Skip to content

Businesses

A Community in Conflict

3 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

1874
In 1874, the temperance women of Bloomington worked hard to get an ordinance passed that would prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Digital Exhibit

1917
In 1917 Bloomington-Normal’s street railway workers were unhappy about their pay and the number of days they worked per week. They organized a union to consolidate their power, hopeful that change would happen.

Digital Exhibit

Articles

14 items

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 fund drive kept C&A Shops in Bloomington
Local and state governments often offer incentives to keep existing businesses or attract new o...

Article

A large group of people, mostly dressed in coats and hats, are inside the mall. In the middle of the crowd is a light-skinned man wearing a suit speaking into a microphone. There is a small gazebo-like structure behind him. To the left is Woolworth's, with a sign in the window that says

Eastland Mall transformed Twin Cities
“A shopping trip takes on all of the glamour and excitement of the space age when you visit the...

Article

This illustration of the new Griesheim Building appeared in a 1901 Bloomington Business Men’s Association promotional piece touting the city’s reconstruction efforts after the Great Fire of June 19, 1900.

Great Fire couldn’t dampen Christmas spirit
The holiday season of 1900 brought more changes than usual for area shoppers flocking to downto...

Article

Highland Park Golf Course site of old German brewery
A Brief History of Meyer Brewing by Bill Kemp...

Article

two men stand next to a pail, with a salvation army sign

Holidays bring turbulent year of ’68 to a close
Fifty years ago this week, December 1968, fast-approaching Christmas and New Year’s afforded ma...

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

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

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

Silos sentinels of Corn Belt since late 19th century
Farm silos, an iconic symbol of the Corn Belt, have long flummoxed city and suburban folk. Frus...

Article

TV’s early years included short-lived Bloomington station
Strange thought it may seem, in the early, golden days of commercial television there was an AB...

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

A woman with light skin, curly hair pulled back, a lacy white collar, and white high-collared dark blouse

‘Dr. Mrs. Keck’ battled male-dominated medical establishment
Back in the 19th century when miracle pills, plasters, creams, powders and tonics promised to c...

Article

Biographies

44 items

Paul F Beich in 1936

Beich, Paul F.
Paul F. Beich was a German immigrant who worked in the candy-making business, first as a salesm...

Biography

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

Judith Bradner

Bradner, Judith Ann
Judith Major Allin Bradner was born on May 9, 1814 in Bourbon County, Kentucky to William T. an...

Biography

TJ Bun portrait

Bunn, T.J.
Thomas Jefferson (T.J.) Bunn was born on August 29, 1832 in Xenia, Green County, Ohio. He was t...

Biography

James Preston Butler

Butler, James Preston
James Preston Butler was a tinsmith, butcher, grocer, policeman, tax collector, alderman, const...

Biography

William O. Davis

Davis, William O.
William Osbourne Davis was the son of a Quaker farmer from Chester County, Pennsylvania and beg...

Biography

Dillon, Martha Fisher
Ellis Dillon was born on March 25, 1816 in Clinton County, Ohio to Jesse and Hannah Pugh Dillon...

Biography

Alexander Erickson

Erickson, Alexander G.
Swedish immigration during the nineteenth century was part of a larger trend occurring in the w...

Biography

Lloyd Eyer

Eyer, Lloyd
Lloyd Eyer served as physical director of the Bloomington YMCA for twelve years from 1905 to 19...

Biography

Black and white photograph of an older man, Jesse Fell, wearing a simple suit. He has a nice gaze, looking off into the distance, and a slight upward turn to his mouth

Fell, Jesse Weldon
Jesse Weldon Fell was born on November 10, 1808 to Jesse Fell and Rebecca Roman Fell at his fat...

Biography

Henry Funk

Funk, Henry
Henry Funk was a career orchardist, apiarist, poultry man, and horticulturalist. Though not to ...

Biography

Portrait of Linus Graves, a middle-aged man wearing a white collared shirt, vest, and jacket, with full beard and large nose.

Graves, Linus
Linus Graves was born in Williamstown, Vermont on April 2, 1815 one of eleven children born to ...

Biography

Asahel Gridley

Gridley, Asahel
A great deal of the information known about Asahel Gridley is based on reminiscences of his fri...

Biography

Adam Guthrie

Guthrie, Adam
Adam Guthrie was born on March 10, 1825 in Circleville, Pickaway Co., Ohio. He was one of twelv...

Biography

Napoleon Heafer

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

Biography

Higgins, Hamer
Considering his chosen line of work, one might not be too surprised to learn that Hamer J. Higg...

Biography

Huggins, Sophia
Sophia Huggins (1831-1903) or “Aunt Sophia” as she was known by her clientele, was a claimed cl...

Biography

Jung, Jacob
Jacob Phillip Jung was born on February 9, 1850 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois to parents ...

Biography

King, Samuel Noble
Samuel Noble (1834-1913) and Mary (Reed) King (1842-1928) were a force in the advancement of ag...

Biography

Charles Kirkpatrick

Kirkpatrick, Charles
Much of the information about Charles Kirkpatrick’s life comes from an autobiographical intervi...

