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Businesses

A Community in Conflict

3 items

1855

1874

1917

Articles

14 items

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Silos sentinels of Corn Belt since late 19th century
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Local tractor company never gained traction
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Brown’s delivered white-collar education
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TV’s early years included short-lived Bloomington station
="an

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

Eastland Mall transformed Twin Cities
="a

Pre-Civil War Butler House survived into 1920s

Turbulent times at 19th century Bloomington hotel
="The

In 1955, downtown Bloomington 'dressed in holiday style'
="two

Holidays bring turbulent year of ’68 to a close
="A

‘Dr. Mrs. Keck’ battled male-dominated medical establishment
="This

Great Fire couldn’t dampen Christmas spirit
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Community fund drive kept C&A Shops in Bloomington
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Highland Park Golf Course site of old German brewery

Biographies

38 items

="John

McClun, John Edward
="William

Van Schoick, William
="Black

Fell, Jesse Weldon
="Allen

Withers, Allen
=""

Dillon, Martha Fisher
=""

Belt, Augustus "Gus"
=""

Belt, Edith Pressler
=""

King, Samuel Noble
=""

Mayes, John Jackson
="Helen

McCurdy, Helen Clark
="Adam

Guthrie, Adam
="Cyrenius

Wakefield, Cyrenius
="Christoph

Mandler, Christoph
="William

White, William Richard
="Napoleon

Heafer, Napoleon B.
="Portrait

Graves, Linus
="Asa

Moore, Asa Harvey
="John

Wolcott, John Laurens
="Asahel

Gridley, Asahel
="Clyde

Noble, Clyde Van
=""

Higgins, Hamer
=""

Jung, Jacob
="Roland

Read, Roland
="William

Davis, William O.
="Lloyd

Eyer, Lloyd
=""

Rice, Martha Baker
=""

Huggins, Sophia
=""

Sanders, Isaac
="" =""

Wunderlich, Gerald “Jerry” White
="CW

Klemm, C.W.
="TJ

Bunn, T.J.
="Judith

Bradner, Judith Ann
=""

White, Samuel
=""

Schroeder, Baroness Maria von Buchau
="Herman

Schroeder, Dr. Herman
="Jennie

Wickizer, Jennie MacDonald
="Aaron

Mayers, Aaron
="David

Law, David D.

Blog

74 items

Village of Saybrook Center Street, 1941

Route 66 Hit-and-Run Towanda, May 1948

Bull in Barbershop Hudson, June 19, 1947

Photo of the Week, 9: Funks Grove, March 1932

Heyworth High and Environs January 1933

Ozark Air Lines Touches Down Bloomington Municipal Airport, Nov. 6, 1950

Photo of the Week, 2: Don Munson & LaJean, 1968

Photo of the Week, 3: C.U. Wiliams and Son Co., 1914

Photo of the Week, 6: Dynamite Stump Removal

Photo of the Week, 17: Tracy Green & Co., circa 1928

Photo of the Week, 18: 1,000 License Plates Contributed in WW II Drive

Photo of the Week, 20: Grocery Shopping in the Great Depression

Photo of the Week, 21: Kadgihn’s, downtown Bloomington, 1921

Photo of the Week, 22: A Little Off the Top

Photo of the Week, 29: Blue Collar Bloomington

Prairie Birds to the Rescue! Great Chicago Fire, October 8-9, 1871

Shirley by Horseback March 5, 1942

Downtown Bloomington September 1938

Roller-Skating messengers State Farm Insurance, summer 1940

Woops! Roller-skating messenger State Farm Insurance, summer 1940

Photo of the Week, 82: 'Starr' Attraction at Normal Chamber Banquet, 1969

The Iceman Cometh … but for how long? June 1957

Paving, 400 block North Main Street June 1938

Penney’s Readies Eastland Store November 9, 1966

Eureka Williams aerial June 1966

Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform donated to Museum

Courteous Bicyclist June 1951

Model-Paris, 1938 Downtown Bloomington

Bloomington Creamery 104 S. East St.

