On the Square Blog
April 7th, 2017
‘Private Joe’ Fifer Memorial Day 1934
The gentlemen in the center is Joseph “Private Joe” Fifer of Bloomington, who served as Illinois governor from 1889 to 1893. For Memorial Day 1934. Fifer, a Civil War veteran, recited Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to a crowd gathered at Bloomington Cemetery (now part of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
April 6th, 2017
Dr. Moate becomes proficient knitter April 1946
Dr. Thomas Moate, who practiced medicine in Gridley for 50 years, picked up knitting at the age of 70. He’s seen here in mid-April 1947 at the age of 74. By this time Moate was bedridden, but knitting helped pass the hours. “I don’t know what heaven’s like, but if it’s anything like Gridley, I’ll...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
April 5th, 2017
Pointer and Setter Club Field Trials, April 1946
That’s “Jake,” a pointer puppy owned by “bird dog man” G.S. Bryant of Springfield and handled here by E.T. Burke of Farmersville. Jake was a guest, one might say, of the Bloomington Pointer and Setter Club, which staged its annual spring trials in early April 1946 on club grounds outside of the V...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
April 4th, 2017
Robert Underwood, casting ballot April 9, 1945
Seen here is 30-year-old judicial candidate Robert C. Underwood (left) at an unidentified Town of Normal polling station, casting his ballot in the spring 1945 election. Underwood, in his first bid for elective office, would defeat sitting County Judge Dewey Montgomery by a nearly two-to-one marg...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
April 3rd, 2017
Penney’s Readies Eastland Store November 9, 1966
J.C. Penney opened in the new Eastland Shopping Center (now Eastland Mall) on November 10, 1966. This photograph was taken a day before the grand opening as employees readied the store for the expected crush of bargain hunters. Who remembers shopping at the “new” Penney’s back in 1966?Prio...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
April 1st, 2017
Bloomington High Aegis staff October 1954
Several weeks ago we ran a photograph from a set of 1954 negatives showing the staff of Aegis, the BHS student newspaper. Here’s another one.Gathered around the desk of Aegis editor Su Selders (that’s Sue without the “e”) are Pat Jones, assistant editor; Don Owen, business manager; and Ann Alcott...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 31st, 2017
The Shattertones June 1966
Timothy P. Irvin (left, kneeling in front of the guitar) formed The Shattertones in 1960 as a high school freshman. Six years later the band was performing local gigs. That’s Huey Landry, kneeling with the trumpet; Kim Marriner, organist; and John Campbell, standing in the back with his right arm...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 28th, 2017
Backstage, Majestic Theatre Bloomington, undated
This undated photo shows Bill Dorothy (left) and James “Pop” Tucker working the backstage area of the Majestic Theatre. Located at the corner of East and Washington streets, the Majestic opened in 1910 as a vaudeville house. It was torn in 1956. This photograph was taken by Karl Blakney, a longti...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 24th, 2017
Top hog gets pie January 1947
A.V. Ritchie of Colfax received $225 (or about $2,500 in today’s dollars) for this gilt at a January 22, 1947 Spotted Poland China sale at the Illinois State Normal University farm. Before turning over the day’s top earner he treated her to some pie....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 23rd, 2017
‘Fancy Pants’ Gets a Trim April 1946
This April 13, 1946, scene shows Bloomington veterinarian Dr. Fred H. Conover giving a warm weather trim to Fancy Pants. This pedigreed poodle was owned by Mary Jane Pease, a former Twin Cities resident who was a “photographer’s model” based in New York City. Pease was in town to visit her parent...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 22nd, 2017
Bloomington Creamery 104 S. East St.