Biography

CW Klemm

Klemm, C.W.
Carl Wilhelm (C.W.) Klemm was born on May 1, 1845 in Haynrode, Saxony, Germany. His grandfather...

Biography

David Law

Law, David D.
David D. Law was born in Lebanon City, Pennsylvania on March 30, 1852 and was the son of Willia...

Biography

Christoph Mandler

Mandler, Christoph
Christoph Mandler was born on April 23, 1858 in Daubringen, County of Gressen in the Grand Duch...

Biography

Aaron Mayers tombstone

Mayers, Aaron
Aaron Mayers was born in Manheim, Pennsylvania in about 1827. It is unknown when exactly Mayers...

Biography

Mayes, John Jackson
John Jackson Mayes, Jr., (1851 -1918) known as J.J., was engaged in the photography business, a...

Biography

John McClun

McClun, John Edward
John Edward McClun was born on February 19, 1812 in Frederick County, Virginia.  He was the you...

Biography

McCoslin, William
William McCoslin (1830-1878) was born in Vandalia, Illinois on July 27, 1830. While the names o...

Biography

Helen Clark McCurdy

McCurdy, Helen Clark
Helen Clark was born in Bloomington, Illinois on February 21, 1866 to James and Anna (Bacon) Cl...

Biography

Asa Moore

Moore, Asa Harvey
Asa Harvey Moore was born on October 20, 1820 in Rutland, Westchester County, Massachusetts. He...

Biography

Clyde Van Noble

Noble, Clyde Van
Clyde Van Noble (1881-1955) became a jeweler’s apprentice as a teenager and had a promising car...

Biography

Roland Read

Read, Roland
Roland Spencer Read was born in Bloomington, Illinois, on May 26, 1895. He was one of three son...

Biography

Rice, Martha Baker
Martha H. Baker (Rice) was born in Richmond, Kentucky on September 4, 1817.  Her parent’s names...

Biography

Sanders, Isaac
Isaac Joshua Beasley Sanders was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 17, 1878. He was the ...

Biography

Schroeder, Baroness Maria von Buchau
Much of what we know about Herman Schroeder comes from his own accounts.  Some of this informat...

Biography

Herman Schroeder

Schroeder, Dr. Herman
Much of what we know about Herman Schroeder comes from his own accounts.  Some of this informat...

Biography

William Van Schoick

Van Schoick, William
Thomas William Van Schoick was born on August 2, 1829 in Monmouth County, New Jersey to David a...

Biography

Cyrenius Wakefield

Wakefield, Cyrenius
Cyrenius Wakefield (1815-1885): Dr. Cyrenius Wakefield settled in Bloomington, IL in 1850. Wake...

Biography

White, Samuel
Prominent contractor and builder Samuel White’s personal and professional “rags to riches” stor...

Biography

William White

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

Biography

Jennie Wickizer

Wickizer, Jennie MacDonald
Jennie MacDonald Wickizer was born on December 31, 1852 at Knightswood, Scotland, located just ...

Biography

Allen Withers

Withers, Allen
Allen Withers was born on a farm in Jessamine County, Kentucky about seven miles from Nicholasv...

Biography

John Wolcott

Wolcott, John Laurens
John Wolcott was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts on August 30, 1808.  He learned his tr...

Biography

Wunderlich, Gerald “Jerry” White
Gerald “Jerry” Wunderlich (sometimes spelled Wonderlich) was born on August 25, 1889 in Chicago...

Biography

Blog

76 items

200 Block W. Washington St. Downtown Bloomington, 1965
This photograph, taken from the roof of The Pantagraph building in March 1965, shows a row of f...

Blog Post

Backstage, Majestic Theatre Bloomington, undated
This undated photo shows Bill Dorothy (left) and James “Pop” Tucker working the backstage area ...

Blog Post

Be of Good Cheer Livingston’s, Early 1950s
Seen here from the early 1950s is Livingston’s, the gone-but-not-forgotten local department sto...

Blog Post

Beich Plant Bloomington’s West Side, undated
This undated aerial offers a wealth of fascinating detail. “A” indicates West Washington Street...

Blog Post

Bloomington Creamery 104 S. East St.
This undated view shows Bloomington Creamery on the 100 block of South East Street. We’re not s...

Blog Post

Bloomington’s Federal’s ‘electronic brain’ January 1963
Bloomington Federal Savings & Loan Association claimed to be the first financial institutio...

Blog Post

Boost Bigger, Beautiful Bloomington! C&A Shop Expansion Fund Button, 1910
The “Page from Our Past” column in Sunday March 6, 2016 Pantagraph told how area residents rais...

Blog Post

Bright Lights in Time for Christmas Downtown Bloomington, December 1958
On Dec. 19, 1958, Bloomington Mayor Robert McGraw threw a ceremonial switch to light about half...

Blog Post

Brown’s Business College, 1930 526-530 N. Main St., Bloomington
Brown’s Business College, a chain of schools established by G.W. Brown of Jacksonville, offered...

Blog Post

Bull in Barbershop Hudson, June 19, 1947
We’ve all heard the expression “bull in a china shop,” but how about one in a barbershop? Herb ...

