On the Square Blog
August 8th, 2016
State Farm’s ‘Midwest Office’ Move-In Day, July 15, 1957
In mid-July 1957, some 700 State Farm employees settled into their new quarters at 2309 E. Oakland Ave. It was first known as the Midwest Office and later the Illinois Building. In 2016, State Farm still occupies this office building.Do you recognize anyone here? Who worked in this building and w...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 6th, 2016
'Madly for Adlai’ Sen. Estes Kefauver, Oct. 18, 1952
In mid-October 1952, U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee stopped in Bloomington to campaign for fellow Democrat and hometown favorite son Adlai E. Stevenson II, who was the party’s presidential nominee. Stevenson would lose to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower in both 1952 and 1956. In the second...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 5th, 2016
Walter Schroeder, August 1958 High-Moisture Shelled Corn
Back in the late 1950s, livestock farmer Walter Schroeder (second from right) of rural Bloomington Township fattened about 500 head of cattle a year. He used high-moisture shelled corn from his airtight silo, finding such feed “makes more meat per bushel than shelled corn from the crib.”...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 4th, 2016
McLean County Fairgrounds Old East Side Location, Undated
This site, Illinois Route 9 just east of what would become Veterans Parkway, served as home for the McLean County Fair from 1955 to 1996. This aerial view is looking west-northwest. If you’re having trouble orientating yourself, “A” is Bloomington Country Club; “B” the Route 66 Beltline (now Vete...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 3rd, 2016
Sinoark’s ‘Frontier Room’ Opens October 1959
Located at the junction of South Main Street and the Route 66 Beltline (now Veterans Parkway), the Phil-Kron drive-in theater (named for business partners Ken Phillips and Pete Karonis) featured a full restaurant built under the movie screen.Originally known as the Phil-Kron Grill, in late 1958 t...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
August 2nd, 2016
Teacher Conference, Oct. 12, 1959 Bloomington High School
Nearly 2,000 teachers from a four-county area gathered at the new BHS for an Illinois Education Association meeting in October 1959. The new BHS, located on East Locust Street, had just opened one month earlier.How many different makes and models do you see from this photo?...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 30th, 2016
Rescued Homing Pigeon August 1942
Elmer Lyons, Bloomington Police Department patrolman, holds a wounded homing pigeon from Fall River, Massachusetts that was rescued by two local women and brought to the station. Some bad egg had clipped the poor bird’s wings. The police cared for the pigeon at city hall for a few days before cra...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 29th, 2016
Grand Champion Gilt McLean County Fair, Aug. 6, 1958
That’s a proud Walter Gottschalk of Danvers at the 1958 McLean County 4-H Club Fair. He’s posing with his grand champion gilt hog, a Spotted Poland China. For you city slickers, “gilt” means a female pig that has not yet been bred....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 28th, 2016
‘Tomatoes for Victory’ Owen Nursery, August 1942
The James W. Owen Nursery maintained a 100-acre “Victory” tomato field east of Bloomington. “Victory” in this context meant food for U.S. troops fighting overseas and food security on the homefront. Back in 1942, Owen Nursery was located on the 1200 block of East Oakland Avenue. That’s where Jewe...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 26th, 2016
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 1980. Although 1980 doesn’t seem far back enough to be considered “history,” keep in mind these twenty something college students are now in their mid-fifties. Tel...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 25th, 2016
Hog Heaven Klafke Farm, August 1942
Henry E. Klafke (presumably standing with his arms crossed) was a Normal Township breeder of Duroc Jersey hogs. He’s seen here watching over the scrub down of his hog houses in preparation for fall litters. Such cleaning was an important step in the “McLean County System of Swine Sanitation” deve...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 23rd, 2016
Art Floyd’s Collection Covell, August 1958
Art Floyd displays his mounted license plate collection from his garage in the Dale Township hamlet of Covell, mid-August 1958.Floyd was a local fastpitch softball legend, having served as announcer at Bloomington’s O’Neil park since 1948. He passed away in October 1988, two days after he turned ...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 21st, 2016
Downtown Bloomington, circa 1927 100 Block of East Front Street
The view here is looking east down the 100 block of E. Front St. The streetcar is turning onto Front from Main Street (or vice versa, we can’t tell which!) Today, the McLean County Law and Justice Center complex blocks Main Street from running from Front south to Olive Street.Much—but not all—of ...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 20th, 2016
Girl Scouts Learn Weather Forecasting Camp Peairs, Early August 1950
Kathleen Keeley, assistant counselor at the Girl Scouts’ Camp Peairs, talks to Dotty Laudeman and Karen Figg about the weather flag she holds in her hands. Camp Peairs, situated along the shoreline of Lake Bloomington, still serves area Girl Scouts.Does anyone have memories of attending this camp...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 19th, 2016
Woodford County Fair, Eureka Grand Champion, August 2, 1950