General Telephone Building Empire Street / Route 9, August 1958

Hawkins Studio & Camera Shop 100 N. Center St., Bloomington, undated

Backstage, Majestic Theatre Bloomington, undated

Excuse me, comin’ through May 1968

Bloomington’s Federal’s ‘electronic brain’ January 1963

Pothole Season Laesch Dairy Truck, January 1965

Beich Plant Bloomington’s West Side, undated

Lathrop's Barbershop, 1914

Payless Drugs, July 1940 Downtown Bloomington

Toy, toys, and more toys Christmastime 1953

Gronemeier Bakery, Bloomington November 1935

Kleinau & Son confectionary Downtown Bloomington, ca. 1915-1916

C.W. Frey’s Showroom Downtown Bloomington, circa 1929-30

Herman Jack’s Christmas tree December 1952

Jennie Wickizer’s Bakery Downtown Bloomington, undated

My Store, undated Downtown Bloomington

National Bank of Bloomington Main and Washington, 1930s

Getting into the Stove Business Meadows Mfg. Co., April 1954

National Bank of Bloomington Drive-In 400 block East Washington Street, c. 1970

Courthouse Square, Bloomington East Side / Main Street, Late 1970s

Pantagraph Expansion, Circa 1935 Madison and Washington streets Downtown Bloomington

Brown’s Business College, 1930 526-530 N. Main St., Bloomington

Home TV Storefront, 1954 216 W. Washington St., Bloomington

General Electric Plant Route 66 “Beltline,” 1968

Boost Bigger, Beautiful Bloomington! C&A Shop Expansion Fund Button, 1910

Christmas Caravan, 1935

When Paperboys Were … Boys Pantagraph Carriers, May 1929

Esquire Theatre, circa 1944 Downtown Bloomington

The Shape of Things to Come Brunton’s First Delivery Truck, 1908

Downtown Bloomington, April 1948 East Side of Courthouse Square

Out with the Old . . . Keiser-Van Leer Expansion, 1936

Bright Lights in Time for Christmas Downtown Bloomington, December 1958

200 Block W. Washington St. Downtown Bloomington, 1965

Be of Good Cheer Livingston’s, Early 1950s

U.S. Declares War The Pantagraph, December 8, 1941

Ho ho ho Livingston’s Santas, 1940s

East Side Exodus, November 1966 Penney’s to Eastland Mall

East Washington Street 200 Block, Circa 1956

Randolph from On High Undated Aerial

Farm Progress Show Comes to McLean County September 1994

Ensenberger’s, 1925 West Side of Square, Bloomington

Photo of the Week, 5: Beich Employees Packing Whiz Bars

Mount Hope Ladies Aid Moore’s Mill Marker, August 1968

Photo of the Week 19: New Deal Rally, September 1933

We're Special! -- The MCMH Library

Finding Aids

148 items

CornBelters

Game Designers' Workshop

Grand Opera House

Heartland Theatre Company

Dietrich, George

WJBC Radio

Wolcott, J.L.

Bloomington Club

Tick, Irving Family

Bloomington Trades and Labor Assembly

Blotters Collection
=""

Bridgestone Firestone

Brokaw Hospital Newsletter

Brokaw Hospital Nursing Alumni Association
="" =""

Brokaw/Mennonite/BroMenn Hospitals

Capen Insurance / Capen Family

Carius, Larry
="Julius

Dietrich, Julius

Ensign, Preston Poster

Espey (Pharmacy)

Euleo Puppets

Evans, J. Harwood

Family Circle (Pantagraph Employee Newsletter)

Fenelon, Dr. J. H.

First National Bank of Normal

Fleming Law Office

Garst, Elmer Record Book

McLean County Ethnographies

Mitsubishi Motors

Phoenix Family and Nursery

Steak N Shake
=""

General Electric
=""

Corn Belt Bank

Parker Bros. Coal Co.

Gaunt, John

Geneva, William B. & Carolyn Schertz

Goudy, Frederic W.

Greeting Card

Gulf Mobile & Ohio

Helm, Grover C. (National Bank of Bloomington)

Hubbard Roycrofters Book
=""

IAA & FS Service, Inc. Relocation
=""

Illinois Tractor

International Tapetronics Corp

IWU Marketing Class Papers
=""

Jung Family

Kirkpatrick Collection

Klemm, C.W. Family

Loeseke / Karl's Quality Café

Lundeen, Edgar and Rachael

McEwen Brothers Blacksmith Shop
=""

McKnight & McKnight Publishing Company

McLean County Coal Company

McLean County Medical Society Minutes

McLean County Telephone Co.

Williamson, Doug WJBC Forum

Pantagraph

Pantagraph Printing

Wilcox Tile Factory

Murray & Carmody Funeral Home

Pantagraph Comics

Phonograph and Audio

Reiner - Bennett

Salch, David State Farm

Scharf, Emmett Electric Co.