Blog Post

C.W. Frey’s Showroom Downtown Bloomington, circa 1929-30
Clarence W. Frey & Sons was a longtime auto dealership and service center located at 300-31...

Blog Post

Christmas Caravan, 1935
During the Great Depression 80 downtown Bloomington merchants staged a “Christmas Caravan” prom...

Blog Post

Courteous Bicyclist June 1951
In late June 1951, the Junior Chamber of Commerce sponsored a “Traffic Courtesy Week” in Bloomi...

Blog Post

Courthouse Square, Bloomington East Side / Main Street, Late 1970s
This colorful view shows the 200 block of North Main Street in the late 1970s. All of these bui...

Blog Post

Downtown Bloomington September 1938
This view of downtown Bloomington looks north. The foreground includes a good look at the old c...

Blog Post

Downtown Bloomington, April 1948 East Side of Courthouse Square
This photograph showing the 200 block of North Main Street was snapped on April 4, 1948.Looking...

Blog Post

East Side Exodus, November 1966 Penney’s to Eastland Mall
On November 10, 1966, JCPenney moved into the still under-construction Eastland Shopping Center...

Blog Post

East Washington Street 200 Block, Circa 1956
Seen here is the north side of the 200 block of East Washington Street about 1956. Partially vi...

Blog Post

Ensenberger’s, 1925 West Side of Square, Bloomington
Back in the summer of 1925 iron workers were completing the steel frame for the new Ensenberger...

Blog Post

Esquire Theatre, circa 1944 Downtown Bloomington
There aren’t too many known photographs of the Esquire Theatre, 108 N. Madison St., Bloomington...

Blog Post

Eureka Williams aerial June 1966
This summer 1966 view of the near southeast side of Bloomington, looking east, offers a wealth ...

Blog Post

Excuse me, comin’ through May 1968
On May 22, 1968, workers removed a roof off a gas station being dismantled at the corner of Lee...

Blog Post

Farm Progress Show Comes to McLean County September 1994
It was arguably the single largest event ever staged in McLean County history. Despite the canc...

Blog Post

General Electric Plant Route 66 “Beltline,” 1968
Hey wait minute, where did Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano go? Clearly, back in 1968 there wasn’t ...

Blog Post

General Telephone Building Empire Street / Route 9, August 1958
This summer 1958 aerial view, looking north-northwest, shows the under-construction General Te...

Blog Post

Getting into the Stove Business Meadows Mfg. Co., April 1954
From 1920 to the mid-1950s, Meadows Manufacturing Co. made clothes washers from its plant on Bl...

Blog Post

Gronemeier Bakery, Bloomington November 1935
From the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, W.H. Gronemeier operated a bakery at the northwest corner...

Blog Post

Hawkins Studio & Camera Shop 100 N. Center St., Bloomington, undated
In the summer of 1965, Joseph G. Hawkins Studio & Camera Shop of Bloomington relocated from...

Blog Post

Herman Jack’s Christmas tree December 1952
In April 1950, DeWitt County farmer Herman Jack planted 1,500 evergreen seedlings on sloping, e...

Blog Post

Heyworth High and Environs January 1933
This wonderful aerial photograph of Heyworth High School dates to January 23, 1933. The view is...

Blog Post

Ho ho ho Livingston’s Santas, 1940s
From the 1940s to the mid-1970s, A. Livingston & Sons in downtown Bloomington hoisted two g...

Blog Post

Home TV Storefront, 1954 216 W. Washington St., Bloomington
Cecil M. Carlock opened Home TV sales and repair in January 1954.”Television is our business, n...

Blog Post

Jennie Wickizer’s Bakery Downtown Bloomington, undated
In April 1894, Jennie Wickizer purchased the commercial building at the corner of Main and Mulb...

Blog Post

Kleinau & Son confectionary Downtown Bloomington, ca. 1915-1916
The staff of Kleinau & Son’s is seen here in front of the 218 N. Center St. storefront, som...

Blog Post

Lathrop's Barbershop, 1914
George Lathrop was a Bloomington barber for many years. This February 1914 photograph shows the...

Blog Post

McHistory: From Cabinets to Coffins
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

Model-Paris, 1938 Downtown Bloomington
Back in 1938, Model-Paris Launderers & Cleaners had two location in the Twin Cities: 208-21...

Blog Post

Mount Hope Ladies Aid Moore’s Mill Marker, August 1968
The most famous gristmill in McLean County was the one operated by the Moore family of Mount Ho...

Blog Post

My Store, undated Downtown Bloomington
Oscar Mandel and brother-in-law Albert Schwarzman opened this five-story “trade palace,” locate...

Blog Post

National Bank of Bloomington Drive-In 400 block East Washington Street, c. 1970
Much of what’s seen here is long gone, lost forever to the wrecking ball. The view is the 400 b...

Blog Post

National Bank of Bloomington Main and Washington, 1930s
This view of downtown Bloomington, looking east and taken sometime in the 1930s, offers a lovel...

Blog Post

Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform donated to Museum
The Museum recently received a Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform worn during the late 1930...

Blog Post

Out with the Old . . . Keiser-Van Leer Expansion, 1936
Seen here is the northeast corner of East and Market streets in downtown Bloomington, late 1935...

Blog Post

Ozark Air Lines Touches Down Bloomington Municipal Airport, Nov. 6, 1950
An estimated 200 area residents were on hand at the Municipal Airport (now Central Illinois Reg...

Blog Post

Pantagraph Expansion, Circa 1935 Madison and Washington streets Downtown Bloomington
By 1935, The Pantagraph had outgrown its 1887 home. Construction of new and expanded quarters b...

Blog Post

Paving, 400 block North Main Street June 1938
Workmen with local contractor Berenz & Son lay asphalt down the 400 block of North Main Str...

Blog Post

Payless Drugs, July 1940 Downtown Bloomington
Payless Drugs, 317 N. Main St., opened on July 18, 1940. “It’s new! It’s different! It’s the la...

Blog Post

Penney’s Readies Eastland Store November 9, 1966
J.C. Penney opened in the new Eastland Shopping Center (now Eastland Mall) on November 10, 1966...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week 19: New Deal Rally, September 1933
In September 1933, during the dark days of the Great Depression, Bloomington hosted a parade an...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 17: Tracy Green & Co., circa 1928
Tracy Green & Co., circa 1928, located at the southwest corner of Washington and Gridley st...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 18: 1,000 License Plates Contributed in WW II Drive
During the Second World War, communities such as Bloomington scrounged for scrap metal to boost...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 20: Grocery Shopping in the Great Depression
Seen here is a 1935 photograph of the Nierstheimer Bros. grocery store at 428 North Main Street...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 21: Kadgihn’s, downtown Bloomington, 1921
For about a decade, from the mid-1910s to the mid-1920s, Herman Kadgihn ran a newsstand and cig...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 22: A Little Off the Top
Not much is known of this curious scene other than the fact that the chimpanzee is from the Mil...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 29: Blue Collar Bloomington
Hayes-Custer Stove Company, 1933. The Hayes-Custer Stove Co. was located at the northwest corne...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 2: Don Munson & LaJean, 1968
I stumbled across this photograph while perusing a collection of recently donated photographs. ...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 3: C.U. Wiliams and Son Co., 1914
This photo of C.U. Williams and Son Co., 207 E. Washington St., Bloomington, dates to 1914. It ...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 5: Beich Employees Packing Whiz Bars
This undated photograph shows Paul F. Beich Candy Co. employees packing Whiz Bars, a marshmallo...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 6: Dynamite Stump Removal
400 pounds of dynamite subdue cottonwood, hackberry stumps. These two photographs appeared in t...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 82: 'Starr' Attraction at Normal Chamber Banquet, 1969
Famed Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr was the keynote speaker at the March 26, 1969 No...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 9: Funks Grove, March 1932
Sap from the sugar maple begins to run during the warmer days and cold nights of February and M...

Blog Post

Pothole Season Laesch Dairy Truck, January 1965
Winter is hard on Twin City streets, with local residents always on the lookout for kidney-jarr...

Blog Post

Prairie Birds to the Rescue! Great Chicago Fire, October 8-9, 1871
As the Great Chicago Fire raged out of control the night and early morning of October 8-9, 1871...

Blog Post

Randolph from On High Undated Aerial
Central Illinois is dotted with the tiniest of communities that owe their existence to the rail...

Blog Post

Roller-Skating messengers State Farm Insurance, summer 1940
Fayne Hoobler (left, on skates) delivers mail to Dorothy Thompson on the sixth floor the State ...

Blog Post

Route 66 Hit-and-Run Towanda, May 1948
In the early morning hours of May 19, 1948, a hit-and-run truck driver knocked down two gasolin...

Blog Post

Shirley by Horseback March 5, 1942
Earlier this week, we ran a photograph illustrating the severe WWII rubber shortage and its imp...

Blog Post

The Iceman Cometh … but for how long? June 1957
Once a common sight in windows throughout the Twin Cities and beyond, ice carts were becoming a...

Blog Post

The Shape of Things to Come Brunton’s First Delivery Truck, 1908
This 1908 scene shows Campbell Brunton behind the wheel of the very first truck owned by the fa...

Blog Post

Toy, toys, and more toys Christmastime 1953
This week we’ve posted several photographs from a set showing downtown Bloomington holiday shop...

Blog Post

U.S. Declares War The Pantagraph, December 8, 1941
The U.S. Congress declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, in response to the attack on Pearl...

Blog Post

Village of Saybrook Center Street, 1941
Seen here is a section of downtown Saybrook in the spring of 1941. The view is from the interse...

Blog Post

We're Special! -- The MCMH Library
It's National Library Week, which means libraries across the country are celebrating the p...

Blog Post

When Paperboys Were … Boys Pantagraph Carriers, May 1929
These lively lads were earning a life’s worth of lessons as Pantagraph paperboys back in the sp...

Blog Post

Woops! Roller-skating messenger State Farm Insurance, summer 1940
More than a week ago we posted a photograph from this set. Here’s another one. At the time, Sta...

