You’ll often hear people in our nation’s capital say, ‘Let’s see how this plays in Peoria.’ I’ve even done it. But, I have confession to make. Until October 26, 2023, I really had no idea what that phrase meant, and I’m willing to bet that a lot of the other people who say it are in the same boat.
On October 26, though, I learned the meaning of the phrase, and I learned it at the source so to speak.
I was invited to speak to World Affairs Councils and student groups in central Illinois, the cities of Peoria and Springfield (the state capital) on Oct. 24 – 27. My first stop was in Peoria’s international airport where I was picked up and taken to Springfield for two days of events. While there, though, and on the last two days, I learned a lot about Peoria, the subject of the phrase ‘play it in Peoria.’
Founded in 1691 by French explorer Henri de Tonti, Peoria is the oldest permanent European settlement in Illinois. It was originally known as Fort Clark, but was named Peoria—after the Peoria people, members of the Illinois Confederation of Native Americans—in 1825. Until prohibition, when the federal government tried to ban the sale of alcohol nationwide, Peoria was the center of the country’s whiskey industry, with 12 distilleries in the city by the end of the 19th century, more than any other city in the country.
During the heyday of vaudeville, entertainers usually tried out their acts in Peoria and if they were a hit there, they then took them nationwide, and many believe that this is where the phrase ‘Will it play in Peoria?” originated. Located in the transition zone between the Midwest and the Upper South, it was for a long time considered representative of much of the country. Many companies even used Peoria as a test market for their products. As the population of the U.S. expanded and diversified, Peoria lost that ‘representative’ status, but of late it’s started to come back as a locality that ‘looks’ a lot like the country at large.
For one thing, it is still a place that represents some of the traditional mores and attitudes of a bygone era when, instead of the scorched-earth, winner-take-all style of politics that seems to be endemic across the country, politicians from different parties campaign against each other while still able to maintain not just cordial but even friendly relationships. During my visit, for instance, one of my guides was a thoroughly delightful and companionable gentleman, Don Samford. Despite my being a registered Democrat and him being a lifelong Republican and there being nearly a decade gap in our ages, we hit it off immediately, ending up finishing up each other’s sentences, so closely aligned were out personal views on many things. It was from Don that I learned about the ‘play it in Peoria’ phase, and many other things that for all my being a history wonk I didn’t know. I didn’t know, for instance, that Peoria was home to one of my favorite comedians, the late Richard Pryor, whose comedic career started in Peoria in the early 1960s. It’s also home to Lydia Moss Bradley, a wealthy philanthropist who founded Bradley University in 1897 as a co-ed institution. Bradley was also the driving force behind her husbands’ businesses (she married two industrialists and inherited after each died, and then turned their several hundred thousand dollar estates into several millions. After her last husband died, it was learned that she’d been the driving force all the time behind the business.
Peoria continues to ‘break the mold.’ When local schools suffered teacher shortages, for example, one school arranged to hire teachers from the Philippines to come on H-1 visas to teach. In another historical first, the city’s current mayor, Rita Ali, is the first woman and also the first person of color in its long history. Unlike many cities of its size in the Midwest, Peoria has an astonishing variety of restaurants with cuisines from around the world, and one of the most diverse populations outside the major metropolitan areas. Pretty soon, it will once again be the place where one goes to test how things will play across the country.
In the meantime, after my several days of speaking received warm receptions and praise from the audiences, I can say with all sincerity, “I played in Peoria,” and I’m now ready to ‘take it on the road.’ | NWI
