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BroMenn donation speaks to 125 years of community service
By Bill Kemp. Published on July 4, 2021.
Carle BroMenn Medical Center has undergone one transformation after another since its modest beginnings 125 years ago. It opened on May 8, 1896, as the 22-bed Deaconess Hospital—this nearly a quarter century before the discovery of antibiotics. Today, the medical center offers everything from cardiac electrophysiology to interventional radiology. About the only thing that hasn’t changed is its central location—where Franklin and Virginia avenues meet in Normal. Deaconess Hospital owes its origin to a group of local doctors who believed Bloomington-Normal was ready to support a second traditional hospital, specif...
ISNU welcomed veterans after WWII
By Bill Kemp. Published on October 22, 2017.
After World War II, Illinois State Normal University put out the welcome mat for returning soldiers and sailors looking to reintegrate ...
Julia Vrooman brought jazz to WW I doughboys
By Bill Kemp. Published on September 24, 2017.
“Julia Scott Vrooman has always been in the news,” noted The Pantagraph in early October 1976. The occasion was her 100th...
Beloved ‘Rags’ rode the rails to local fame
By Bill Kemp. Published on September 10, 2017.
The story of “Rags” is proof that most everyone loves a shaggy dog story, especially those of the literal kind.From 1907 to 1912...
Barns fast disappearing from Corn Belt countryside
By Bill Kemp. Published on September 3, 2017.
One would be hard pressed to come up with a more iconic image of the Corn Belt than the old wood barn. It’s also an endangered remnant ...
Back to school 1946 meant return to normalcy
By Bill Kemp. Published on August 27, 2017.
The start of 1946-1947 school year, coming as it did a full year after the end of World War II, was a sign of the nation’s halting retu...
Bloomington witness to 1869 total solar eclipse
By Bill Kemp. Published on August 20, 2017.
Illinois became the nation’s 21st state in 1818, meaning next year will be the Prairie State’s bicentennial. Remarkably, in nearly 200 ...
Marbles popular with young and old alike of 19th century
By Bill Kemp. Published on August 6, 2017.
Dr. Edwin M. Colburn, an early Bloomington physician, recalled the popularity of marbles and other games in the early 1840s. Not among ...
Local abolitionists faced rage, mob violence
By Bill Kemp. Published on July 23, 2017.
Rev. Levi Spencer came to Bloomington in April 1844, and it’s no exaggeration to say that his next four-and-a-half years in McLean Coun...
Bloomers had some success against big league clubs
By Bill Kemp. Published on July 11, 2017.
On Jun. 23, 1916, the minor league Bloomington Bloomers hosted the major league Chicago White Sox in a mid-season exhibition game....
Bloomington home to world champion singing mouse
By Bill Kemp. Published on June 25, 2017.
“The voice that spanned continents and oceans to win international acclaim is forever stilled,” announced a somber Pantagraph in Octobe...
Emancipation Day once Black community’s July 4th
By Bill Kemp. Published on May 21, 2017.
In the years before the Civil War and for several decades afterward, Bloomington’s African-American community embraced alternatives to ...
Catcher’s mitt tells story of big leaguer ‘Butch’ Henline
By Bill Kemp. Published on May 7, 2017.
The collections of the McLean County Museum of History include some 20,000 objects, and everyone one of them has a story to tell....
‘Black Devils’ earned fame in WW I
By Bill Kemp. Published on April 30, 2017.
During World War I, several dozen Bloomington-Normal residents fought in an African-American regiment that earned a reputation for brav...
County jail too often destination for troubled souls
By Bill Kemp. Published on April 23, 2017.
On Sept. 25, 1857, John Houseman, a German immigrant “deranged for some months,” committed suicide by hanging himself at the McLean Cou...
McLean County’s first corn farmers also mound builders
By Bill Kemp. Published on April 16, 2017.
It’s been nearly 200 years since the first Euro-Americans began settling would become McLean County. Those prairie pioneers of the 1820...
Four Burger brothers served in World War I
By Bill Kemp. Published on April 9, 2017.
This past week marked the 100th anniversary of the American entry into World War I, though for the other main combatants the unpreceden...
Clara Brian champion of farm families
By Bill Kemp. Published on March 26, 2017.
Clara Brian spent 25 years traveling to every corner of the McLean County countryside with the goal of improving the lives of rural hom...
Water-pumping windmills forerunner to wind turbines
By Bill Kemp. Published on February 26, 2017.
Today’s larger wind farms can include hundreds of 280-feet tall turbines and cover thousands of acres, generating enough megawatts to p...
Campaign to aid Britain comes to Bloomington
By Bill Kemp. Published on February 19, 2017.
On Dec. 5, 1940, two of Bloomington’s favorite sons returned home to call upon Americans to support Great Britain in her greatest hour ...
WW I freighter ‘Evergreen City’ named for Bloomington
By Bill Kemp. Published on February 5, 2017.
At the end of World War I, Bloomington citizens were given the honor of having a freighter named for their fair city. The...
Bloomington’s Fifer Bohrer first state Senator
By Bill Kemp. Published on January 8, 2017.
As thoughts this month turn to newly elected leaders assuming office, it’s a fitting time to look back at the groundbreaking legacy for...
Homemade Christmas dinner once a McLean County jail tradition
By Bill Kemp. Published on December 25, 2016.
“Unfortunate souls who spend Christmas Day in the county jail will at least have a tasty dinner to help them mull over their predicamen...
Extinct passenger pigeon once visitor to Central Illinois
By Bill Kemp. Published on December 18, 2016.
In 1810, 24-year-old attorney Henry Marie Brackenridge traveled down the Ohio River to Ste. Genevieve, Mo. and what was still known as ...
Oxen the original ‘work horses’ of the prairie
By Bill Kemp. Published on December 11, 2016.
Before the introduction of draft horses and then steam and gasoline-powered tractors, oxen provided the muscle on pioneer Corn Belt far...
Great Fire couldn’t dampen Christmas spirit
By Bill Kemp. Published on December 4, 2016.
The holiday season of 1900 brought more changes than usual for area shoppers flocking to downtown Bloomington. A little m...
Pantagraph reporter turns sci-fi writer
By Bill Kemp. Published on November 13, 2016.
You might’ve missed it, but Thursday, Nov. 10, marked the 50th anniversary of the first airing of the Star Trek episode “The Corbomite ...
End of horse era spurs revolution in barn design
By Bill Kemp. Published on November 6, 2016.
Though it may seem hard to believe, horses remained an integral part of Corn Belt farms well into the 1930s. And although the tractor b...
‘Angel of the West Side’ met daycare needs a century ago
By Bill Kemp. Published on September 25, 2016.
Ah, the good old days when all fathers were breadwinners and all mothers were homemakers. Well, those days were never so ...
100 Bushel Club pushed corn yields in the 1950s
By Bill Kemp. Published on September 18, 2016.
In this age of genetically modified crops, once unimaginable corn yields topping 200-plus bushels per acre are now becoming the norm....
Great Epizootic of 1872 ravaged the horse population
By Bill Kemp. Published on August 14, 2016.
Bloomington’s streets were eerily quiet for several weeks in late November and early December 1872. Missing from the normally bustling ...