Before and After the Explosion
The present site of the South Side Trust and Savings Bank's West Peoria branch began its history as a commercial site in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
This property from 2421 to 2427 W. Rohmann was owned by the Lammers family from at least 1908 until it was sold by Henry J. Lammers and his wife in the 1920s, when it was divided into three parcels of land. This land continued as three separate parcels until all three were eventually acquired by South Side Bank.
The largest parcel of land at 2423-2427 W. Rohmann (once the 400 block of Rohmann) was sold to Michael Martin in 1920, to Allen S. Hile in 1925, and to Eugene Brown in 1927. Its commercial history began when it was purchased by John J. Heitzman in September 1927.
In 1927 Heitzman leased part of this property to Roxana Petroleum Co. and in 1932 to Shell Petroleum Co. If any of our readers know about a gas station or any other structure on this site at this time, the West Peoria News would like to update this information. In 1931 the Central Illinois Light Co. acquired (as a right of way agreement) a portion of this site on which to build a gas distribution center.
According to the 1930-1935 Peoria City Directories, Heitzman was a grocer at 431 W. Rohmann. Before or during that period, Heitzman probably built the structure--later destroyed by the 1957 explosion. From 1930 until at least 1940, John Heitzman, his first wife Mabel, and their daughter Margaret lived at 429 W. Rohmann (either on the first floor in the part of the building not occupied by the grocery store or in one of the two upstairs apartments).
Larry Traub, whose father Perry lost his life in the explosion, believes there is a possibility that his father worked for Heitzman at his store before Perry became the owner of the store, which then became Traub's Market. However, Perry probably learned the grocery business from relatives who also operated Peoria grocery stores at the time.
The February 27, 1939, entry in Mrs. Perry Traub's (Theresa) journal reads, "Perry started working at his own store (business) at 431 Rohmann." Only twenty-four at the time, Perry continued as the store's owner for seventeen years before the tragedy occurred. Theresa Traub, who worked at Traub's Market with her husband, kept journals throughout her lifetime-records from which her son has graciously shared pertinent information with the West Peoria News.
Traub's Market was the only business on this site until about 1943, when the part of the building attached to the market (on the right-address 429 W. Rohmann) was occupied by the Iva-Kay Beauty Shop and a barber shop owned by Leo Cline. From about 1950 until the 1957 explosion, this part of the building housed the Aaron Hardware and Paint Store owned by Ralph Aaron and the West Peoria Beauty Salon, operated by Aaron's wife Leona.
A series of renters lived in the two upstairs apartments, one of which became the home of Margaret (Heitzman) Enfieldt and her husband Robert by 1954. Heitzman remained as the landlord of the Rohmann property until the 1957 tragedy that also took his life and leveled the building.
By 1942 Heitzman had built his own home on the back portion of this property, facing Sterling Avenue-at 708 N. Sterling Avenue. An underground tunnel connected the basement of the house to the basement of the commercial building on Rohmann. Heitzman continued to live in this house after the death of his first wife in 1943. He and his second wife Opal were living there at the time of the 1957 explosion.
Both the commercial building and the house were destroyed by the explosion. The site remained vacant until 1960, when John Heitzman's widow Opal sold the property. From 1960-1963, John Sakadat operated a Marathon gas station on this site (address listed as 2423 W. Rohmann). According to West Peorian Shirley Camacho, her uncle, Walt Headley, and her cousin, Jim Headley, ran this gas station in 1964. Shirley has a memento from this business-an ice scraper advertising the Headley Marathon Gas Station.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, several people--including Roger M. Stephens, Lloyd S. Gilmour, Disque D. Dean, Thomas A. Kenny, Mitchell J. Maloof, and Gerard A. Fahnestock-either held the deed to this property or had some connection to its ownership.
During this time period, the only building on the property-the gas station-remained vacant from about 1965 to 1970. From about 1971 until 1974, this building was used by the United States Post Office as a repair shop or warehouse for its vehicles. At about the same time, a Post Office Annex occupied the building that today is Haddad's Super Market.
In 1974 Donald Muir purchased the gas station building and converted it into Muir Omni-Graphics, Inc. This business begun by Donald Muir in 1963 had first been housed at 1245 W. Main Street on the second floor of the building now occupied by One World Cafe, then at 200 W. Second Street in Peoria, and then in East Peoria. The business maintained its West Peoria location from 1974-1976 before moving to its present Peoria location at 908 W. Main Street.
In 1975, Muir Omni-Graphics was chosen by the city of Peoria to prepare the red, blue, and gold color scheme for Peoria's city logo-the "stylized" American Indian head. This company's present owner, Andrew Muir--a 1973 Manual graduate and 1982 graduate from the University of South Florida-had worked with his dad for twenty years before taking over the business in 1998.
In 1976 this property was sold to South Side Trust and Savings Bank. The original gas station building remains hidden within the present bank building-the bank having been built around the shell of the old gas station.
South Side Bank was one of the first to take advantage of the Illinois legislation in the 1970s, allowing the establishment of branch banks. The West Peoria branch, which opened August 26, 1977, was South Side Bank's first branch and probably one of the first branch banks in Peoria.
When the Lammers property was divided into three parcels in the 1920s, the lot at 2421 W. Rohmann became residential property. This property was sold in 1911 to Winfield Turner and in 1918 to Michael J. Martin, who resided in the house that was eventually built there. The Martin family continued to own the house until after the 1957 explosion when Gerard A. Fahnestock purchased the house from Margaret Martin.
Although damaged by the explosion, this house--which proved to be structurally sound-was purchased in 1964 Dr. Dean Bordeaux. Having graduated from Manual in 1945, Bordeaux went to Bradley University and then to the University of Illinois Medical School from which he graduated in 1951. After his internship at St. Francis Hospital and two-year service in the army, he began his practice in an office above the Casey drugstore on Lincoln and Western and then moved his office to the corner of Ann and Western in 1955.
When Bordeaux moved his office to the 2421 W. Rohmann site, he was returning to his West Peoria roots-actually on the same street (at 1924 W. Rohmann, formerly 112 W. Rohmann) where he had grown up with his parents John and Johanna Bordeaux and his brother Richard, a 1956 Manual grad. Many from Peoria's south side and from West Peoria were Dr. Bordeaux's patients--particularly young people who made periodic trips to his office for their required school physicals.
West Peorian Rosemarie "Rosie" Murdock (who died in 2003) was Dr. Bordeaux's staff nurse from 1956 to 1976. Her daughters Kristie and Kelli were Manual graduates.
In 1976 Dr. Bordeaux gave up his private practice to become one of the founding community faculty members for the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria. There he became the Director of the Family Practice Residency Program and still maintains his position as a clinical professor.
In 1976 he sold the house on Rohmann to South Side Bank. At the time of the grand opening of the South Side Bank's West Peoria branch, this house was still standing. It was subsequently torn down to provide the bank with a parking lot and access to its drive-up facility behind the bank.
By April 1977--having already acquired the largest parcel of land originally owned by the Lammers family in 1908 (and owned by Heitzman at the time of the explosion) and the second parcel of land from Dr. Dean Bordeaux--South Side Bank also acquired the portion of land held by Central Illinois Light Co. Finally, South Bank acquired the final portion of the original Lammer property. This small portion of the property had been purchased in 1924 by St. Joseph's Home and in December 1957 by the Sisters of St. Francis from whom South Side Bank purchased it in 1980.
If any of our readers have stories to share with us about the people and places mentioned in this story, please contact Sharon Crews (676-8109) or at SharonCrews@hotmail.com. Our thanks to all those who contributed information for the history articles in this issue. Special thanks go to Larry Traub and to Linda at the Peoria County Recorder of Deeds office for their help. Historical pictures for this issue and the website were provided by Larry Traub, Andy Muir, and Sharon Kennedy.