Seen here is Delores Moser of Roanoke with her Poland China barrow (“barrow” being a castrated male swine) judged Woodford County grand champion of all breeds. This photograph was taken on the opening day of the 1950 Woodford County 4-H Fair.What’s your favorite fair time memory?...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 16th, 2016
American Legion Carnival Bon-Go Park, July 3-8, 1933
The American Legion Louis E. Davis Post No. 56 sponsored a six-day carnival at Bon-Go Park, the popular leisure grounds a few miles south of downtown Bloomington. The carnival included the Beckmann and Gerety Shows, billed as “America’s cleanest carnival.”The view here is looking northeast. That’...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 16th, 2016
Photo of the Week: Coachman Motel September 1962
The Coachman Motel opened on January 30, 1961, at 406 E. Washington St., on the eastern edge of downtown Bloomington. The 42-room motel was built for $500,000 (or nearly $4 million today, adjusted for inflation) by Robert Dunn, a Bloomington attorney.The once-fashionable motel struggled in its la...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 15th, 2016
Smoke ’em if you got ’em Bloomington Police Department, February 1963
An anonymous donor treated Bloomington’s finest to a box of cigars as a way to mark the pending closure of old city hall, located at northwest corner of East and Monroe streets, and the opening of the new (and current) one on East Olive Street. This photograph was taken February 9, with the polic...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 14th, 2016
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 demonstration of new engines and equipment, including an 85-foot Seagrave aerial ladder truck.This scene shows the 100 block of East Washington Street. Old Withers Library i...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 13th, 2016
LeRoy Centennial Queen October 19, 1935
This photo was taken of the LeRoy Centennial parade, held back in 1935. Rose Mae Bishop (seated) served as centennial queen. Margaret Adams and Ellen Skillman were the queen’s attendants, but we don’t know who’s who. The little girl is Jean Clarey, the honorary attendant....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 12th, 2016
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 the parade route, making it one of the largest crowds in LeRoy’s history—at least up to that date.Leading the parade and seen here was the drum and bugle corps of...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 11th, 2016
A Boy’s Feathered Friend Victory Hall, Normal, c. 1930
Opened after World War I at 904 Hovey Ave. in Normal, Victory Hall was a safe place for boys from troubled families. Seen here is Victory Hall boy George Sanders about 1930.In the early 1980s, an Illinois State University fraternity moved into the 904 Hovey Ave. complex. Victory Hall relocated to...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 11th, 2016
McHistory: When socialism really was socialism
Listen to the audio on WGLT's website hereMcHistory goes back in time to explore big moments and small stories from McLean County history. McHistory episodes can be h...
2 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 8th, 2016
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 scheduled commercial air service to Bloomington. Seen here are Bloomington Postmaster Carter Pietsch (right) and Otto Gerth handing sacks of mail to stewardess M...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 4th, 2016
Spirit of ’76 Withers Park, 1938
These unidentified youngsters were part of a massive “Pioneer Day” parade in Bloomington on June 22, 1938. Although not a Fourth of July scene, strictly speaking, we think this photograph speaks to the traditions of Independence Day. This parade was one in a series of events in 1938 staged from O...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 2nd, 2016
Schultz Meat Market 109 S. Center St., Bloomington
Dewey and Beulah Schultz ran this downtown meat market from 1945 into the 1950s. This photograph is undated and no one is identified. As usual, if you recognize anyone here, or have a story about Schultz Meat Market, contact Museum Librarian Bill Kemp at BKemp@mchistory.org....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
July 1st, 2016
The course of true love never did run smooth … Shakespeare on the ISNU Quad, May 1941
On May 23 and May 24, 1941, Illinois State Normal University staged Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the outdoor amphitheater that was once located at the south end of the Quad.“Stay, lovely Helena,” Lysander pleads here. “Listen to my excuse. My love, my life, my soul, beautiful Hele...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
June 30th, 2016
Jim Ameche and WJBC December 1949
National radio personality Jim Ameche (center) helped WJBC Radio inaugurate its new transmitter building, new pylon antenna, and other capital upgrades by serving as master of ceremonies for a three-hour variety show, aired December 7, 1949.And yes, Jim Ameche was the brother of Hollywood star Do...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
June 27th, 2016
Bloomington Coliseum June 1938
Opened in December 1898, the Coliseum was a field house-type structure with phenomenal acoustics. It hosted everything from famed sopranos to Jazz Age dance bands. Located on the 400 block of West Front Street, the site today is … what else but a surface parking lot! Interestingly, the old Colise...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
June 25th, 2016
Frank Simpson’s Steers Farmer City, July 1957
Ralph G. Blue (right) and Harold Davis (with clipboard) weigh steers using a scale box. They’re seen here in early July 1957 at Frank Simpson’s feedlot outside of Farmer City in DeWitt County. Two months later, Simpson would host the annual Farm Progress Show, which was held over two days, Septem...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp