History And Events
Young Louise Evans caught in ‘Great War’ maelstrom
BLOOMINGTON — Back in the spring and early summer of 1914, Louise Evans, the daughter of a well-to-do Bloomington family, was having the time of her life on the “grand tour” through Europe. And then, without warning, her idyllic travels were disrupted by the outbreak of World War I.
Feb 07, 2010 | 7:00 am | Loading…
Before autos, horse thieves menace to society
Before the appearance of the internal combustion engine and the rise of the automobile, stealing a man’s (or woman’s) horse was considered a lowdown, dirty act.
Jan 30, 2010 | 11:00 pm | Loading…
McLean County hoops tourney topped local sports scene over the years
BLOOMINGTON — No disrespect to baseball or football, but Central Illinois has always reserved more enthusiasm for Dr. James Naismith’s game of basketball. So it’s no surprise that the tradition-rich, nearly century-old McLean County Basketball Tournament is considered the area’s p…
Jan 23, 2010 | 11:00 pm | Loading…
Macy’s-type balloon parade floated through Bloomington in 1939
BLOOMINGTON — Bloomington has hosted hundreds of parades in its nearly 180-year history, with themes running the gamut — from wartime to holidays to football.
Jan 16, 2010 | 9:00 pm | Loading…
Mules moved railroad's 1,500-ton stone freight house in 1926
By today’s standards, picking up and moving an immense, fortress-like stone building is impressive enough. While true, moving it with mule-power is another thing altogether!
Jan 09, 2010 | 8:10 pm | Loading…
County clerk once Bloomington's unofficial poet laureate
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, poetry was everywhere. It was viewed as a form of entertainment or performance, so literary societies held recitations of original and well-known works, and in polite society couples gathered in parlors and on porches to recite languid lines of verse.
Jan 02, 2010 | 4:20 pm | Loading…
'Skimming on steel' favorite wintertime sport
Despite the on-again, off-again deep freezes of most Central Illinois winters, local residents have bundled up and headed outdoors to ice-skate since the 1870s, if not earlier.
Dec 26, 2009 | 3:00 pm | Loading…
In 1955, downtown Bloomington sidewalks were 'dressed in holiday style'
Back in 1955, Bloomington was less than half its current size, toys were still made in America, stores offered free home delivery of everything from women’s hats to men’s slippers, and any serious holiday shopping had to be done downtown.
Dec 19, 2009 | 4:30 pm | Loading…
Booker T. Washington Home offered safe haven for black children
For much of the 20th century, Bloomington-Normal residents thought it necessary to maintain segregated group homes for underprivileged children. One would be hard-pressed to find a better illustration of the embarrassing state of race relations over the decades than the fact that impoveri…
Dec 12, 2009 | 3:50 pm | Loading…
Palatial Snell residence fell to wrecking ball in 1937
BLOOMINGTON — In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the stretch of Main Street from Locust north to Emerson was one of the more elegant residential districts in Bloomington.
Dec 05, 2009 | 9:25 pm | Loading…
PFOP: Lincoln, Douglas sparred in Bloomington
Although Bloomington did not host one of the seven momentous debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858, both candidates stopped in Bloomington during the campaign to deliver lengthy speeches.
Nov 28, 2009 | 4:00 pm | Loading…
'Wooden' lung ingenious contraption for Polio
BLOOMINGTON — In the summer of 1949, at a time when Central Illinois communities were hit particularly hard by the deadly disease polio, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Eureka Williams Corp. decided to fight back.
Nov 21, 2009 | 4:30 pm | Loading…
Funk tried to break political glass ceiling
BLOOMINGTON — In 1924 Florence Fifer Bohrer of Bloomington became the first woman elected to the Illinois Senate. Today, she is rightfully remembered as a pioneer in women’s rights in Illinois.
Nov 14, 2009 | 6:40 pm | Loading…
First World War claimed lives of local aviators
Far from being the hoped-for "War to End All Wars," World War I presaged the coming mechanized horrors of the 20th century. Most significantly, it was the first major conflict in which the skies became a battleground. Aircraft were used for photo reconnaissance, artillery spotting, bombin…
Nov 07, 2009 | 6:25 pm | Loading…
Patent medicine makers claimed to cure all
What if one single miracle medicine could cure a fantastical range of ailments, including rheumatism, back pain, sprains, bruises, burns, frostbite, chilblains, ear and toothaches, cholera, cramps, congestive chills and even tumors? Such was the promise of Instant Relief, a concocted cure…
Oct 31, 2009 | 4:30 pm | Loading…
Groves once covered large areas of McLean County
In the early 1800s, the first settlers to Central Illinois encountered not only a "sea" of tallgrass prairie but also "islands" of timber. These extensive groves offered a welcome sight to pioneers often lost in the oppressive expanses of waving grass.
Oct 24, 2009 | 6:00 pm | Loading…
Depression-era mayor besieged by jobseekers
BLOOMINGTON -- With the national unemployment rate approaching 10 percent, today's job market can be charitably described as brutal. Yet as grim as the economy has been since the Wall Street collapse a year ago, our current predicament pales in comparison to the Great Depression, when the…
Oct 17, 2009 | 6:00 pm | Loading…
Man-made giants, grain elevators, towered over the Midwest prairie
For more than a century and a half, grain elevators have played a critical role in the fall harvest.
Oct 10, 2009 | 5:00 pm | Loading…
Swank Tilden-Hall Hotel razed in 1961
With the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in uptown Normal slated to open soon, it's an opportune time to recall that downtown Bloomington was once home to a thriving hotel trade.
Oct 03, 2009 | 4:30 pm | Loading…
Jesse Fell key in Lincoln’s 'autobiography'
In late 1859 Abraham Lincoln, prodded by Jesse W. Fell of Normal, penned a brief autobiographical sketch that helped get him elected president the following year.
Sep 26, 2009 | 7:15 pm | Loading…
At 75 years, League of Women Voters looks back on its influential founder
BLOOMINGTON -- At her first McLean County League of Women Voters meeting, Gwen Pruyne quickly learned the influence of the local founder.
Sep 21, 2009 | 3:55 pm | Loading…
Redbird-Titan football rivalry came to an end in 1969
Sunday is the 40th anniversary of the last football game between gridiron rivals Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan universities. On Sept. 20, 1969, the Redbirds defeated the visiting Titans 27-6 before a Hancock Stadium crowd of 15,000, bringing an end to an often-bitter series that be…
Sep 19, 2009 | 4:10 pm | Loading…
Airship visited Bloomington in 1910
BLOOMINGTON -- For Bloomington, the age of aviation arrived on Sept. 14, 1910, exactly 99 years ago on Monday.
Sep 12, 2009 | 4:30 pm | Loading…
McLean County coal mining was dirty, dangerous business
"Death came to Jacob Osman, vast in fantastic horrors," began a Dec. 11, 1899, story in The Bloomington Bulletin.
Sep 05, 2009 | 11:50 am | Loading…
Williams Oil-O-Matic plant beat plowshares into swords
We remember the soldiers, sailors and airmen of World War II, but tend to forget those who worked to make the U.S. the "great arsenal of democracy," such as the toolmakers, mechanical engineers and machine operators of Williams Oil-O-Matic Heating Corp. This Bloomington manufacturer, like…
Aug 29, 2009 | 4:45 pm | Loading…
Mesmerizing bird's-eye views offer a window into the past
Wonderfully detailed "bird's eye" views of towns and cities were all the rage in the latter half of the 19th century. Drawn by itinerant artists and then sold as commercial prints, these aerial views offered hometown residents a unique perspective of their community - an old-school versio…
Aug 22, 2009 | 3:00 pm | Loading…
A Page From Our Past: 1916 Tractor show put future on display
As is often the case, the future arrived in the form of a sales pitch.
Aug 15, 2009 | 8:50 pm | Loading…
Durley Hall once center stage of city's theater scene
BLOOMINGTON - From 1872 until 1891, Durley Hall, located on the northeast corner of Main and Jefferson streets just off the Courthouse Square, was one of Bloomington's leading venues for live theater. In an age before motion pictures, big-city theater companies arrived via railroad to per…
Aug 08, 2009 | 4:25 pm | Loading…
PFOP: Wild West legend Pawnee Bill got start in Bloomington
The life and times of Bloomington-born Gordon William "Pawnee Bill" Lillie show us that where the Wild West is concerned, the mythmaking came fast on the heels of actual events, and it's sometimes hard to separate the two. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend," was the way it w…
Aug 01, 2009 | 12:00 pm | Loading…
Underground Railroad myths obscure history of movement
In the decades before the Civil War an untold number of fugitive slaves journeyed north to freedom on the Underground Railroad, making the story of this movement one of the more dramatic chapters in American history.
Jul 26, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
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- First Person: Saints Fans Party on Bourbon St.
- Saints fans hugged, kissed, and spilled onto the streets Sunday as a citywide party erupted after their once woebegone NFL franchise defeated the Indiapolis Colts in the Super Bowl. (Feb. 8)
- At Least 5 Dead in Conn. Power Plant Explosion
- An explosion blew apart a power plant under construction as workers purged natural gas lines Sunday, killing at least five people and injuring a dozen or more in a blast that shook homes for miles. (Feb. 7)
- Scott Brown Sworn in As U.S. Senator
- Republican Scott Brown took over the seat of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy on Thursday, vowing to be an independent voice in a bitterly divided Senate. (Feb. 4)
- Obama: Time to Pray for Civility
- President Barack Obama, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, says the country needs to regain a sense of civility and that prayer can touch our hearts with humility. (Feb. 4)
- Jackson Doctor Negotiating Surrender
- With a criminal charge looming, Michael Jackson's doctor is negotiating his surrender to Los Angeles authorities, his attorney said Thursday. (Feb. 4)
- Witnesses: Toyota Driver Blames Pedal for Crash
- Witnesses say a Tennessee driver is blaming the accelerator on her 2008 Toyota Camry after crashing into the front of a funeral home. (Feb. 5)
- 'We Are the World' Class of 2010
- 25 years after the original, charity anthem 'We Are The World' has been given a hip-hip, pop twist by top artists, including Celine Dion, Jonas Brothers and Wyclef Jean. The stars have re-recorded the 80s hit to raise money for Haiti. (Feb. 2)
- Toyota Tells Dealers Parts on Way to Fix Pedals
- Toyota says its dealers should get parts to fix a sticky gas pedal problem by the end of this week and the company has apologized to customers. (Feb. 1)
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- Actress Anne Hathaway and A.M.P.A.S. President Tom Sherak announce the major category nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards, to be held March 7 in Los Angeles. (Feb. 2)
