding Institute in 1940; University of Notre Dame in 1944 where he earned his BS; and University of St. Louis School of Medicine in 1946. He served his internship at St. John's Hospital in St. Louis, MO from 1946-1947; Post Graduate at Northwestern University in Ophthalmology from 1949-1950; Residency at Hines Veterans Hospital in Hines, IL from 1950-1952 in Ophthalmology. He was an Ophthalmologist full time from 1952-1995 and part time from 1996-2004.

Captain Clarence V. Ward and a friend, Sgt. Ames, overlooking the ruins of Hiroshima, March 7, 1948 (unposed picture).

Ward was sent with the US Army to provide ophthalmology care to war-refugee Japanese children and adults as well as American Service personnel.

From a photo album titled "Pictures from Japan and Elsewhere." Occupied Japan era, Captain Clarence V. Ward, US Army from 1947-1949, 28th General Hospital, Osaka, Japan. Clarence lived in Peoria, Illinois (Feb. 13, 1922 - June 5, 2009).

Ward served in the US Army from 1947-1949, 28th General Hospital, Osaka, Japan attaining the rank of Captain. He graduated from St. Bernard's Grade School in 1936; Spalding Institute in 1940; University of Notre Dame in 1944 where he earned his BS; and University of St. Louis School of Medicine in 1946. He served his internship at St. John's Hospital in St. Louis, MO from 1946-1947; Post Graduate at Northwestern University in Ophthalmology from 1949-1950; Residency at Hines Veterans Hospital in Hines, IL from 1950-1952 in Ophthalmology. He was an Ophthalmologist full time from 1952-1995 and part time from 1996-2004.