Posts about Transportation
Parking meters perplex motorists Downtown Bloomington, May 1941
Parking meters were first installed in downtown Bloomington in February 1940. By the following spring these contraptions were still con...
National Air Mail Week May 1938
Art Carnahan (left), manager of the Bloomington Municipal Airport (now Central Illinois Regional Airport), greets Harold Medbery, a pil...
Unfinished Business Interstate 74 , October 1965
This aerial shows Interstate 74 under construction southeast of Bloomington in the fall of 1965. Note the abrupt end of the interstate ...
Inaugural Bloomington Flight Ozark Air Lines, Nov. 6, 1950
The holiday season often means hectic times for those traveling by air. Commercial air service to Bloomington began on Nov. 6, 1950 wit...
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 ...
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...
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 “Beltli...
Illinois Terminal Railroad September 1950. Pt. 2
Pantagraph reporter Wilma Tolley traveled on the Bloomington-to-Peoria Illinois Terminal light rail “interurban” sometime in September ...
Men with Hats Passenger Service Inaugurated Old ‘Bloomington’ Airport, 1931
The first Bloomington Airport was actually located several miles north of Normal and featured a turf landing field. This October 1, 193...
Ozark Air Lines Touches Down Bloomington Municipal Airport, Nov. 6, 1950
An estimated 200 area residents were on hand at the Municipal Airport (now Central Illinois Regional Airport) to celebrate the start of...
Future Flying Farmers? Bloomington Municipal Airport, 1953
The McLean County chapter of Flying Farmers offered free airplane rides to some 70 moms and dads on Father’s Day, June 21, 1953. Mother...
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...
Randolph from On High Undated Aerial
Central Illinois is dotted with the tiniest of communities that owe their existence to the railroad boom of the nineteenth century. Man...
‘Union’ Depot, December 1979 Bloomington’s West Side
Opened in 1913, Union Depot (also known as Bloomington Depot) was located just south of West Washington Street on the west side of the ...
Carlock from the Air Circa 1930
The Village of Carlock, established in 1888, is seen here in an undated but circa 1930 aerial. The view is northwest. “A” shows the Lak...
“A City Unto Itself” Chicago & Alton RR Shops
This undated aerial photograph, looking northwest, gives one a sense of the impressive size of the sprawling Chicago & Alton Railro...
B-29 Bomber Visits Courthouse Square June 13, 1950
Back during the early years of the Cold War the fuselage of a U.S. Air Force B-29 Superfortress was put on display on the McLean County...
Union Bus Station, 1956 523 N. East Street, Bloomington
“A feeling of sadness that only bus stations have” Jack Kerouac mused in his 1957 novel “On the Road.” Well, we’re pretty sure that Ker...
Bloomington Municipal Airport June 20, 1941
This aerial view of Bloomington Municipal Airport (now Central Illinois Regional Airport, or CIRA) looks northwest and shows the main h...
The Shape of Things to Come Brunton’s First Delivery Truck, 1908
This 1908 scene shows Campbell Brunton behind the wheel of the very first truck owned by the family business, Brunton’s Parcel Delivery...
‘Lucky Lindy’ Bails Out November 1926
On the evening of November 3, 1926, Charles Lindbergh jumped out of his U.S. airmail biplane somewhere in the skies far above McLean Co...
Twilight of the Interurban Downtown Bloomington, 1950
This September 1950 scene shows an Illinois Terminal Railroad car trundling past the 200 block of North Madison Street in downtown Bloo...
The Tilbury Flash on display at Central Illinois Regional Airport
The McLean County Museum of History’s largest artifact, the Tilbury Flash racing plane, has officially arrived at the Central Illinois ...
Mother Road Turns Deadly October 28, 1949
John M. Newman of Pittsfield, IL, was killed on October 28, 1949, when his Pacific Intermountain Express truck sideswiped an automobile...
Chenoa Airport, 1948
The most recent Sunday Pantagraph “Page from Our Past” installment examined the fascinating history of Chenoa airport, which opened in ...
Photo of the Week, 84: 'Bloody 66' claims 4 victims in early February 1939
On Friday, February 3, 1939, four area men were killed in a late evening automobile accident on U.S. Route 66, about 2 miles south of C...
Photo of the Week, 71: Grim Reapers Pay Respects to Fallen Comrade
On June 16, 1970, about 50 members of the Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club led a funeral procession for L. Wayne Martin, a 24-year-old Bloo...
Photo of the Week, 18: 1,000 License Plates Contributed in WW II Drive
During the Second World War, communities such as Bloomington scrounged for scrap metal to boost the war effort. This early February 194...
Photo of the Week, 17: Tracy Green & Co., circa 1928
Tracy Green & Co., circa 1928, located at the southwest corner of Washington and Gridley streets east of downtown Bloomington. In t...
Photo of the Week, 16: Cropsey Railroad Station
This rare shot of the train depot in Cropsey likely dates to the 1880s. A hamlet in the northeastern corner of McLean County, Cropsey w...