Posts about Education
Readying for college Fall of 1949
Bill and Edmunds Rolley enjoy an apparently carefree day in the Twin Cities before heading off to Northwestern University in Evanston, ...
North Gate Subdivision Northeast Normal, July 1964
During the summer of 1964, ranch and split-level homes were popping up in the North Gate subdivision in northeast Normal, adjacent to t...
Wilder Field, IWU July 1938
Illinois Wesleyan University's Wilder Field was built with Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor and materials, the largest of...
ISSCS Festival August 1950
The Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School annual festival of 1950 included pressure cooking demonstrations, as well as disp...
Three hospitals; three styles of caps June 1958
The distinctive caps worn by graduate nurses at the three Bloomington-Normal hospitals were compared and contrasted during the local St...
LeRoy High’s Ron Crosby Teacher of Year, May 1964
At the end of the 1964 school year, Leroy High School students selected biology teacher and basketball coach Ron Crosby (left) as “Teac...
University School of Beauty Culture September 1939
Margarette Scott’s beauty school was located on the 400 block of North Main Street in downtown Bloomington. “We get personality trainin...
Illinois State Normal University Junior-Senior Prom, 1949
Several ISNU coeds show off their gowns for the June 10, 1949 junior-senior prom. Louise Claymore (left) is in a blue chiffon; Barbara ...
Extra, extra, read all about it! Pantagraph’s graduation edition, May 1949
Danvers High School seniors are seen here pouring though The Daily Pantagraph’s 56-page graduation edition of May 18, 1949. The Pantagr...
BHS Student Lounge May 1948
Bloomington High School students Wanda Rust (right) and Margaret Schlemmer work on murals in the newly opened student lounge, a repurpo...
Tree Planting, Lincoln School April 22, 1938
In a pre-Arbor Day observance, members of Lincoln School’s eighth grade class watch Jack Elledge shovel dirt around a newly planted elm...
Bloomington High Aegis staff October 1954
Several weeks ago we ran a photograph from a set of 1954 negatives showing the staff of Aegis, the BHS student newspaper. Here’s anothe...
Extra! Extra! Read All About it! BHS student newspaper, 1954
The Aegis is Bloomington High School’s longtime student newspaper. Here’s chief photographer Bob Stoner in late October 1954 snapping B...
Arrowsmith High School
Built in 1929, this building served as the Village of Arrowsmith’s high school until consolidation with neighboring Saybrook in 1952. T...
Rockets, mid-1940s Twin-City Recreation Center
The Rockets were an informal team connected to the Twin-City Recreation Center, 318 S. Main St., Bloomington. They played games Friday ...
Excelsior School -- Cheney’s Grove Township, 1938
Excelsior School, located two miles east of Saybrook, was one of more than 250 one-room schools in McLean County. Most, including Excel...
Emerson School, Bloomington March 1976
Built in the early 1900s, Emerson School was demolished in 1985. Designed by prominent Bloomington architect Arthur L. Pillsbury, it wa...
Illinois State Normal University Quad, 1941
This aerial view, looking north, shows the ISNU Quad in 1941. Note the walkways that led from “Old Main” (“A”) to Edwards (“B”) and Mou...
"Gridley High, January 1953 County Hoops Champs"
Here’s Gridley High School Coach Clarence “Merk” Kyger readying his varsity squad for the 1953 McLean County Basketball Tournament, whi...
Christmas Seals, 1937
Richard Young, a Bloomington High School student, is seen here showing an enlarged reproduction of his 1937 Christmas Seal design. That...
Bird House Contest, 1930s Anchor Grade School
This wonderful photograph comes from the Museum’s William Brigham Collection. Brigham was the longtime superintendent of McLean County ...
Aaron Copland at IWU February 1958
Composer Aaron Copland was the featured guest for Illinois Wesleyan University's Seventh Annual Symposium of Contemporary American...
