On the Square Blog
September 26th, 2016
McLean County Health Department TB Shots, October 1961
This boy is being vaccinated for tuberculosis in the fall of 1961 by two nurses working for the McLean County Health Department. This scene likely took place at the old Fairview Sanatorium in north Normal....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 23rd, 2016
Put Up Your Dukes Small Fry Boxers, March 1958
Billy Kletz (left) and Jim Heafer get ready for the upcoming Small Fry Boxing Championship at the Western Avenue Community Center. Keeping an eye on things are (left to right) Denny Whitworth, Don Whittinghill, and George Kletz....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 21st, 2016
Willard and Joel Yordy Heyworth Township, August 1938
Farmer Joel Yordy (right) and his son Willard pose in front of a smartly trimmed Osage orange hedgerow in Heyworth Township during the summer of 1938. Joel passed away in 1951 and Willard in 1991....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 20th, 2016
LeRoy Aerial East of Downtown, January 1933
The view here is looking south. Today, there’s a new high school and more residential in-fill, but some of what’s seen here remains much the same 83 years later.“A” is LeRoy High School; “B” Crumbaugh Memorial Public Library; “C” Crumbaugh Spiritualist Church (the church occupies one wing of this...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 19th, 2016
Private Joe’ Fifer Laid to Rest August 8, 1938
Seen here are pallbearers bringing the casket of Joseph “Private Joe” Fifer into the old downtown Bloomington Unitarian Church, 209 N. East St. A longtime Bloomington resident, Fifer served as Illinois governor from 1889 to 1893. He had passed away two days earlier at the age of 97.In the backgro...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 10th, 2016
Calling Dr. Scholls! ISNU Freshmen Orientation, Sept. 1953
This photograph, taken Sept. 15, 1953, shows three Illinois State Normal University freshmen rubbing their aching feet after a busy opening day of Orientation Week.Seen here (left to right) are Mary Kirgis of Chicago Heights; Leona Colebar of Decatur; and Jo Schwulst of Bloomington....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 9th, 2016
Getting into the Stove Business Meadows Mfg. Co., April 1954
From 1920 to the mid-1950s, Meadows Manufacturing Co. made clothes washers from its plant on Bloomington’s near southeast side. In the spring of 1954, the company, then part of Thor Corp., began making electric stoves as well. Yet by the end of the following year, 1955, Thor had sold the Meadows ...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 8th, 2016
Wabash Telephone Company Local Switchboard, Bloomington, 1935
This early November 1935 photo shows a full daytime force of operators on the “local board” at the Wabash Telephone Co.’s downtown Bloomington building. At this time the local switchboard handled about 60,000 calls a day....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 7th, 2016
Navajo Tap Room and Coffee Shop Illinois Hotel, Bloomington, circa 1943
The Illinois Hotel, located on the northwest corner of the Courthouse (now Museum) Square, survives today as the Illinois House. From the early 1940s through the late 1950s, this tap room and coffee shop was one of several businesses on the hotel’s street level....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 4th, 2016
New Two-Way Radios, Part II Bloomington Fire Department, 1953
A few days ago we ran a photo from August 1953 showing the BFD testing a new two-way radio system. Here’s another photo from that same testing period. This is BFD Chief Roland Behrend, who was now able to talk to firefighters back at the station or those “on the trucks” and racing to a fire....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 3rd, 2016
Radio Party, Sept. 1938 806 W. Market St., Bloomington
In mid-September 1938, members of the “roundhouse gang” from the Alton Railroad Shops on Bloomington’s west side helped coworker Orville Jolly erect an antenna mast for his new custom-built radio. Jolly lived at 806 W. Market St.One photo shows the group of men huddled together includes Jolly, Gr...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
September 1st, 2016
Fearsome Front Line Illinois State, September 1941
The gridiron “Red Birds” (spelled as two words back then) went 3-4-2 in 1941, with losses including a 7-0 heartbreaker to Illinois Wesleyan. Seen here (left to right) are Jim Mottershaw from Divernon; Al Trumpy, Pekin; Cecil Hospelhorn, Hudson; Roy Wesley, LeRoy; Sam Chicas, Westville; and Walt L...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 31st, 2016
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 truck as Capt. Ernest Lockenvitz contacts the station....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 30th, 2016
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, 1931 scene at that field shows a local delegation standing before one of Century Air Lines’ 10-passenger Stinson tri-motor “ships.” The occasion was the inauguration...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 29th, 2016
Up and Over Downs May 1953
Even the small Village of Downs had a post-World War II housing boom (relatively speaking). This view looks southwest. “A” indicates Highway 150; “B,” the site today of Tri-Valley Elementary School; “C,” the old high school building (since torn down); “D,” Woodlawn Street; and “E,” Cleveland Stre...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 29th, 2016
