December 10th, 2016

Santa at the Courthouse Square Downtown Bloomington, 1948

On December 4, 1948, Santa Claus arrived in Bloomington via the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad. Upon disembarking at the old west side depot, Mr. Claus traveled east on Washington Street to the Courthouse Square. Some 6,000 children and their parents gathered on the Square to welcome Santa....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

December 5th, 2016

Jennie Wickizer’s Bakery Downtown Bloomington, undated

In April 1894, Jennie Wickizer purchased the commercial building at the corner of Main and Mulberry streets on the north end of downtown Bloomington, and from that location she operated a bakery for about 20 years. That’s Jennie on the right. The other folks are unidentified. “The success of Mrs....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

December 5th, 2016

0 mins read by Torii Moré

December 4th, 2016

Lost Bloomington Grace Methodist Church

Grace Methodist Church, located on the northwest corner of East and Locust streets, was dedicated in July 1889. More than 3,000 services were held at this church until it was razed in 1952. Grace and First Methodist (located on the south end of downtown Bloomington) merged to form Wesley United M...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

December 2nd, 2016

Herman Glaser, December 1952 Stanford’s Toy Maker

During the 1952 holiday season Stanford resident and retired farmer Herman Glaser displayed several of his personally designed and built mechanical toys on his porch, including this working 32-inch Ferris wheel. There was also a merry-go-round (visible to the right of Glaser’s head) and a yet-to-...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

December 1st, 2016

LeRoy’s CCC Camp August 1934

LeRoy was home to a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) work camp during the Great Depression. The view here is looking northeast, with downtown LeRoy barely visible through the tree canopy. Camp LeRoy opened in May 1934, and the unmarried young men between the ages of 18 and 25 stationed there wor...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 30th, 2016

Herman Jack’s Christmas tree December 1952

In April 1950, DeWitt County farmer Herman Jack planted 1,500 evergreen seedlings on sloping, erodible land on his farm southwest of Farmer City. In late December 1952, more than two-and-a-half years later, Jack selected one of the surviving 1,300 evergreens with a particularly good five-foot gro...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 29th, 2016

C.W. Frey’s Showroom Downtown Bloomington, circa 1929-30

Clarence W. Frey & Sons was a longtime auto dealership and service center located at 300-314 W. Washington St. Seen here is a Frey showroom with circa 1929-1930 Studebakers. Maybe a car buff out there can help us fill in some of the details (model and model years) of these beauties.The Frey b...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 28th, 2016

Kleinau & Son confectionary Downtown Bloomington, ca. 1915-1916

The staff of Kleinau & Son’s is seen here in front of the 218 N. Center St. storefront, sometime in the mid-1910s. That’s likely William F. Kleinau on the left. The others are unidentified. Kleinau’s sold candy, ice cream, and fruit at this location into the late 1920s....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 28th, 2016

McHistory: Bloomington's Settlement House

Listen to the audio on WGLT's website hereMcHistory goes back in time to explore big moments and small stories from McLean County history. McHistory episodes can be heard p...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 26th, 2016

One-Room School on the Move November 23, 1963

This late 1963 scene shows the one-room Rose Hill School being moved to its new site on the Illinois State Normal University campus. Originally located on Hovey Avenue, the school now sits at the corner of College Avenue and Adelaide Street. In 1964 it was renamed for Lura Eyestone, an 1892 ISNU ...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 25th, 2016

Holiday Shopping 1932 Downtown Bloomington

Back in the 1930s downtown was the place to go for all your holiday shopping. This snowy Depression-era scene shows the corner of Main and Jefferson streets on the northeast corner of the Courthouse (now Museum) Square. The view is looking west. Note the Salvation Army bell ringer and kettle!...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 24th, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving

This “Turkey Day” card comes from the Museum’s Greetings Cards Collection. The Museum Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, and members wish you an enjoyable, relaxing, and safe Thanksgiving...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 23rd, 2016

Thanksgiving Preparations November 1952

Ed Peifer of Peifer’s Madison Market, 220 N. Madison St. in downtown Bloomington, shows an unidentified shopper the finer points of the Thanksgiving turkey in this late November 1952 photograph....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 22nd, 2016

Bloomington Municipal Airport Terminal, April 1964

The period from Wednesday through Sunday around Thanksgiving is usually the busiest travel time of the year in the U.S. Fortunately for folks flying in or out of Bloomington, local airport facilities have expanded dramatically since this April 1964 photograph! Who remembers this old terminal buil...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 21st, 2016

Village of Colfax February 14, 1938

The view is looking east. “A” is Main Street; “B” Center Street; “C” the Illinois Central Railroad’s “Bloomer Line” (today it’s the Alliance Grain Co.’s Bloomer Shippers Connecting Railroad); “D” a lovely L-shaped row of Osage orange hedge that is gone today, just like many of the downtown buildi...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 20th, 2016

Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust ISNU vs. IWU, November 21, 1936

llinois State Normal and Illinois Wesleyan universities were bitter gridiron rivals going all the way back to 1887. In the 1936 season, the visiting Red Birds (spelled as two words back then) fell to the Titans 18-0 at IWU’s Wilder Field. Seen here is an unidentified Wesleyan runner getting by IS...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 19th, 2016

Anchor Aces January 1946

Led by high-scoring “hook shooter” Bruce Taylor (39) and rebounder Donald Biefeldt (37), the Anchor Aces finished the 1945-1946 season as the Colfax District champions before losing to Gridley in the Chenoa Regional. Anchor High closed in 1949 during the first great wave of school consolidation....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 17th, 2016

Jesse Fell House March 1947

Town of Normal founder Jesse Fell built this house in 1856-1857, nearly a decade before the establishment of the town itself.It originally occupied the southwest corner of Broadway Ave. and Irving St. when it was part of a 15-acre estate. It was later moved to 502 S. Fell Ave., and then torn down...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 16th, 2016

Trotter Fountain March 1957

The Trotter Fountain, dedicated May 30, 1911, might be the most significant work of public art in the Twin Cities. Designed by Lorado Taft, one of the leading American sculptors of the 20th century, this fountain stands near the corner of East and Washington streets in Withers Park, just south of...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 15th, 2016

Heyworth Area Good Neighbors November 6, 1950

A Corn Belt harvest time tradition involves farmers helping fellow farmers in need. Sixty-six years ago, in early November 1950, friends of Heyworth area farmer Euel Roberts picked his 560-acre corn crop and then filled his crib (seen here) with the harvested ear corn. With an ailing wife in an a...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 11th, 2016

Armistice Day 1945 parade Downtown Bloomington

This photograph, taken from the east steps of the McLean County Courthouse (now Museum), offers a partial view of the 200 block of North Main Street, looking southeast. The Unity Building was one of the great downtown professional office buildings. It was lost in a fire in 1988....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 10th, 2016

George Stewart World War I veteran

This photograph, undated, shows George Stewart, a local (and well-decorated) World War I veteran. The “163” on his American Legion cap and jacket lapels references the Redd-Williams American Legion Post #163, comprised of African Americans. Though hard to believe, at one time Bloomington had sepa...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 9th, 2016

Armistice Day, 1945 Courthouse Square, Bloomington

Veterans Day was first known as “Armistice Day,” which goes back to November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Seen here is the 1945 Armistice Day ceremony on the Courthouse (now Museum) Square in the heart of downtown Bloomington. November 11, 1945 came a little more tha...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 8th, 2016

Gronemeier Bakery, Bloomington November 1935

From the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, W.H. Gronemeier operated a bakery at the northwest corner of East and Front streets (the old building is long gone and the site is now part of the Government Center complex).In 1935, you could bring your Thanksgiving turkey to Gronemeier’s and have it baked “...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

Bloomington Author Wilson Tucker Book Signing, October 1947

This late October 1947 photo shows Arthur Wilson “Bob” Tucker signing copies of his latest mystery novel, “To Keep or Kill,” at W.B. Read & Co., 210 N. Center St. in downtown Bloomington. Tucker, a longtime local movie projectionist, enjoyed a second career as a mystery and science fiction wr...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 4th, 2016

Veterans Parkway as the Route 66 ‘Beltline’ December 1960

This aerial, looking due north, shows the corner of Route 66 (“D”) and Route 9 / Empire Street (“G”) in late 1960. The Route 66 “Beltline” is now Veterans Parkway. Also seen here are the Illinois Agricultural Association (IAA) headquarters (“A”), which would be dedicated on September 7, 1961; Pem...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 2nd, 2016

General Telephone Building Empire Street / Route 9, August 1958

This summer 1958 aerial view, looking north-northwest, shows the under-construction General Telephone Building (“F”), once located on the 1300 block of E. Empire St. / Route 9. This three-story building (last occupied by Verizon) was torn down in 2011. “A” is Ewing Manor; “B” Towanda Ave.; “C” t...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

November 1st, 2016

Hawkins Studio & Camera Shop 100 N. Center St., Bloomington, undated

In the summer of 1965, Joseph G. Hawkins Studio & Camera Shop of Bloomington relocated from 214 W. Washington St. to this building, 110 N. Center St. Hawkins began his photography career in Bloomington back in 1913. He passed away in November 1976, and this studio and shop closed one year lat...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp

October 31st, 2016

Happy Halloween!

The Museum Board, staff, and volunteers wish you a safe, spooky, and happy Halloween. May we all pay heed to the advice on this card:O let us cast dull care away Again be children for a day....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp