Posts about Holiday
Red, White, and Kaboom! Independence Day 1941
Nine-year-old Tommy Roberts of Bloomington stocks up on fireworks for the July 4, 1941 festivities.The Museum wishes you and yours a ha...
Independence Day 1964 Miller Park, Bloomington
For well over a century, Miller Park on Bloomington’s west side has served as home to many the city’s Fourth of July activities, includ...
Memorial Day 1964 Park Hill Cemetery, Bloomington
The Twin Cities and surrounding communities have honored their war dead since the first local Decoration Day was organized after the Ci...
Memorial Day 1936 Downtown Bloomington
The McLean County Legion Drum Corps, debuting their new uniforms, march south down Main Street on Saturday, May 30, 1936, during Bloomi...
Saybrook’s last Civil War widow Emma Cook, May 1938
In May 1938, the Village of Saybrook prepared to celebrate its first Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day) without a Civil War vet...
Valentine’s Day 1947 Raymond School, Bloomington
The Pantagraph ran this photograph on Valentine’s Day 1947—nearly 70 years ago. Seen here are Raymond School students Jackie Myers and ...
Holiday season comes to an end January 4, 1965
Is there anything sadder than a dry and tindery Christmas tree, sans ornaments and lights, unceremoniously dumped curbside come early J...
New Year’s Eve 1948 In with the new, out with the old …
The Pantagraph ran this staged photograph of Father Time and Baby New Year on the last day of 1948. Unfortunately, we don’t know the na...
Santa on Parade December 1948
On December 5, 1948, Santa arrived in Bloomington via the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad. From the west side passenger station he tra...
Christmas 1953
On December 25, 1953, The Pantagraph ran a series of Christmas Day photographs such as this one. Yet these two toddlers were not identi...
Toy, toys, and more toys Christmastime 1953
This week we’ve posted several photographs from a set showing downtown Bloomington holiday shoppers in mid-December 1953. As with the p...
December Sleigh Ride, 1963
These young women appear to be having the time of their lives. Unfortunately, we do not known the who, what, where, and why of this fab...
Santa No Replacement for Mama Downtown Bloomington, December 4, 1948
Santa arrived by train to Bloomington on December 4, 1948, and spent much of the day greeting children in his specially erected hut on ...
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 sid...
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 buil...
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 Fa...
Happy Thanksgiving
This “Turkey Day” card comes from the Museum’s Greetings Cards Collection. The Museum Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, and member...
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....
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 ...
Halloween Party Mystery
The exact date of this photo, let alone the name of the group are unknown. It is c.1918 and the room is in the Illinois House lobby, a ...
Be of Good Cheer Livingston’s, Early 1950s
Seen here from the early 1950s is Livingston’s, the gone-but-not-forgotten local department store on the south side of the Courthouse S...
Christmas Caravan, 1935
During the Great Depression 80 downtown Bloomington merchants staged a “Christmas Caravan” promotion to boost holiday retail sales. The...
Bright Lights in Time for Christmas Downtown Bloomington, December 1958
On Dec. 19, 1958, Bloomington Mayor Robert McGraw threw a ceremonial switch to light about half of the 65 new mercury vapor streetlamps...
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...
Santa and His Six (?) Reindeer Bloomington Christmas Parade, 1929
The December 3, 1929 Christmas parade in Bloomington featured Santa Claus, six marching bands, a drum corps, and eleven floats, among m...
Corny Christmas Contest, 1934 Guess the Number of Kernels
Back in December 1934, the Bloomington Association of Commerce (now the McLean County Chamber of Commerce) staged a “corny” promotion t...
Ho ho ho Livingston’s Santas, 1940s
From the 1940s to the mid-1970s, A. Livingston & Sons in downtown Bloomington hoisted two giants Santas onto its overhang for the h...
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...
Why did the Turkey Cross the Road?
To escape the Thanksgiving Day dinner table, of course! Seen here are a wild turkey hen and her chick crossing Cabintown Road in Bloomi...
Veterans Day, 1958 McLean County Courthouse Lawn
Veterans Day ceremonies have been held on the lawn of the old McLean County Courthouse (now the McLean County Museum of History) for as...
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 Traditions
Although there are several theories regarding the origin of Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, its roots can be traced back to the ancient ...
Bo Peep Has Found Her Sheep Halloween Parade, Bloomington 1938
A Depression-era tradition in Bloomington was the annual Halloween Mardi Gras parade and street dance. Seen here from the parade of Oct...
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...
McLean Harvest Festival September 26, 1952
The Village of McLean in the southwestern corner of McLean County used to stage an annual Harvest Festival. Seen here is the McLean Sup...
Labor Day Parade Bloomington, 1985
“Buy American—Save the USA” was the theme for the September 2, 1985, Labor Day parade. Bloomington first played host to a such a parade...
Labor Day in Bloomington Circa 1920
Bloomington’s first Labor Day parade was held on September 7, 1891, three years before the day became a national holiday. This parade f...
Flag Day, 1948
Local Girl Scouts hoist Old Glory at Forrest Park in south Bloomington in preparation for Flag Day 1948. Running the Stars and Stripes ...
Salute from a Korean War Vet Memorial Day 1982
Robert R. “Bob” Neal salutes a fallen veteran at Bloomington’s Park Hill Cemetery, Memorial Day 1982. Bob served in the U.S. Marine Cor...
Remember the Fallen
McLean County has long honored its war dead. In 1869, local officials saw to the erection in the center of Franklin Park a monument fea...
Photo of the Week, 96: The Most Popular Guy in the Room
On December 23, 1944, more than 600 grade school children attended the Town of Normal's thirteenth annual community Christmas prog...
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, 92: Thanksgiving in the Great Depression, 1938
On the evening of Wednesday, November 23, 1938, the day before Thanksgiving, the Young Men's Commercial Club of Bloomington prepar...
We All Scream for Ice Cream
How long exactly have people been screaming for ice cream? No one really knows for sure; but, I do know that nothing beats the taste of...
Easter Parade, LeRoy Style, 1937
On Sunday, April 9, 1937, The Pantagraph ran a photo spread on LeRoy ladies getting ready for Easter church services and family get-tog...
Photo of the Week, 47: Seasons Greetings . . . from South of the Border!
Sixty years ago this month, during the 1953 Christmas season, former
Bloomington residents Stanley A. and Antoinette McVey were back in...
Photo of the Week, 46: Santa Spotted in Downtown Bloomington, 1929
The annual Bloomington-Normal Jaycees Christmas Parade, held this year on Saturday, December 7, was the 84th edition of this local holi...
Photo of the Week, 45: Christmas in Bloomington, 1941
Eighteen days after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the
United States held a rather somber Christmas, given the coming two...
Photo of the Week, 43: Happy Thanksgiving from the Museum!
This photograph appeared in The Pantagraph on Thanksgiving Day 1956. The original caption read: “Good morning! Today is Thanksgiving. M...
Photo of the Week, 30: Gertrude Fifer and Grandson Joe Bohrer
Unitarian Church, Downtown Bloomington Easter Day 1932, Seen here are Gertrude Lewis Fifer and her grandson Joseph Fifer Bohrer, Easter...