From the end of the Civil War to the 1970s, Normal was home to a state children’s home known as the Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School (ISSCS). These kids attended University High at what was then called Illinois State Normal University. The drop-off / pickup stop for ISSCS students was School Street, just north of North Street, near the Fell Gates and today’s ISU Planetarium. The building in front of the bus is the Co-Op Book Store (that’s where the Alamo II is located today). The entryway visible behind the Boylan’s ice cream truck was for the Pilgrim Restaurant.“Homers” (former ISSCS kids) Bernie Latta and Bill Merchant helped to identify some of the students shown here. Those in the bus windows are (left to right): Leroy Rogers, Richard "Dick" Yeager, Ronald "Eli" Whitney (leaning out of the window), unidentified (the boy below Whitney), Richard "Dick" (aka "Ice") Icenogle, and Harold Stoneking. The first two guys standing in the bus door are unidentified, but the third one (looking over his shoulder) is Ed Walsch. Judy Green (wearing scarf) is walking beside the bus, and the tall boy at the far right is Edward “Eddie” Miller.
