William Moss, brother of Lydia Moss Bradley, came to Peoria in the 1830’s. In 1843, William and his father Zeally built and occupied a small brick house at 901 Seventh Street, now Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, that came to be called Peoria Mineral Springs. Three large springs and an underground cavern behind the house soon became a major source of water for Peoria. About 1858 the City developed other sources and the huge output of the springs flowed into the lowlands, forming Goose Lake. The lake was drained in 1867 for home sites and the spring water then went into the Peoria sewers, as it still does.
In 1847, Lydia and her husband, Tobias, came to Peoria and lived with William until their new home at 802 Moss was finished.
Lydia’s father, Captain Zeally Moss, came to visit them often until he died here in 1849. The old house was marked by the Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation in 1979 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.