Locations | McLean County Museum of History

A Community in Conflict

4 items

1855

Between 1850 and 1855, Bloomington’s population more than doubled from 1,600 to 5,000. Many of these new residents were Irish and German immigrants, who were traditionally hearty drinkers. Judgements regarding the morality of drinking were subjective, and highly dependent upon an individual’s cultural background. When disagreements occurred, the outcome could be violent.

Digital Exhibit

1862

By the time the Civil War began, views on slavery in McLean County had become predominantly anti-slavery. But there were still those who supported slavery.

Digital Exhibit

1870

Who had the power to vote? Many women in McLean County believed that they, like men, should be ...

Digital Exhibit

1931

Many people lost their jobs during the Great Depression, making survival difficult. Local leaders established a relief office from which donations of cash, food, fuel, and other supplies were distributed to the unemployed and needy. But some demanded more.

Digital Exhibit

Articles

21 items

The top image was taken from the Livingston office building at the corner of Main and Washington streets, so the view is looking north. The second image shows the Comet perched on the roof of C.W. Klemm’s, a locally owned department store once located on the north side of the courthouse square.

Airship pays visit to downtown Bloomington in 1910

For Bloomington, the age of aviation arrived on September 14, 1910. On that date, a one-man air...

Article

Brown’s delivered white-collar education

Business colleges played an important but often-overlooked role in American education. For the ...

Article

an elevated view of a street corner and building. Women in dresses walk down the sidewalk, a horse and buggy are parked on the street. Utility poles are in the foreground. Two larger brick buildings are behind the two-story frame building, each with large advertisements painted on them. The two story frame building has light colored siding, many windows, and awnings over the first story storefront.

Cigar shop was where old men came to talk (and nap)

In the late 1800s, there was no better place in Bloomington to grumble about the “gov’ment,” de...

Article

Community Christmas ‘sing’ once annual event

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation of countless holiday gatherings, school pagea...

Article

dozens of people are in this image, all standing looking towards the camera. Dirt is in the foreground, as well as a large steamroller. In the background is a two-story brick building, homes, trees, and utility poles. Many men are holding buckets and shovels.

First brick street in U.S. myth endures in Bloomington

At the southwest corner of the Courthouse Square, near the intersection of Center and Washingto...

Article

Halloween 1945 followed world war’s end

World War II still loomed large over American life during the Halloween season of 1945. The sur...

Article

The two giant Santas looming over the entryway to local retailer Livingston’s can be seen in this circa late 1950s photograph.

In 1955, downtown Bloomington 'dressed in holiday style'

Back in 1955, Bloomington was less than half its current size, toys were still made in America,...

Article

Joe Johnson, self-appointed Courthouse ‘traffic director’

In the 1960s and into the early 1970s, visitors to the McLean County Courthouse would see two f...

Article

Mandolin enjoyed ‘golden age’ in late 19th century

“The members of the Lotus Club last evening entertained their lady friends at their rooms on No...

Article

Museum’s newly acquired Lincoln letter window into legal career

The McLean County Museum of History, as part of its Presidents Day activities on Monday, will h...

Article

Phoenix Hall site of Lincoln’s last speech in Bloomington

On April 10, 1860, five-and-a-half weeks before accepting the Republican nomination for preside...

Article

a drawing of a three-story frame building. The second story has a balcony that overhangs the sidewalk. People are walking, and a horse and carriage are in the road.

Pre-Civil War Butler House survived into 1920s

On the western edge of downtown, the no-frills, mom-and-pop Butler House was an old friend to t...

Article

6 men are in this photograph, two standing at a contraption with hoses attached. The floor is wet.

Project to mark firefighter graves lesson in history

As part of a Memorial Day observance last month, active and retired Twin City firefighters plac...

Article

Although of poor quality, this is the only known photograph of the Pullman Strike of 1894 as it unfolded at the Union Depot on Bloomington’s west side. Note all the idle Pullman coaches and sleepers. Marooned passengers found various ways to while away the hours. Riders on a Pullman sleeper attached to a C&A limited spent much of July 3 — “all the afternoon and all the evening till midnight” — singing popular songs of the day, such as “Sweet Marie,” “John Brown’s Body” and “In Old Madrid.”

