Honorary Street Naming Scheduled For Author Norman V. Kelly

Press release from the City of Peoria:

An honorary street naming will take place for author and historian, Norman “Norm” V. Kelly, on Friday, April 23. The street sign will be located at the corner of North Sterling Avenue and West Richwoods Boulevard. A short program will be held at 1:00 pm on the same day on the lawn of Fire Station 13, 2114 Richwoods Boulevard. There is limited parking and COVID-19 mitigations will be in place. The public is asked to wear facemasks and follow social distancing protocols.

The sign, proposed by Harry Canterbury, Bruce Brown, and Kev Swadinsky, representing a “Fraction of Norm’s Friends”, was sponsored by Council Member Charles Grayeb. The location of the sign was chosen for the significance of El Vista, Mr. Kelly’s childhood neighborhood.

Mayor Jim Ardis acknowledged Mr. Kelly’s impact, stating, “Norm Kelly worked tirelessly to tell the story of the city he loved. In hundreds of pieces of published work, and in his candid and frank style, Norm not only kept the history of Peoria alive, but introduced it to readers around the world.”

Norm Kelly passed away at the age of 88 on August 4, 2020. He wrote about prominent Peorians in his series, “Child of the City”, and could have easily included himself alongside those he wrote about. A graduate of Woodruff High School and Bradley University, Kelly served during the Korean War and worked as a paralegal and private eye. He was a competitive distance runner and trained dogs.

A prolific writer, he wrote close to 300 short stories, published 10 books, and was a popular speaker on the history of Peoria. A regular on local radio and television shows, he found a global audience when he published his website, the Peorian Historian. On his website, he claimed he wrote “mostly about the bawdy, seedy and dangerous elements of Peoria’s long history, 1845 through 1950.”

Of equal importance to him was recognition and restoration. One of his final projects was installing a plaque at the Peoria County Courthouse to honor George Henry Ellis, a Peorian who died in the Spanish-American War of Santiago de Cuba. He also worked with other local leaders to restore the Civil War Memorial in Springdale Cemetery.

Mr. Kelly donated his papers to the Peoria Public Library, where they can be found in the Local History section at the Main Library. To read some of Mr. Kelly’s stories, you can visit his page on the Peoria Public Library website or read his work on the Peorian Historian website.

This press release was produced by the City of Peoria. The views expressed here are the author’s own.