Civil rights activist Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian, who lived on this property from 1930 to 1945, graduated from Macomb High School and Western Illinois State Teachers College, now WIU. His activism helping black Americans began in Peoria after World War II. He became especially known for his work with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King as he strove for black people to have full rights in several southern cities. King said Vivian was the greatest preacher he had ever seen. Vivian founded several civil rights organizations and the college prep program Upward Bound, advocated fundamental human values across America, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.