This undated view shows Bloomington Creamery on the 100 block of South East Street. We’re not sure, but that could be creamery manager A.H. Tobias on the left. Today, the shuttered C II East office building is located on this site....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 20th, 2017
Bloomington High from Above June 1963
“New” Bloomington High School, which opened four years earlier, is seen here in a June 1963 aerial. The view is looking southwest. Note the beginnings of Towanda Plaza in the lower right. What else can you see of interest?...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 20th, 2017
Long way up … and down! WJBC radio tower, 1949
Robert Bible (left) and Wilson Hall of the International Derrick and Equipment Co. of Columbus, Ohio, work on the installation of WJBC’s new radio tower. This 400-foot steel tower was adjacent to the station’s under-construction office and studio building off Route 66 (now Veterans Parkway) on th...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 18th, 2017
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 at the bottom of this photo. Talk about traffic delays! If anyone can pinpoint the exact location of this scene, let us know....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 17th, 2017
Extra! Extra! Read All About it! BHS student newspaper, 1954
The Aegis is Bloomington High School’s longtime student newspaper. Here’s chief photographer Bob Stoner in late October 1954 snapping BHS students Mary Ellen Ponsford and Courtney Read, both holding fund drive posters. Who has fond memories working for their school newspaper?...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 15th, 2017
Cotton’s Village Inn 401 N. Main St., Bloomington
Melton “Cotton” McNabney and his wife Millie took over management of this downtown eatery in 1948. Located in the basement of the three-story building on the northeast corner of Main and Monroe streets, some old-timers might remember Millie McNabney’s ham loaf, creamed chicken pie, Swiss steak an...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 14th, 2017
Model-Paris, 1938 Downtown Bloomington
Back in 1938, Model-Paris Launderers & Cleaners had two location in the Twin Cities: 208-216 E. Market St., seen here, and the corner of Beaufort Street and Broadway Avenue in Normal. The Model-Paris building shown here is long gone. Today the old building site is—what else!—a surface parking...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 13th, 2017
Majestic Theatre, Bloomington May 1937
First opened in 1910, the Majestic Theatre was located at the corner of East and Washington streets in downtown Bloomington. This March 1937 scene shows folks lined up for a musical variety show presented by the employees of State Farm Insurance. The show was held May 26-28. This old vaudeville h...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 9th, 2017
Dennie Bridges, IWU February 1958
The Illinois Wesleyan legend is seen here as a promising freshman guard. A native of Anchor, a small village in eastern McLean County, Bridges would go on to coach the men’s team for 36 seasons, leading the Titans to a NCAA Division III national championship in 1997. He retired as the university’...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 8th, 2017
Vroom, vroom
This undated photograph shows a Pantagraph motorcycle and sidecar at the corner of Madison and Washington streets. The view is looking east. What a way to deliver newspapers! Behind the stylish rider is the Hills Hotel, which later became the Tilden-Hall, which was torn down in 1962....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 6th, 2017
Better Babies Conference May 1929
The Pantagraph and Second Presbyterian Church, Bloomington, sponsored a three-day “Better Babies Conference,” May 7-9, 1929. Seen here are participants gathered around the registration table at Second Presbyterian. Seated is Nellie Motherway, president of the Holy Trinity School Parent Teacher As...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 5th, 2017
Arrowsmith High School
Built in 1929, this building served as the Village of Arrowsmith’s high school until consolidation with neighboring Saybrook in 1952. The old high school was then used as the consolidated junior high before falling to the wrecking ball.Today, Arrowsmith students attend Ridgeview High Schoo...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 2nd, 2017
Pillsbury House The Wrecking Ball Looms
This undated photograph was taken not too long before this historic house, a mix of Second Empire and Italianate architectural styles, was torn down. Located at 109 E. Olive St. in Bloomington, it was built by Dr. William Hill after the Civil War. Hill’s daughter Daisy married architect Arthur L....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
March 1st, 2017
Illini Coach Ray Eliot, 1942 Young Men’s Club luncheon
On February 10, 1942, new University of Illinois head football coach Ray Eliot (that’s Eliot with one “L”) addressed the Young Men’s Club at the Illinois Hotel in downtown Bloomington. Eliot would go on to lead the Illini for 18 seasons, winning 3 Big Ten titles and 2 Rose Bowls. Eliot is not to ...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
February 28th, 2017
Television comes to Danvers June 1949
Who remembers television coming to their home? In June 1949, The Pantagraph reported on the arrival of television to several area communities. This photo comes from the Museum’s collection of Pantagraph negatives and is labeled, “Television comes to Danvers.” Unfortunately, we could not lo...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
February 27th, 2017
Bloomington’s far west side Undated aerial
At the time of this photograph, Funk Bros. Seed Co. operated the grain silos and complex of buildings seen in the lower half of this view. The plant in the upper right shows a Ralston-Purina Co. facility. Today, the Funk Bros. silos are home to Upper Limits, the popular climbing gym. Cargill, Inc...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
February 25th, 2017
‘Tied in knots’ outside of Heyworth June 1949
A massive knot disfigured an old black oak on the Charles Hall farm one mile east of Heyworth. Seen here is young Eugene Smith of Heyworth examining this unnatural-looking natural oddity....
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
February 24th, 2017
Hot Times on in Downtown Bloomington June 19, 1949
This early summer scene shows a crowd gathered outside the Western Union office on the 200 block of West Washington Street. The business had been evacuated due to a fire call (note the BFD engine parked in the middle of the street). This block included several iconic Bloomington businesses, inclu...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
February 23rd, 2017
‘Craig’s Wife,’ February 1947 Community Players, Bloomington
On February 6 and 7, 1947, Community Players Theatre staged the domestic drama “Craig’s Wife.” The theater company’s current home on Robinhood Lane did not open until 1962, so at this time plays were held at the Scottish Rite Temple (now the Bloomington Center for Performing Arts). We don’t know ...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp
February 22nd, 2017
Titans Thump Redbirds February 1953
On February 11, 1953, Illinois Wesleyan beat visiting Illinois State Normal 98-66 at the old Memorial Hall gymnasium (now IWU’s Hansen Student Center). The victors were led by forward Howie Berggren’s 25 points. That’s Titan guard Earl Neeman (#33) blocking Redbird forward Ed Hayes (dribbling). T...
1 mins read by Bill Kemp