Blog Post

Finding Aids

151 items

A Touch of Glass
Terry Garbe established “A Touch of Glass” in 1974 in Bloomington. He moved the business to Nor...

Finding Aid

Airline Timetable Collection

Finding Aid

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

Amtrak Timetables
Amtrak schedules for routes around the country, including Illinois and surrounding states....

Finding Aid

Arthur Pillsbury Collection
Arthur L. Pillsbury designed schools, churches, businesses, and homes, in the early 20th centur...

Finding Aid

Auth Family
The Auth family opened a grocery in Bloomington around 1931 and operated it for many years at 1...

Finding Aid

Bach, William
William R. Bach, son of William and Sophia (Koehler) Bach, was born December 10, 1871 in Bloomi...

Finding Aid

Baldini, John
The parents of John Baldini emigrated from Italy to the United States during the major influx o...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

Benjamin Farm Collection
This collection of farm management materials is from Kenneth and Paul Benjamin who farmed in Ol...

Finding Aid

Bieber Family / General Telephone Company
The Schwiemann family is traced from 1878 to Charles Schwiemann’s death in 1945, and is linked ...

Finding Aid

Bloomington Business and Professional Women’s Club Collection
During World War I, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker sent out an urgent call to make women more...

Finding Aid

Bloomington Cemetery Association
The Bloomington Cemetery Association (BCA) was a private stock corporation that operated the Bl...

Finding Aid

Bloomington Club
The Bloomington Club was formed on September 13, 1886. The Club was the idea of a young lawyer,...

Finding Aid

Bloomington Fire Collection
Just after midnight on June 19, 1900, a great fire began sweeping through much of the city'...

Finding Aid

Bloomington Fire Department Collection
This collection consists of photocopied newspaper articles, a few original artifacts, and a CD-...

Finding Aid

Bloomington Trades and Labor Assembly
Bloomington labor unions banded together on October 18, 1891, to establish the Bloomington Trad...

Finding Aid

Bloomington-Normal Black History Project
Finding aid for the 6-box archival collection ...

Finding Aid

Blotters Collection
Before the age of the ballpoint pen, Americans wrote with fountain pens dipped in ink. In the f...

Finding Aid

Bridgestone Firestone
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company became Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire in 1995.  Th...

Finding Aid

Brokaw Hospital Newsletter
The establishment of Brokaw Hospital in Normal, IL dates to 1896. In 1981, Brokaw Hospital merg...

Finding Aid

Brokaw Hospital Nursing Alumni Association
This collection contains alumni association directories, newsletters, meeting programs, and inf...

Finding Aid

Brokaw/Mennonite/BroMenn Hospitals
This collection includes written materials concerning three interrelated Bloomington-Normal hos...

Finding Aid

Brown’s Business College
Brown’s Business College (1893-1972) offered training for young men and women entering the work...

Finding Aid

Butler, Harry Collection
Harry Butler (1868-1931) lived his life in Bloomington. He attended Bloomington schools then op...

Finding Aid

Calendar Collection
This collection includes calendars from 1888 to present, most with connections to McLean County...

Finding Aid

Campbell Holton & Co.
Over his long life, Campbell Holton witnessed monumental changes in his chosen profession — the...

Finding Aid

Capen Insurance / Capen Family
The Capen family emigrated from Dorchester, Dorset, England in 1630 and settled in New England....

Finding Aid

Carius, Larry
Washington, IL, native, Larry Carius worked for the McLean County Health Department (MCHD) for ...

Finding Aid

Carlock, W. B.
William B. Carlock was a prominent Bloomington attorney, member of the Free Masons and member o...

Finding Aid

Carlton Collection
Box 1 includes items from family members including newspaper articles, a Civil War muster roll,...

Finding Aid

Castle Theater
The Castle Theater opened on Nov. 21st, 1904 in Bloomington, Illinois. During its initial run, ...

Finding Aid

Chicago & Alton Railroad Miscellaneous
The coming of the Illinois Central and the Chicago and Alton Railroads in the 1850s changed Blo...

Finding Aid

Childers, James Railroad
James H. Childers (1903-65) was born in Tennessee and according to the census achieved a fourth...

Finding Aid

Circus
Circuses had been visiting the area for many years when around 1875 a small wagon circus came t...

Finding Aid

Corn Belt Bank
The Corn Belt Bank was organized December 2, 1891 by General John McNulta, J.T. Snell, and A. S...

Finding Aid

CornBelters
The Normal CornBelters are a professional baseball team. They began play in May 2010 as a membe...

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

Dairies Collection
Bloomington-Normal has been home to family dairies that delivered milk to customers since the m...

Finding Aid

Dietrich, George
George Dietrich (1816-1900) was born in Bevidere, New Jersey, to Pennsylvania parents of German...

Finding Aid

Dietrich, Julius
Julius Dietrich was a well-liked, prominent resident of Bloomington for almost two decades. He ...

Finding Aid

Ensenberger Building
G.A. Ensenberger and Sons had become a successful retail furniture store in Bloomington.  Altho...

Finding Aid

Ensenberger Furniture Store
The Ensenberger Furniture Store Collection sheds light on the activities of this Bloomington co...

