Local Product

Resources are listed in alphabetical order. More information can always be found by using our website search bar, or contacting a member of our staff.

Articles

A small selection of Pages from our Past articles written by Bill Kemp

5 items

Electric cars sparked local interest long before Rivian

The startling success of electric automaker Rivian has shined an international spotlight on Blo...

Article

Honeybees sweetened 19th century life in Central Illinois

In November 1887, a poor local honey harvest led The Pantagraph to predict scarce inventories a...

Article

Local tractor company never gained traction

“More from the soil, with less toil” was the promise of the Illinois Tractor Co., which for a f...

Article

through the haze there is a crumbled brick building, some fascade still stands but most of the brick building is rubble on the ground.

Portable Elevator plant closed in 1987

In the spring of 2018, Canadian agricultural equipment manufacturer Brandt Industries began ass...

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

Biographies

5 items

Belt, Augustus "Gus"

Augustus "Gus" Belt (1895-1954) and Edith Pressler Belt (1896 – 1973) successfully gr...

Biography

Belt, Edith Pressler

Edith Pressler Belt (1896 – 1973) and Augustus "Gus" Belt (1895-1954) successfully gr...

Biography

Brokaw, Abraham

Abraham Brokaw (he preferred to go by Abram), was born November 6, 1815 in Somerset County, New...

Biography

Heafer, Napoleon B.

Napoleon B. Heafer was born on December 14, 1823 in Charleston, West Virginia. At the age of te...

Biography

White, William Richard

William Richard White was born on December 22, 1844 in Goosenest Prairie, Coles County, Illinoi...

Biography

Blog

2 items

McHistory: A Bloomington Huckster’s best-selling medicine was Blackberry Balsam

Listen to the audio on WGLT's website hereMcHistory goes back in time to explore big momen...

Blog Post

McHistory: George Hoagland’s ‘Oil of Gladness’

Listen to the audio on WGLT's website hereMcHistory goes back in time to explore big momen...

Blog Post

Farming in the Great Corn Belt

Digital Exhibit

2 items

New Technology: Computers

In the 1970s, area farmers began to use computer technology to improve yields and profits....

Digital Exhibit

Tractors Replace Animal Labor

As tractors became more affordable, McLean County farmers began to replace their animal labor....

Digital Exhibit

Finding Aids

5 items

American Foundry and Furnace Company Collection (Soper Foundry)

Soper Foundry (then known as Flagg Foundry) began in Bloomington in 1874, producing gray iron c...

Finding Aid

Beich Collection

Born in Wehlau, East Prussia in 1864, Paul Frank Beich received his early education at Culm whe...

Finding Aid

Cornett, Roseanna Eureka Williams

The Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company was started in 1909 by John Wardell and located in Detroit, M...

Finding Aid

Eureka Williams Electrolux

Charles U. Williams came to Bloomington in the late nineteenth century. He was an itinerant pho...

Finding Aid

Exhibit: Made in McLean County

The McLean County Museum of History presented this exhibit in 1999. This collection contains th...

Finding Aid

Research

1 item

Post Amerikan

Held by the MCMH and digitized by Eastern Illinois University. The Post Amerikan began publicat...

Article

Videos

1 item

Lunch & Learn: Organizing for policy change for a more just and regenerative food system

Video

Working for a Living

Digital Exhibit

4 items

Changing Shipping Practices

Many business owners continued to use the railroad to ship their products. But the trucking of ...

Digital Exhibit

Craftsmen

Blacksmiths, tinsmiths, and brick-makers possessed skills helpful for survival when Euro-Americ...

Digital Exhibit

Providing for a Regional Market

Thanks to the ease of railroad shipping, many local manufacturers were able to sell their goods...

Digital Exhibit

Reaching a National Market

Because of railroad shipping, manufacturers like Wakefield could sell their products throughout...

Digital Exhibit