Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Brooklawn Pekin, IL

Pekin is a city primarily in Tazewell County, Illinois, with a small portion in Peoria County, and it is the county seat of Tazewell County.

The first settler in the Pekin area was Jonathan Tharp, who arrived in 1824, three years before Tazewell County was formed.

The settlement was given the name Pekin in 1830, chosen to honor the Chinese city of Peking, and by 1830 only about eight families lived in the new settlement.

Pekin was formally incorporated as a town and held its first election on July 9, 1835, and residents voted to organize under a city charter dated August 20, 1849, electing Bernard Bailey as the first mayor on September 24, 1849.

Pekin's population grew from about 1,600 people in 1850 to nearly 10,000 by the turn of the century, and peaked at 34,094 in the 2010 census.

The 2020 census counted 31,890 people in Pekin, and in 2010 Pekin held about 25 percent of Tazewell County's total population, making it the county's most populous community.

Pekin has been Tazewell County's leading community and its near-continuous seat of county government since the county seat was moved there from Mackinaw in 1831 and returned in 1848-1849 after a period in Tremont.

Local attractions in Pekin include the Avanti's Dome event center and the Tazewell County Museum, which is dedicated to preserving the history of the area.

Pekin is noted as the site of Abraham Lincoln's first important political move, early in his legal and political career in central Illinois.