Peoria Civic Center is an entertainment complex located in downtown

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) 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 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

. Designed by

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...

winning architect

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...

and John Burgee, it has an arena, theater, exhibit hall and meeting rooms. It opened in 1982 and completed an expansion to its lobby and meeting facilities in 2007. On the grounds of the Peoria Civic Center sits the massive "Sonar Tide," the last and largest sculpture of the pioneer of abstract minimalism

Ronald Bladen Ronald Bladen (July 13, 1918 – February 3, 1988) was a Canadian-born American painter and sculptor. He is particularly known for his large-scale sculptures. His artistic stance, was influenced by European Constructivism, American Hard-Edge P ...

History

The site of the Civic Center includes the spot at Liberty Street and Jefferson Street, where Moses and Lucy Pettengill lived from 1836 to 1862; that house was part of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

and Moses was also an Underground Railroad "conductor". In 1862, the Pettingills moved out of downtown and to Moss Avenue, where the present Pettengill–Morron House was built in 1868. The downtown home was demolished in 1910 to make way for the Jefferson Hotel. The hotel, in turn, was imploded in 1978 to make way for the Civic Center. Peoria Civic Center opened on June 6, 1982. The first event at the Civic Center was a home and garden show in the Exhibit Hall in February 1982.

Facilities

Carver Arena

Carver Arena has been hosts to acts such as

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, Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live,

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, and basketball exhibition games for the

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. , seating capacity was 9,919 for hockey and indoor football, 11,433 for basketball and up to 12,036 for

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

set the record for the highest-grossing concert in venue history on January 22, 2019. The previous record was held by an

concert in 2011.

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set a record for top-selling country concert in venue history on March 18, 2022. Previous record holder was

. Carver Arena hosted the

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boys' basketball state finals for two weeks every March from 1996 until 2019. The interactive March Madness Experience took place in the adjacent exhibition hall during the tournaments.

Theater

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...

and

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian and American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television ...

's Now You See Them, Soon You Won't event on April 20, 2019, set the record for top comedy show in Peoria Civic Center Theater's History. In March 2022, comedian

Gabriel Iglesias Gabriel Jesús Iglesias (born July 15, 1976) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has produced a number of stand-up specials for television outlets such as Comedy Central and Netflix, including ''I'm Not Fat… I'm Fluffy'', and ''Ho ...

set an all-time box office record, which comedian

Bill Burr {{Infobox comedian , image = Bill Burr by Gage Skidmore.jpg , alt = , caption = Burr in 2018 , birth_name = William Frederic Burr , birth_date = {{birth date and age, 1968, 6, 10 , bi ...

broke six months later.

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set a new box office record for a concert in the theater with his December 3, 2022 performance.

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ranked the Peoria Civic Center Theater as the 96th top selling theater in the world and 3rd in state of Illinois behind Chicago based venues -

Chicago Theatre The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark Theater (structure), theater located on North State Street (Chicago), State Street in the Loop, Chicago, Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 19 ...

and Rosemont Theatre.

Tenants

* Peoria Symphony Orchestra * Peoria Ballet * Bradley Men's Basketball * Peoria Rivermen (SPHL)

External links

Official Site

Carver Arena
at BradleyBraves.com — short history of Bradley University basketball at Carver Arena

References

{{Authority control 1982 establishments in Illinois Bradley Braves basketball College basketball venues in Illinois Concert halls in Illinois Convention centers in Illinois Event venues established in 1982 Ice hockey venues in Illinois Music venues in Illinois Peoria Rivermen Sports venues completed in 1982 Sports venues in Peoria, Illinois Theatres in Illinois