Back to School Illinois Wesleyan, September 1938
Monday, August 29, 2016 marked the first day of classes for the 2016-2017 school year at Illinois Wesleyan University. Seen here are IW...
Prairie Daze Hudson, July 12, 1980
Acacia fraternity members from Illinois Wesleyan University compete in the outhouse race at Hudson’s Prairie Daze summer fest back in 1...
LeRoy Centennial Parade October 19, 1935
A merchant’s parade was one of the highlights of LeRoy’s three-day centennial celebration, October 18-20, 1935. Some 6,000 folks lined ...
Irving School, Bloomington Eighth Grade Graduates, 1925
Here’s the Irving School class of 1925. In 2016 Irving is still a public school on Bloomington’s west side (though the old building in ...
Cooksville High School Class of 1909
Seen here are 1909 graduates from Cooksville, a small community some fifteen miles northeast of Normal. Left to right, beginning with t...
Bloomington High School Under Construction, August 1958
This aerial shows the “new” Bloomington High School, corner of Towanda Avenue and Locust Street on the city’s eastside, roughly one yea...
Brown’s Business College, 1930 526-530 N. Main St., Bloomington
Brown’s Business College, a chain of schools established by G.W. Brown of Jacksonville, offered classes in various downstate Illinois c...
Heyworth High and Environs January 1933
This wonderful aerial photograph of Heyworth High School dates to January 23, 1933. The view is looking east-northeast into town.In man...
Fashion Show Prep, late April 1958 Octavia High School, Colfax
This late April 1958 scene shows Octavia High School student Marcella Brucker at a sewing machine working on a dress she planned to mod...
When Every Small Town Had a High School … Stanford High, 1936
Long before successive waves of school consolidation beginning apace in the late 1940s, every small town had their own high school. The...
BHS Athletic Field Undated Aerial
This undated view of Bloomington High School’s Athletic Field is looking southeast. “A” signifies Bloomington Country Club; “B” Elmwood...
Anchor School Circa 1900
The small community of Anchor, located in the northeastern corner of McLean County, was once home to this attractive 1896 school buildi...
McLean County Basketball Tournament Championship Game, January 21, 1966 Octavia 68, Lexington 48
For many years the biggest sporting event on the local calendar was the McLean County Basketball Tournament, which began way back in 19...
Patrol Boys Confab, January 1946 Franklin School, Bloomington
Some 140 patrol boys from nine Bloomington public schools gathered at Franklin School on January 8, 1946, for a joint meeting on traffi...
All I Want for Christmas … Lincoln School First Graders, 1965
Back in early December 1965, these six-year-old first graders from Lincoln School in Bloomington could sympathize with the wishes expre...
T-H-A-N-K-S-G-I-V-I-N-G 1980 Towanda Grade School
Towanda Grade School kindergartners perform Thanksgiving themed poems and songs for their parents the week of Thanksgiving 1980. Althou...
Happy Halloween! Jefferson School, Bloomington, 1957
James and Evora Ross, pictured here with their four-year-old daughter Janet, chaired the all-family Jefferson School PTA Halloween part...
Halloween Party, 1939 Holy Trinity Parish Kindergarten, Bloomington
Holy Trinity Catholic Church's afternoon kindergarten class enjoyed candied apples among other treats during this Halloween Day 19...
Spooktacular 1957 Jefferson School, Bloomington
The Jefferson School PTA held an all-family Halloween party on October 28, 1957. Seen here are prize winners for the prettiest, most or...
Wesleyan Homecoming, October 1958 Titans Rough Up the Bluejays
Fifty-seven years ago, Saturday, October 25, 1958, Wesleyan easily dispatched visiting Elmhurst College 47-7 in the homecoming football...
Homecoming 1949 Bloomington High School
Seen here are two photographs of Bloomington’s 1949 homecoming festivities. The photo on the left shows BHS homecoming queen Diane Tayl...