Pullman Strike left Twin Cities at standstill

On July 3, 1894, area residents flocked to the Chicago & Alton Railroad on Bloomington’s we...

Article

This woodcut, appearing in an April 1869 advertisement, represents the only known interior image of Frederick Niergarth’s Academy of Music.

Short-lived performance hall once city’s finest

For a few years after the end of the Civil War, the Academy of Music was Bloomington’s most ele...

Article

This carte de visite portrait dates to 1864.

Sojourner Truth spoke in Bloomington

One hundred and forty years ago this week, on Sept. 18, 1879, the incomparable Sojourner Truth ...

Article

a large crowd is seen in front of Ensenberger Furniture store and the W.B.READ & CO buildings.

Spirits high for Depression-era Christmas

During the 1936 Christmas season, Americans faced an Ebenezer Scrooge writ large — the hard tim...

Article

Turbulent times at 19th century Bloomington hotel

The Ashley House, Bloomington’s largest hotel from the Civil War until its fiery end in 1900, h...

Article

Turner Hall lost monument to German pride

More than a century ago, Turner Hall was the cultural hub of Bloomington’s large and influentia...

Article

WW I home front featured French-Belgian relief

The War to End All Wars, as the First World War was once called, brought out the best and the w...

Article

This Susan B. Anthony portrait dates to 1870, the same year she participated in the women's suffrage debate in downtown Bloomington.

Women’s suffrage debate captivates Twin Cities in 1870

On August 26, 1920, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed into law the 19th Amendment...

Article

Blog

8 items

Finding Aids

10 items

Speakers Bureau

5 items

Downtown Bloomington

A Community in Conflict

1855

1862

1870

1931

Articles

Airship pays visit to downtown Bloomington in 1910

Brown’s delivered white-collar education

Cigar shop was where old men came to talk (and nap)

Community Christmas ‘sing’ once annual event

First brick street in U.S. myth endures in Bloomington

Halloween 1945 followed world war’s end

In 1955, downtown Bloomington 'dressed in holiday style'

Joe Johnson, self-appointed Courthouse ‘traffic director’

Mandolin enjoyed ‘golden age’ in late 19th century

Museum’s newly acquired Lincoln letter window into legal career

Phoenix Hall site of Lincoln’s last speech in Bloomington

Pre-Civil War Butler House survived into 1920s

Project to mark firefighter graves lesson in history

Pullman Strike left Twin Cities at standstill

Short-lived performance hall once city’s finest

Sojourner Truth spoke in Bloomington

Spirits high for Depression-era Christmas

Turbulent times at 19th century Bloomington hotel

Turner Hall lost monument to German pride

WW I home front featured French-Belgian relief

Women’s suffrage debate captivates Twin Cities in 1870

Blog

Addison Pancake ‘Deaf Mute’ Photographer, ca. 1869

Jan Lancaster -- 2024 History Maker

McHistory: Bloomington Copperhead Ostracized For Pro-Slavery Views

McHistory: Bloomington-Normal’s Sole Documented Lynching

McHistory: Life, literature and children

McHistory: When Downtown Bloomington reigned in retail

McHistory: When socialism really was socialism

Tilden-Hall’s Sad Demise February-March 1962

Finding Aids

Baldini, John

Bloomington Fire Collection

Clarke, Marguerite E.

Hockey

McLean County Courthouse 4 Preservation Collection

McLean County Sesquicentennial Committee

Prairie Pride Coalition

Second Presbyterian Church Collection

Susie’s Cafe

Wilson, Harrold B. Collection

Speakers Bureau

Downtown Bloomington Architectural Tour

McLean County Holiday Stories

Old McLean County Courthouse

The 'Lost Speech' Found: Abraham Lincoln and the Founding of the Illinois Republican Party

To Be a Writer, One Has To Be a Reader: the Life and Work of Clara Louise Kessler