Smith, Sidney

Stevenson, J.B. Letter Book

Vanderwater, Leon Musical Program

Vogel, Steve WJBC

Vrooman Mansion - Theora Stark

W. O. Davis Tributes Collection

Wallace, Glen / Diamond-Star Motors / Mitsubishi Motors

WGLT Program Guides and Annual Reports

WIHN

Mendoza, Manuel State Farm

Carlock, W. B.

Ensenberger Furniture Store

Higgins-Jung-Kleinau Co

Irvin, Clarence E.

Iseminger Family

Iseminger Ford

Labor Fatalities Collection

Reeder, Ida

Farmers Grain Dealers Association of Illinois Collection

Hilton and Schwoerer Farms
=""

Meadows Manufacturing Company

Portable Elevator

Tyner Farm Collection

Castle Theater

Williams Oil-o-Matic

Funk Bros Seed Company

Ensenberger Building

Evans, Joseph Orme

McLean County Bank Building

Moratz, Paul O.

Multiple Listing Service

People’s Bank

A Touch of Glass

Airline Timetable Collection

Bieber Family / General Telephone Company

Calendar Collection

Carlton Collection

Mark & Margaret Kalahar Hayes

McLean County Chamber of Commerce

Fell Family

State Farm Building

Irvin, Lawrence

Brown’s Business College
="CW =""

Klemm’s Department Store

Stickrod’s Drug Store

Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (UNARCO)

Stern Family

Butler, Harry Collection

Livingston Family Collection

Dairies Collection

Cornett, Roseanna Eureka Williams

Bloomington-Normal Black History Project

American Foundry and Furnace Company Collection (Soper Foundry)

Circus
="Aerial

Eureka Williams Electrolux

Grain Elevators

Exhibit: Made in McLean County
="Postcard ="A ="The ="This ="This ="This ="The

Illinois Traction Terminal

Illinois Central Railroad
=""

Chicago & Alton Railroad Miscellaneous
=""

Childers, James Railroad

Haxel Railroading

Railroad Books—Miscellaneous

Railroad Fatalities

Railroad Time Books

Mennonite Hospital Newsletter

Mennonite Hospital Nursing

Restaurant Menu

Gossard, Steve Railroad

Amtrak Timetables
="A ="Portrait ="A

Arthur Pillsbury Collection

Auth Family

Bach, William

Baldini, John

Benjamin Farm Collection
=""

Normal Theater

Bloomington Business and Professional Women’s Club Collection

Bloomington Cemetery Association
="The ="Postcard ="Courthouse ="View ="Courthouse ="Courthouse ="Courthouse ="View ="East ="Ruins ="View ="Looking ="Rebuilding ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" =""

Bloomington Fire Collection
="Bloomington

Bloomington Fire Department Collection

Packard Duck Pin Bowling Alley

Mandel-Cohn Collection
=""

Beich Collection

Oral Histories

5 items

John Barrientes

Sarita Mendiola

Richard and Rose Bell

Oscar and Ruth Waddell

Kathyrn Dean

Publications

2 items

Funk Farms, Birthplace of Commercial Hybrid Corn: A History of Hybrid Corn

Phoenix's Plant Catalogue including Plant Novelties

Speakers Bureau

6 items

Before Rivian: The Henney Kilowatt--Bloomington's Battery-powered 'Car of Tomorrow'

McLean County Holiday Stories

The Showmen's Final Resting Place

German Brewers in Bloomington, IL 1859-1920

Wet or Dry? - Prohibition in McLean County, 1920-1933

Mourning in McLean: The Story of Death, Grieving, and Funerary Customs in McLean County

