How Time Flies for July 17, 2009:

100 years ago

July 17, 1909: Letters to the editor: Dr. Hull wants city council to hear all views before granting a franchise to the street railway. "Citizen" asks what's to be done with tin cup beggars downtown now that ice cream and popcorn wagons have been banned. And "An East Sider" wants a fire station built east of the Illinois Central Railroad.

75 years ago

July 17, 1934: Police held East Street traffic for almost an hour while the fire department tested the new 12-story standpipe on the expanding State Farm building. It was a success.

50 years ago

July 17, 1959: Celebrity news: actor Forrest Tucker spent the day in Bloomington coaching the IWU summer theater group. He stayed at the Tilden Hall Hotel. Also, jazz/blues singer Billie Holiday died at the age of 44. In her time she was one of the country's foremost blues singers.

25 years ago

July 17, 1984: An unidentified man with a sawed-off shotgun locked himself in an empty patient room at Brokaw Hospital and held police off for two and a half hours. The motive wasn't clear. A state police negotiator talked him out and charges are expected tomorrow.