Posts about Politics and Government
Illinois Bicentennial flag raising kicks off year of programs
The State of Illinois will celebrate its 200th birthday on Dec. 3, 2018. To help kick off a yearlong celebration of the Illinois Bicent...
City Hoosegow September 1938
Old Bloomington City Hall, located at the corner of East and Monroe streets downtown, included eight narrow holding cells. These were l...
BPD’s Rogues Gallery August 1947
Bloomington Police Chief Clyde Hibbens (left) and Officer James Daley examine some of the 1,600 mug shots in the department’s newly acq...
Municipal Workers on Strike May 1968
Bloomington’s public service employees responsible for garbage pickup and cleanup work staged a seven-day strike in early May 1968. Thi...
Free range … no more! City Hall booking, March 30, 1958
Bloomington Police officer Robert Shepherd (left) books a startled hen on accessory charges. That’s officer John Hauptman keeping the p...
Jesse Smart Named 2017 History Makers Honoree
Jesse Smart was born on April 29, 1939 on a small family farm in Pike County, IL. After graduating as class valedictorian at East Pike ...
Urban Renewal, Bloomington Future Site of Library, 1971
This view, looking north-northeast, shows the future site of Bloomington Public Library (opened in 1977). Many of the residences shown ...
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 d...
New Two-Way Radios Bloomington Fire Department, 1953
The BFD tried out its new two-way radio system in late August 1953. Seen here are Fireman Robert Colyer (left) driving the service truc...
Bloomington Fire Department Demonstration, December 15, 1939
No need to panic! The State Farm Insurance Co. downtown building was not ablaze in mid-December 1939. This was a BFD public demonstrati...
Ready, Aim, Fire! BPD Firing Range, May 1936
Seen here are four members of the Bloomington Police Department taking target practice with their Smith & Wesson .38 service revolv...
Labor Secretary Visits Bloomington October 17, 1935
Department of Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet, stopped in the Twin Cities on October 17,...
Smell that Smoke! Cecil Cone’s Barbecue, May 1953
In early May 1953, former Bloomington Mayor Cecil Cone brought past and present city officials together for a barbecue at his home, 703...
Bloomington Fire Station No. 2 214 W. Washington St., c. 1883
The south side of the 200 block of West Washington Street is seen here about 1883. That’s the three-story Bloomington Fire Department S...
Another One Bites the Dust Mar-Len Hotel, June 1988
Ross Griffin of Stark Excavating keeps an eye on crane operator John Quiram as he makes short work of the Mar-Len Hotel, 309 N. Center ...
FDR in Bloomington October 14, 1936
On October 14, 1936 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt campaigned in Bloomington. FDR’s whistle stop tour pulled into Union Depot on t...
Bloomington Centennial ‘Young Pioneers’ Parade, September 19, 1950
The City of Bloomington celebrated its centennial over a seven-day extravaganza, September 17-23, 1950 (though the kickoff dance held S...
Bloomington Centennial 65 Years Ago this Week!
On September 15, 1950, Bloomington kicked off its centennial celebration with a “Queen’s Ball” at what is now called the Center for Per...
Photo of the Week, 99: Calling All Cars! Normal Police Department, 1938
Seen here is Normal Police Chief James Clarence Land in mid-January 1938 with the department's new radio hookup (including the lou...
Photo of the Week, 66: African-American Voters Organize, February 1972
On February 15, 1972, the Minority Voters Coalition of
Bloomington-Normal elected officers during a meeting at the Sunnyside
Neighborho...
Photo of the Week, 63: Reefer Madness In Bloomington, November 1937
McLean County State's Attorney Bernard E. Wall (right) and Deputy
Sheriff James Christenson examine “herbs" seized in a Novem...
We're Special! -- The MCMH Library
It's National Library Week, which means libraries across the country are celebrating the positive impacts they have on the communi...
Photo of the Week, 57: Dedication of the Normal Post Office, 1936
On March 1, 1936, several hundred area residents gathered for the dedication of the Normal Post Office, located at 200 West North Stree...
Photo of the Week, 36: "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free..."
On Saturday, May 25, 1940 in Bloomington, a group of 20 immigrants became U.S. citizens after a naturalization examination and swearing...
Photo of the Week 19: New Deal Rally, September 1933
In September 1933, during the dark days of the Great Depression, Bloomington hosted a parade and a series of programs trumpeting Presid...