Working for a Living

10 items

Crafting Custom Products for a Local Market

Providing for a Regional Market

Building for a Growing Population

Powering the Community

Merchandising Expands Dramatically

Selling Cars and Taking Flight

Insuring the Automobile

Merchants Move to Bloomington’s East Side

Robotics Replaces Some Workers, But Hand Work Remains Necessary

Diesel Engines Replace Steam Engines

Village of Saybrook Center Street, 1941

Route 66 Hit-and-Run Towanda, May 1948

Bull in Barbershop Hudson, June 19, 1947

Photo of the Week, 9: Funks Grove, March 1932

Heyworth High and Environs January 1933

Ozark Air Lines Touches Down Bloomington Municipal Airport, Nov. 6, 1950

Photo of the Week, 2: Don Munson & LaJean, 1968

Photo of the Week, 3: C.U. Wiliams and Son Co., 1914

Photo of the Week, 6: Dynamite Stump Removal

Photo of the Week, 17: Tracy Green & Co., circa 1928

Photo of the Week, 18: 1,000 License Plates Contributed in WW II Drive

Photo of the Week, 20: Grocery Shopping in the Great Depression

Photo of the Week, 21: Kadgihn’s, downtown Bloomington, 1921

Photo of the Week, 22: A Little Off the Top

Photo of the Week, 29: Blue Collar Bloomington

Prairie Birds to the Rescue! Great Chicago Fire, October 8-9, 1871

Shirley by Horseback March 5, 1942

Downtown Bloomington September 1938

Roller-Skating messengers State Farm Insurance, summer 1940

Woops! Roller-skating messenger State Farm Insurance, summer 1940

Photo of the Week, 82: 'Starr' Attraction at Normal Chamber Banquet, 1969

The Iceman Cometh … but for how long? June 1957

Paving, 400 block North Main Street June 1938

Penney’s Readies Eastland Store November 9, 1966

Eureka Williams aerial June 1966

Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform donated to Museum

Courteous Bicyclist June 1951

Model-Paris, 1938 Downtown Bloomington

Bloomington Creamery 104 S. East St.

General Telephone Building Empire Street / Route 9, August 1958

Hawkins Studio & Camera Shop 100 N. Center St., Bloomington, undated

Backstage, Majestic Theatre Bloomington, undated

Excuse me, comin’ through May 1968

Bloomington’s Federal’s ‘electronic brain’ January 1963

Pothole Season Laesch Dairy Truck, January 1965

Beich Plant Bloomington’s West Side, undated

Lathrop's Barbershop, 1914

Payless Drugs, July 1940 Downtown Bloomington

Toy, toys, and more toys Christmastime 1953

Gronemeier Bakery, Bloomington November 1935

Kleinau & Son confectionary Downtown Bloomington, ca. 1915-1916

C.W. Frey’s Showroom Downtown Bloomington, circa 1929-30

Herman Jack’s Christmas tree December 1952

Jennie Wickizer’s Bakery Downtown Bloomington, undated

My Store, undated Downtown Bloomington

National Bank of Bloomington Main and Washington, 1930s

Getting into the Stove Business Meadows Mfg. Co., April 1954

National Bank of Bloomington Drive-In 400 block East Washington Street, c. 1970

Courthouse Square, Bloomington East Side / Main Street, Late 1970s

Pantagraph Expansion, Circa 1935 Madison and Washington streets Downtown Bloomington

Brown’s Business College, 1930 526-530 N. Main St., Bloomington

Home TV Storefront, 1954 216 W. Washington St., Bloomington

General Electric Plant Route 66 “Beltline,” 1968

Boost Bigger, Beautiful Bloomington! C&A Shop Expansion Fund Button, 1910

Christmas Caravan, 1935

When Paperboys Were … Boys Pantagraph Carriers, May 1929

Esquire Theatre, circa 1944 Downtown Bloomington

The Shape of Things to Come Brunton’s First Delivery Truck, 1908

Downtown Bloomington, April 1948 East Side of Courthouse Square

Out with the Old . . . Keiser-Van Leer Expansion, 1936

Bright Lights in Time for Christmas Downtown Bloomington, December 1958

200 Block W. Washington St. Downtown Bloomington, 1965

Be of Good Cheer Livingston’s, Early 1950s

U.S. Declares War The Pantagraph, December 8, 1941

Ho ho ho Livingston’s Santas, 1940s

East Side Exodus, November 1966 Penney’s to Eastland Mall

East Washington Street 200 Block, Circa 1956

Randolph from On High Undated Aerial

Farm Progress Show Comes to McLean County September 1994

Ensenberger’s, 1925 West Side of Square, Bloomington

Photo of the Week, 5: Beich Employees Packing Whiz Bars

Mount Hope Ladies Aid Moore’s Mill Marker, August 1968

Photo of the Week 19: New Deal Rally, September 1933

We're Special! -- The MCMH Library

CornBelters

Game Designers' Workshop

Grand Opera House

Heartland Theatre Company

Dietrich, George

WJBC Radio

Wolcott, J.L.

Bloomington Club

Tick, Irving Family

Bloomington Trades and Labor Assembly

Blotters Collection
=""

Bridgestone Firestone

Brokaw Hospital Newsletter

Brokaw Hospital Nursing Alumni Association
="" =""

Brokaw/Mennonite/BroMenn Hospitals

Capen Insurance / Capen Family

Carius, Larry
="Julius

Dietrich, Julius

Ensign, Preston Poster

Espey (Pharmacy)

Euleo Puppets

Evans, J. Harwood

Family Circle (Pantagraph Employee Newsletter)

Fenelon, Dr. J. H.

First National Bank of Normal

Fleming Law Office

Garst, Elmer Record Book

McLean County Ethnographies

Mitsubishi Motors

Phoenix Family and Nursery

Steak N Shake
=""

General Electric
=""

Corn Belt Bank

Parker Bros. Coal Co.

Gaunt, John

Geneva, William B. & Carolyn Schertz

Goudy, Frederic W.

Greeting Card

Gulf Mobile & Ohio

Helm, Grover C. (National Bank of Bloomington)

Hubbard Roycrofters Book
=""

IAA & FS Service, Inc. Relocation
=""

Illinois Tractor

International Tapetronics Corp

IWU Marketing Class Papers
=""

Jung Family

Kirkpatrick Collection

Klemm, C.W. Family

Loeseke / Karl's Quality Café

Lundeen, Edgar and Rachael

McEwen Brothers Blacksmith Shop
=""

McKnight & McKnight Publishing Company

McLean County Coal Company

McLean County Medical Society Minutes

McLean County Telephone Co.

Williamson, Doug WJBC Forum

Pantagraph

Pantagraph Printing

Wilcox Tile Factory

Murray & Carmody Funeral Home

Pantagraph Comics

Phonograph and Audio

Reiner - Bennett

Salch, David State Farm

Scharf, Emmett Electric Co.

Smith, Sidney

Stevenson, J.B. Letter Book

Vanderwater, Leon Musical Program

Vogel, Steve WJBC

Vrooman Mansion - Theora Stark

W. O. Davis Tributes Collection

Wallace, Glen / Diamond-Star Motors / Mitsubishi Motors

WGLT Program Guides and Annual Reports

WIHN

Mendoza, Manuel State Farm

Carlock, W. B.

Ensenberger Furniture Store

Higgins-Jung-Kleinau Co

Irvin, Clarence E.

Iseminger Family

Iseminger Ford

Labor Fatalities Collection

Reeder, Ida

Farmers Grain Dealers Association of Illinois Collection

Hilton and Schwoerer Farms
=""

Meadows Manufacturing Company

Portable Elevator

Tyner Farm Collection

Castle Theater

Williams Oil-o-Matic

Funk Bros Seed Company

Ensenberger Building

Evans, Joseph Orme

McLean County Bank Building

Moratz, Paul O.

Multiple Listing Service

People’s Bank

A Touch of Glass

Airline Timetable Collection

Bieber Family / General Telephone Company

Calendar Collection

Carlton Collection

Mark & Margaret Kalahar Hayes

McLean County Chamber of Commerce

Fell Family

State Farm Building

Irvin, Lawrence

Brown’s Business College
="CW =""

Klemm’s Department Store

Stickrod’s Drug Store

Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (UNARCO)

Stern Family

Butler, Harry Collection

Livingston Family Collection

Dairies Collection

Cornett, Roseanna Eureka Williams

Bloomington-Normal Black History Project

American Foundry and Furnace Company Collection (Soper Foundry)

Circus
="Aerial

Eureka Williams Electrolux

Grain Elevators

Exhibit: Made in McLean County
="Postcard ="A ="The ="This ="This ="This ="The

Illinois Traction Terminal

Illinois Central Railroad
=""

Chicago & Alton Railroad Miscellaneous
=""

Childers, James Railroad

Haxel Railroading

Railroad Books—Miscellaneous

Railroad Fatalities

Railroad Time Books

Mennonite Hospital Newsletter

Mennonite Hospital Nursing

Restaurant Menu

Gossard, Steve Railroad

Amtrak Timetables
="A ="Portrait ="A

Arthur Pillsbury Collection

Auth Family

Bach, William

Baldini, John

Benjamin Farm Collection
=""

Normal Theater

Bloomington Business and Professional Women’s Club Collection

Bloomington Cemetery Association
="The ="Postcard ="Courthouse ="View ="Courthouse ="Courthouse ="Courthouse ="View ="East ="Ruins ="View ="Looking ="Rebuilding ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" ="" =""

Bloomington Fire Collection
="Bloomington

Bloomington Fire Department Collection

Packard Duck Pin Bowling Alley

Mandel-Cohn Collection
=""

Beich Collection