Finding Aid

Ensign, Preston Poster
Preston Ensign, 1912 - 2006, graduated from University High School and Illinois State Normal Un...

Finding Aid

Espey (Pharmacy)
The small, brick building at the northeast corner of Main and Front streets is one of the earli...

Finding Aid

Euleo Puppets
Sisters Eunice Speer and Leona S. Pitzer organized a puppet theatre in the late 1960s and named...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

Evans, J. Harwood
John Harwood Evans (1899-1976) was born in McLean County and grew up in Bloomington.  Born of W...

Finding Aid

Evans, Joseph Orme
Joseph Orme Evans (December 22, 1923-March 5, 2007) was a native of Bloomington, Illinois.  He ...

Finding Aid

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

Finding Aid

Family Circle (Pantagraph Employee Newsletter)
The collection includes both loose and bound copies of the Family Circle, a Pantagraph Employee...

Finding Aid

Farmers Grain Dealers Association of Illinois Collection
In February 1903, seventeen farmers’ cooperative grain elevator companies met to form the Farme...

Finding Aid

Fell Family
Jesse W. Fell was a Bloomington, IL businessman and landowner. He is also known for founding of...

Finding Aid

Fenelon, Dr. J. H.
Dr. J.H. Fenelon was a physician who practiced for more than 45 years in McLean County. During ...

Finding Aid

First National Bank of Normal
John W. Aldrich founded and became the first president of the First National Bank of Normal in ...

Finding Aid

Fleming Law Office

Finding Aid

Funk Bros Seed Company
The Funk family arrived in McLean County from Ohio in 1824.  Over the years Isaac Funk acquired...

Finding Aid

Game Designers' Workshop
The Game Designers' Workshop Collection contains material about the war-games and science ...

Finding Aid

Garst, Elmer Record Book
A grocer and amateur historian from Stanford, Elmer Garst compiled information about local birt...

Finding Aid

Gaunt, John
This collection contains papers relating to the details of a Dry Goods business partnership in ...

Finding Aid

General Electric
General Electric opened in Bloomington in 1955 at 1601 GE Road in then-rural east Bloomington. ...

Finding Aid

Geneva, William B. & Carolyn Schertz
Carolyn Mabel Schertz was born October 13, 1892 in Hudson, Illinois, the daughter of David Sche...

Finding Aid

Gossard, Steve Railroad
Born in Galesburg in 1949, Steve Gossard moved to Normal to study at Illinois State University ...

Finding Aid

Goudy, Frederic W.
Frederic W. Goudy was born in Bloomington in 1865. Goudy spent his early years in Bloomington w...

Finding Aid

Grain Elevators
Grain Storage Facilities play an important role in the process of agricultural production in Mc...

Finding Aid

Grand Opera House
The Grand Opera House was built 1890-1891 and stood at 106-110 E. Market Street in Bloomington ...

Finding Aid

Greeting Card
The collection includes greeting cards and postcards from 1893 to the present, social calling c...

Finding Aid

Gulf Mobile & Ohio

Finding Aid

Haxel Railroading
Delmar Haxel, born in Bloomington in 1920, worked for the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad for th...

Finding Aid

Heartland Theatre Company

Finding Aid

Helm, Grover C. (National Bank of Bloomington)
This collection consists of a series of scrapbooks put together by Grover C. Helm, who wrote mo...

Finding Aid

Higgins-Jung-Kleinau Co
Hamer J. Higgins (1840-1902) began apprenticing as a marble cutter at Haldeman’s Marble Works o...

Finding Aid

Hilton and Schwoerer Farms
Guy Hilton bought a 160-acre tract next to his father’s farm in Section 11 of Dry Grove Townshi...

Finding Aid

Hubbard Roycrofters Book
Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, a...

Finding Aid

IAA & FS Service, Inc. Relocation
The State of Illinois headquarters for IAA & FS Services, Inc. was moved to Bloomington/Nor...

Finding Aid

IWU Marketing Class Papers
Associate Professor of Business Administration Fred Hoyt has long asked his students to each st...

Finding Aid

Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central was a major carrier of passengers on its Chicago to New Orleans line and b...

Finding Aid

Illinois Traction Terminal
The Bloomington-to-Peoria interurban line was one of the more charming railroad jaunts in all o...

Finding Aid

Illinois Tractor
The Illinois Tractor Company was in business in Bloomington for a brief period, likely between ...

Finding Aid

International Tapetronics Corp
Formed in 1969 in Bloomington, Illinois the International Tapetronics Corporation (ITC) tasked ...

Finding Aid

Irvin, Clarence E.
Clarence Edgar Irvin owned and operated several Bloomington theaters.  He was the founder of Ir...

Finding Aid

Irvin, Lawrence
Lawrence E. Irvin, son of Patrick and Mary Irvin, was born May 27, 1911 at Lake Bloomington, Il...

Finding Aid

Iseminger Family
The collection includes newspaper articles, receipts, prescriptions, recipes, bank checks, tax ...

Finding Aid

Iseminger Ford
Floyd Iseminger (1879-1980) was born and lived his entire life in Bloomington. He quit high sch...

