The Bradley Homestead

The Bradley Homestead. (Circa 1856). Tobias Bradley, a Mississippi River produce merchant, married Lydia Moss of Switzerland County, Indiana in 1837. Ten years later they came to Peoria. This house constructed in 1856 became the home of Lydia and Tobias Bradley in 1858. After Tobias Bradley's death in 1867, Lydia took control of the expanding Bradley business interests (distilling, farming, sawmill operations, and banking)., Under Lydia Bradley's astute management the Bradley business interests expanded and prospered. A widow and childless, Lydia's interests turned to those less fortunate. Many of Peoria's institutions, some yet continuing, were able to be initiated with Lydia's strong sense of charity and financial support. These included the hospital which became Saint Francis Hospital, The Children's Home, The Grand Opera House, and the Bradley Home For Aged Women., However, Lydia Moss Bradley's outstanding contribution, a lifelong dream which once fulfilled was to touch on the lives of thousands, was realized with the establishment of Bradley University in 1897.