0 mins read by Torii Moré
August 27th, 2016
Pony Giveaway Courthouse Square, August 1947
On Saturday, Aug. 23, 1947, Bloomington merchants staged a promotional drawing on the west steps of the McLean County Courthouse Square (now the Museum Square). Nine-year-old Donald Lake, whose family lived north of Lexington, won the top prize, a bay pony named “Flag.”There were eighteen other w...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 25th, 2016
Lucy Orme Morgan Home Washington St. Party, Aug. 1949
On Aug. 29, 1947, a group of young girls from the Lucy Orme Morgan Home in Bloomington (formerly the Girl’s Industrial Home) were guests at the home of Violet Whitmer, 1404 E. Washington St. Activities included rides on a pony cart. Whitmer was on the board of the Morgan Home, which took in negle...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 24th, 2016
LeRoy Fall Festival September 1963
The 1963 LeRoy Fall festival was held over four days, September 4-7. Billed as “Illinois largest free fall festival,” live entertainment in downtown LeRoy included Johnny Barton and the Sangamon Valley Boys.This M41 Walker Bulldog light tank was part of the festivities, but we’re not sure if it c...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 23rd, 2016
Hang On Buddies! 1600 Block Fell Ave., Normal, Sept. 1963
This early September 1963 scene shows four unidentified boys heading south on the 1600 block of Fell Ave. The white house is 1610 Fell Ave., and the house under the boys clasped hands is 1612 Fell Ave. Looming in the distance is the Van Leer Memorial Chime Tower on the Broadview Mansion grounds.N...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 22nd, 2016
Cedar Crest, Normal Undated Aerial, c. early 1930s
Here’s a fascinating view of the Cedar Crest neighborhood in Normal from the Depression era. If you’re having trouble orientating yourself, No. 1 marks Division St.; No. 2 Clinton Place; No. 3 Hillcrest St.; No. 4 Broadway Place; No. 5 Highland Avenue. Also note the arrow. It points to miniature ...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 20th, 2016
Billy Shelper Home Sweet Home Founder
Established in 1917, the Home Sweet Home City Rescue Mission (now known as Home Sweet Home Ministries) provides “food, shelter, and hope to the hungry, homeless, and hurting.” The mission’s charismatic founder, Bloomington confectioner-turned-evangelist Billy Shelper, is seen here in this undated...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 18th, 2016
Campus Fashion ISNU September 1941
The Pantagraph snapped this photo for a planned “campus fashion” feature for late September or early October 1941. The two Illinois State Normal University students are not identified. That’s gone-but-not-forgotten Old Main behind the two women. It was torn down in 1958....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 17th, 2016
Gold Star Mothers Undated
The American Gold Star Mothers organization consists of mothers who have lost a son or daughter to military service. This photograph is undated, though far left is Hazel Millard, founder and president of the Bloomington Gold Star Mothers chapter. Her son Mark, a WW II U.S. Army Air Corps pilot, w...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 16th, 2016
Ralston-Purina Co. Plant Bloomington, Undated
In 1948, Ralston-Purina Co. opened a soybean processing plant at 1700 W. Olive St., on Bloomington’s west side. Soybean oil from this plant was used in a variety of animal feeds. The plant was sold to Cargill,. Inc. in the mid-1980s, and it remains owned by the international food conglomerate tod...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 15th, 2016
Bloomington Federal Under Construction, August 1957
This view, from East Street looking northwest, shows the “new” Bloomington Federal Savings & Loan Association building under construction some three months before its grand opening in November 1957. Designed by visionary architect A. Richard Williams, additions to this bank building were made...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 12th, 2016
In the shades of Wesleyan’s elms … September 1938
With the school year fast approaching, we thought it a good time to run another photo of an early fall campus scene. Gathered here on the Illinois Wesleyan University quad in 1938 are students (left to right) Allan Goss of Lexington; Justus Olson of Foosland; Gertrude Ringler of Strawn; and Willi...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 11th, 2016
Meadowbrook Subdivision July 1954
Meadowbrook, a 167-lot development southeast of Lakeside Country Club, was well under construction in this summer 1954 photograph. Did you get a chance to read all about Meadowbrook and the postwar housing boom in the Museum’s “Page from Our Past” feature in last Sunday’s Pantagraph? If not, chec...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 10th, 2016
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 IWU students entering and leaving Hedding Hall during the fall semester, 1938. Hedding Hall, also known as "Old Main, was lost to fire in 1943....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 9th, 2016
Darlene Bishop, Doll Collector Heyworth, August 1938
Twelve-year-old Darlene Bishop poses with her collection of 225 dolls in August 1938. Darlene, seen here in her bedroom at the family home in Heyworth, is holding her favorite, the two-feet high walking “ma-ma” doll with the name Beverly Jane....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp