Peoria is a city in central Illinois, and has a population of about 100,000. Its Riverfront Museum has some of the most unique art around. When I was there, the main floor was dedicated to Lego art, several are shown below.

With this post, I am going to clue you in on a secret I have learned after visiting at least a hundred museums around the country. It seems that every town or city with more than a population of 1,000 has it local museum. I would say that about half of those type that I have visited were worth the trip. The others were just various local pieces thrown together in one room.

Then there are the large cities, meaning those with a population of 200,000 or more, are primarily made up of Renaissance and similar art pieces they have managed to collect through trusts or inheritance of wealthy people. If they give enough, a room in the museum is named after them. These types of museum have become dull and boring to me. It’s the “same old, same old” every time. Due to my humble upbringing, I can’t help but wonder how all that money could have been used for clinic/housing/feeding of those at the other end of their spectrum.

Then there are those cities between about 70,000 to 200,000 who thrive on their creative juices. They, like this Riverfront Museum, find things that are visually pleasing, but don’t cost a fortune. Those are the museums I mostly sought out during my 50 years of traveling across America.