Angelic Coeds, September 27, 1940 Dedication of the Van Leer Chime Tower
Bill Kemp's “Page from Our Past” column in the Pantagraph (linked below) detailed the history of the chime tower on the Broadview ...
The Times They Have Changed! Town of Normal, 1966
This view of the Town of Normal and Illinois State University, taken in 1966 from either Hewett or Manchester halls, two recently opene...
Old Main Comes Down September 9, 1958
On September 9, 1958, a one-ton wrecking ball made quick work of Illinois State University’s first campus building, affectionately know...
Fall Means College Football ISNU ‘Teachers,’ 1907
Back in 1907, the Illinois State Normal University Teachers (the nickname would be changed to “Red Birds” in 1923 and then “Redbirds” a...
Photo of the Week, 126: ‘Fab Four’ in Bloomington, 1950
The Beatles didn’t arrive in the U.S. until February 1964, but some 14 years earlier Bloomington-Normal experienced its own British Inv...
Photo of the Week, 124: ‘Swing Time’ at Victory Hall October 1935
Opened in 1919 and located at 904 Hovey Ave. in Normal, Victory Hall was a safe place for boys from troubled families. At the time of t...
Photo of the Week, 122: Watterson Towers, October 1967 -- Twenty-One Stories to Go!
Watterson Towers, a 28-story residence hall complex located on the Illinois State University campus, opened in 1969. It houses some 2,2...
Photo of the Week, 117: ISSCS Graduates, 1958
Normal was the longtime home to the state-run orphanage known as the Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School. “Home Kids” (as...
Photo of the Week: ISSCS Graduates, 1958
Normal was the longtime home to the state-run orphanage known as the Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School. “Home Kids” (as...
Photo of the Week, 116: We Shall Overcome, October 1965
On Sunday, October 24, 1965, demonstrators from Illinois State University marched along Main Street to downtown Bloomington to protest ...
Photo of the Week, 94: Thanksgiving at ISSCS, 1962
For more than a century, the Town of Normal was home to a state-run orphanage: the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children&#...
Photo of the Week, 83: Swiped Bell Returned to Redbird Roost, September 20, 1967
Back in the 1960s when Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University still played each other in football, pranks were comm...
Photo of the Week, 82: 'Starr' Attraction at Normal Chamber Banquet, 1969
Famed Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr was the keynote speaker at the March 26, 1969 Normal Chamber of Commerce banquet. There ...
Photo of the Week, 77: That's a Hair-raising Experience!
In mid-September 1939, The Pantagraph ran a photo essay on the University School of Beauty Culture, located at 417 North Main Street in...
Photo of the Week, 75: Amen and Let's Eat!
Established in 1864/1865, the Illinois' Soldiers' Orphans' Home (later renamed ISSCS) was a state-run orphanage in north...
Photo of the Week, 69: Ready, Set, Go!
Bloomington High School baseball team, 1947The district champions charge off the bench for a warm-up session prior to a Saturday, May 2...
Photo of the Week, 64: Redbirds Crowned National Champs in 1969
Get Your Replica Cap Today! Illinois State University's baseball team captured the NCAA College Division (now Division II) nation...
Photo of the Week, 41: We’re Number One!
Museum to Sell Replica Redbird Cap from 1969 Championship Season On June 6, 1969, Illinois State University's baseball team capt...
Photo of the Week, 32: Are you ready for some football?
Pictured here is the 1915 University High School football team. The “U Men" (the school nickname “Pioneers" was still a long...
Photo of the Week, 24: Seven ball in the corner pocket . . .
Students at the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School (ISSCS) play pool at Horner Hall, circa 1955-1956. ISS...
Photo of the Week, 14: Bent School Graduates, June 1938
Graduation season is upon us! Seen here are 1938 graduates of Horatio G. Bent School on Bloomington's northwest side. Horatio Bent...
Photo of the Week, 10: “A Full House” at “The Wesleyan,” November 1924
Mostly everything in the Museum's collections have been donated by people who like to save things. This “Photo of the Week," ...