Tazewell County, Illinois in the context of Pekin, Illinois

Peoria (/piˈɔːriə/ pee-OR-ee-ə) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in Illinois. It is the principal city of the Peoria metropolitan area in Central Illinois, consisting of Fulton, Marshall, Peoria, Stark, Tazewell, and Woodford counties and home to 402,391 people in 2020.

Established in 1691 by the French explorer Henri de Tonti, Peoria is the oldest permanent European settlement in Illinois, according to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey. Originally known as Fort Clark, it received its current name when the County of Peoria was organized in 1825. The city was named after the Peoria people, a member of the Illinois Confederation. On October 16, 1854, Abraham Lincoln made his Peoria speech against the Kansas–Nebraska Act. Prior to prohibition, Peoria was the center of the whiskey industry in the United States. More than 12 distilleries operated in Peoria by the end of the 19th century, more than any other city in the U.S.

Dent corn, also known as grain corn, is a type of field corn with a high soft starch content. It received its name because of the small indentation, or "dent", at the crown of each kernel on a ripe ear of corn. Reid's Yellow Dent is a variety developed by central Illinois farmer James L. Reid. Reid and his father, Robert Reid, moved from Brown County, Ohio, to Tazewell County, Illinois, in 1846 bringing with them a red corn variety known as "Johnny Hopkins", and crossed it with varieties of flint corn and flour corn. Most of today's hybrid corn varieties and cultivars are derived from it. This variety won a prize at the 1893 World's Fair.

Most of the corn grown in the United States today is yellow dent corn or a closely related variety derived from it. Dent corn is the variety used in food manufacturing as the base ingredient for cornmeal flour (used in the baking of cornbread), corn chips, tortillas, and taco shells. It is also used to make corn syrup. Starch derived from this high-starch content variety is turned into plastics, as well as fructose which is used as a sweetener (high-fructose corn syrup) in many processed foods and soft drinks.

Powerton Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area is a 1,426-acre (577 ha) area of semi-protected habitat on the Illinois River southwest of to the city of Pekin, Illinois within Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The parcel is a cooling reservoir owned by NRG Energy, an electric power generating firm, and is operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). The lake is used for fishing, with an emphasis on blue catfish. In addition, IDNR states that approximately 60% of the cooling pond is used for duck and goose hunting during legal hunting seasons. The remaining 40% of the pond is maintained as a waterfowl refuge on a year-round basis.