A cluster of urban greenery running along six blocks of Western Avenue near Bradley University may not seem like anything terribly remarkable to a casual passerby, but this grassroots park isn't quite like any other in Peoria.
The Western Avenue Greenway Project isn't managed by the city of Peoria or by the Peoria Park District, but by the neighbors themselves.
Jim Donahue is one of the newer volunteers on the project. He said his wife is the gardener in his family, preferring to describe himself more as a groundskeeper and grass cutter for this sometimes misunderstood space.
"Nobody's ever considered this a park because the park district doesn't have anything to do with it. But it really kind of is," said Donahue. "I mean, people always think it's just private land that you're not supposed to be on. But that's not the case."
Jim recently retired, and is now responsible for maintaining a tract of the greenway. He's also the organization's new treasurer. That was a job he inherited from Dan Callahan, a retired florist who lives in the Moss-Bradley neighborhood.
Callahan said longtime neighbor, urban planner, and community activist Don Leubbe deserves a lot of credit for the greenway idea formulating.
"Peoria had oversupply of housing, and this rebuild of Western Avenue really compromised those houses," Callahan said. "Don said, 'why don't we create a linear park out of the housing stock that's going to be degraded due to the widening and turn lemon into lemonade?'"
Lemonade, in this case, meant first knocking down some old buildings on the east side of Western Avenue, from W. Main to W. Callendar.
"In those days, anything was possible, and they got grants from different directions, and the grants allowed them to buy the houses one at a time and start the process," said Callahan. "It was amazingly ambitious for a neighbor led group was mostly West Bluff, not just Moss-Bradley."
Donahue's father, who was also named Jim, was another one of the people who first helped get the greenway project started back in the 1980s when the widening of Western Avenue changed the neighborhood.
"There used to be houses all along here," Donahue said, pointing down a stretch of what is now cultivated open greenway. "Not great houses, you know, yeah. So he (the elder Donahue) was able to find funding and whatever, to buy the houses and get them torn down and then start this project."
Indeed, the occasional dip in a sidewalk hints at a driveway for a home that no longer exists. But unlike the city's of Peoria's many barren vacant lots, the Western Avenue Greenway Project still teems with life.
Volunteers were out on a balmy September morning pulling up weeds, picking up trash, and tending to the shrubbery and trees. At one point, Callahan pauses at a shady spot and notes the temperature drop in the spot guarded by trees from the late-morning sun. That's just one of the benefits the greenway provides to Western Avenue and the abutting houses, he said.
"We're trying to improve the overall environment, to improve the housing prices and stability there, provide a green buffer zone with the busy thoroughfare, to have a to create green islands to reduce the environmental impact and the hot zones that have come from so much pavement," he said.
That's not to say gray doesn't also have a role in beautifying this area. Old stone donated by the late philanthrophist Bill Rutherford ornaments the landscape. It was salvaged from a long-demolished building on the Saint Francis hospital campus. Some of the larger items, like chunks of column, are sprinkled into the mix artistically.
"The Italian word for it is spolia. It's leftovers, things like imagine from Roman ruins or other that are integrated in the present day or repurposed in a new building," said Callahan. "In this case, we took those, lined them up on the Greenway, and the future planting then was made to enhance what we put. It's still a work in progress."
Still, this urban oasis doesn't continue without the continual attention of those willing to give their time and treasure towards it. Callahan said the connections with people made are one of the things that makes the Western Avenue Greenway Project something special.
"We call it a project, because it's not done. And is the personal the person to person connection, because when we're out here working, we're interacting with people coming and going. This doesn't seem like it, but this is amazingly tranquil spot in later in the day, early in the morning," he said.
For instance, one neighbor allowed volunteers to use the water from his house to keep the plants hydrated during the recent drought conditions. People who may have otherwise never met their neighbors interact and build up new friendships.
But the group is at moment of flux when it comes to funding. Student groups from Bradley University and some nearby businesses do pitch in, but more help is needed.
"We're looking at new ways to keep us going," Callahan said. "Everything's always in transition, because we're a unique entity."
The Western Avenue Greenway Project is looking to raise about $3,000 more to break even this year. Donations can be mailed to PO Box 0646, Peoria, IL 61601.
Callahan said the city does contribute some in-kind help like picking up brush, and there are also talks with the park district about how they may be able to also assist in some ways, but the greenway will remain community-managed.
Things like additional signage and a destination zone on the site of an old gas station at the corner of Main and Western are a couple possible future considerations.
Upcoming work days are set for Oct. 19 and Oct. 26. You do not have to live in the neighborhood to help out. You can also email Callahan for more information, or visit the group's Facebook page for more details on work day times and locations.
"Coming and seeing it, especially when we're having our work days, is the best way to get the whole picture," Callahan said.