Finding Aid

Jung Family
Jacob Phillip Jung was born in Nauvoo, Illinois, the son of Christian and Elizabeth Brandenburg...

Finding Aid

Kirkpatrick Collection
Jonathon H. Kirkpatrick was born in North Liberty, Ohio in 1844.  He moved to Bloomington with ...

Finding Aid

Klemm, C.W. Family
The C. W. Klemm collection contains a variety of genealogical information about the Klemm, Howa...

Finding Aid

Klemm’s Department Store
C. W. Klemm came to Bloomington in 1873 after having spent five years in Springfield, IL in the...

Finding Aid

Labor Fatalities Collection
List of on-the-job fatalities in McLean County....

Finding Aid

Livingston Family Collection
In 1927, a writer in the Pantagraph opined, “Probably no other family in Bloomington has played...

Finding Aid

Loeseke / Karl's Quality Café

Finding Aid

Lundeen, Edgar and Rachael
This collection includes Hundreds of letters, genealogical work for the families of Edgar and R...

Finding Aid

Mandel-Cohn Collection
This collection covers multiple generations of the Mandel-Cohn family and includes personal cor...

Finding Aid

Mark & Margaret Kalahar Hayes
Mark Bruno Hayes (1889-1959) was born in Bloomington, Illinois and earned a pharmacy certificat...

Finding Aid

McEwen Brothers Blacksmith Shop
According to an article in The Pantagraph of July 17, 1942, John and William McEwen established...

Finding Aid

McKnight & McKnight Publishing Company
William W. McKnight was born in 1874. His father was a physician in Granville, Illinois. The fa...

Finding Aid

McLean County Bank Building
In 1853 the original McLean County Bank was founded as the first bank in Bloomington. It was ev...

Finding Aid

McLean County Chamber of Commerce
This collection contains annual reports; contact lists; work program packets; brochures; pamphl...

Finding Aid

McLean County Coal Company
The largest and most successful coal mine in McLean County was the McLean County Coal Co., loca...

Finding Aid

McLean County Ethnographies
Illinois State University anthropology professor Dr. Rob Dirks collected essays from his studen...

Finding Aid

McLean County Medical Society Minutes
In March 1854, fourteen local physicians met to organize a medical society. The Society was for...

Finding Aid

McLean County Telephone Co.
The McLean County Telephone Co. was organized in spring 1898 with F.Y. Hamilton as its manager....

Finding Aid

Meadows Manufacturing Company
John Rocke had the idea to build a grain elevator to improve the slow and laborious method of s...

Finding Aid

Mendoza, Manuel State Farm
This collection is largely business correspondence and office information from the years Mendoz...

Finding Aid

Mennonite Hospital Newsletter
The establishment of Bloomington's Mennonite Hospital dates to 1919. By 1940, the hospital...

Finding Aid

Mennonite Hospital Nursing
The Mennonite School of Nursing was established as the Mennonite Sanitarium Training School in ...

Finding Aid

Mitsubishi Motors
This collection contains material related to the Mitsubishi Motors Company as well as the Diamo...

Finding Aid

Moratz, Paul O.
This collection contains a miscellany of items, such as newspaper articles, building specificat...

Finding Aid

Multiple Listing Service
Multiple listing service (MLS) is a set of services that real estate brokers use determine how ...

Finding Aid

Murray & Carmody Funeral Home
Frederick E. Murray, undertaker, opened his funeral or memorial home at 914 N. Main Street, Blo...

Finding Aid

Normal Theater
The Normal Theater was built by Sylvan and Ruth Kupfer, who owned the 209 North Street lot wher...

Finding Aid

Packard Duck Pin Bowling Alley
W.C. Packard originally entered the tenpin business in Ohio and later moved to Evanston, IL. Ab...

Finding Aid

Pantagraph
The first newspaper in the area was the weekly Bloomington Observer and McLean County Advocate ...

Finding Aid

Pantagraph Comics
The Pantagraph added a locally developed "Wilson and Phyllis" cartoon to their Sunday...

Finding Aid

Pantagraph Printing
The Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Company originated as the printing department of the Dai...

Finding Aid

Parker Bros. Coal Co.
Founded in Bloomington in 1868, Parker Brothers continued under Parker family ownership for ove...

Finding Aid

People’s Bank
The Peoples Bank was first incorporated in March 22, 1869, with George W. Parks as President an...

Finding Aid

Phoenix Family and Nursery
Materials in the Phoenix collection cover the history of the Phoenix family and its nurseries i...

Finding Aid

Phonograph and Audio
This collection includes audio recordings of speeches, meetings, and music on cassettes, reels,...

Finding Aid

Planned Parenthood
The collection contains Kay Wilson’s “History of Planned Parenthood of McLean County” scrapbook...

Finding Aid

Portable Elevator
The company was started in 1898, located at the corner of Grove and McClun streets in Bloomingt...

Finding Aid

Railroad Books—Miscellaneous
The collection includes assorted books of labor agreements, wage schedules, rules books, manual...

Finding Aid

Railroad Fatalities
The collection includes copies of newspaper articles and obituaries of individuals killed in ra...

Finding Aid

Railroad Time Books
Railroad foremen used time books to record workers’ names, hours, wages and specifics of projec...

Finding Aid

Reeder, Ida
Most of this collection consists of loose items from a travel scrapbook from Ida Reeder, a long...

Finding Aid

Reiner - Bennett
Bloomington-born William C. Reiner (1882-1945) worked as an upholsterer for the Alton Railroad ...

Finding Aid

Restaurant Menu
This collection includes menus, placemats, and materials relating to the history of many curren...

Finding Aid

Salch, David State Farm
David Salch was an insurance salesman who grew up in Bloomington, Illinois. His parents were he...

Finding Aid

Scharf, Emmett Electric Co.
Emmett – Scharf Electric Co. opened for business on April 20, 1922 with Fred Emmett as the elec...

Finding Aid

Smith, Sidney
Robert Sidney "Sid" Smith (1873-1935) was born in Bloomington, Illinois, on February ...

Finding Aid

State Farm Building
The State Farm Building in downtown Bloomington, the tallest building in the downtown area, has...

Finding Aid

Steak N Shake
Steak n Shake was founded by Gus Belt in Normal in 1934.  He converted a gas station / chicken ...

Finding Aid

Stern Family
The Stern family moved to Bloomington about 1905, where Jacob Stern opened Stern’s Furniture Co...

Finding Aid

Stevenson, J.B. Letter Book
J.B. (James Bell) Stevenson (1838-1890) was the third of at least seven children of John Turner...

Finding Aid

Stickrod’s Drug Store
According to Bloomington-Normal city directory listings, Elmer H. Stickrod established a drug s...

Finding Aid

Susie’s Cafe
The Susie in Susie’s Cafe was Elizabeth “Susie” Swearingen. The cafe was first located at 108 E...

Finding Aid

Tick, Irving Family
Irving “Irv” Tick (1928-2011) and Joan “Jobie” Marie (Sayler) Tick (1929-2021) were both longti...

Finding Aid

Tyner Farm Collection
This collection contains documents relating to the Stubblefield and Tyner families as well as t...

Finding Aid

Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (UNARCO)
In 1950, Chicago-based Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (UNARCO) established a manufacturing...

Finding Aid

Vanderwater, Leon Musical Program
Leon “Vandy” Vanderwater (1898-1998) was raised in Kankakee, IL and moved to Bloomington, IL in...

Finding Aid

Vogel, Steve WJBC
Steve Vogel worked at WJBC/WBNQ Radio in Bloomington beginning in 1972 in the news department, ...

Finding Aid

Vrooman Mansion - Theora Stark
The collection includes an array of materials relating to Mansion and to the Vrooman family. It...

Finding Aid

W. O. Davis Tributes Collection
William Osbourne Davis was the son of a Quaker farmer from Pennsylvania and began his career as...

Finding Aid

WGLT Program Guides and Annual Reports

Finding Aid

WIHN
This collection spans from 1970 to 1977.  The collection contains balance sheets, newspaper cli...

Finding Aid

WJBC Radio
The WJBC Radio Collection consists of eight boxes and 41 folders containing materials ranging f...

Finding Aid

Wallace, Glen / Diamond-Star Motors / Mitsubishi Motors
Glen Wallace was an employee of Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) for more than twen...

Finding Aid

Wilcox Tile Factory
An Ohio native, John Wilcox (1858-1920) came to McLean County as a child.  During adulthood he ...

Finding Aid

Williams Oil-o-Matic
Charles U. Williams came to Bloomington in the late nineteenth century.  He was an itinerant ph...

Finding Aid

Williamson, Doug WJBC Forum
Doug Williamson, born in Bloomington 8-8-1943, lived in Bloomington-Normal most of his life and...

Finding Aid

Wolcott, J.L.
The J.L. Wolcott Collection contains photocopies of newspaper articles and advertisements for W...

Finding Aid

Oral Histories

5 items

John Barrientes

Oral History

Kathyrn Dean
State Farm employee, civic & social clubs, grandfather was Civil War veteran....

Oral History

Oscar and Ruth Waddell
WWII veteran, skilled employment at GE, breaking employment barriers, home ownership, Willis St...

Oral History

Richard and Rose Bell
Business owner and farmer, Rose Anna from early McLean County family, Illinois Soldiers & ...

Oral History

Sarita Mendiola

Oral History

Publications

2 items

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

Publication

Phoenix's Plant Catalogue including Plant Novelties
Greenhouse & bedding plants in eight classes, each alphabetically arranged....

Publication

Research

1 item

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

Article

Speakers Bureau

6 items

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

Speakers Bureau

German Brewers in Bloomington, IL 1859-1920

Speakers Bureau

McLean County Holiday Stories

Speakers Bureau

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

Speakers Bureau

The Showmen's Final Resting Place

Speakers Bureau

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

Speakers Bureau

Videos

9 items

100 Years of COUNTRY Financial: Making a Home in the Twin Cities with Bill Kemp

Video

A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County

Video

All About Wind Turbines with Meghan Reha

Video

Artists, Advocates, Acrobats, & More! Women Who Made McLean County History

Video

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

Video

Lunch & Learn: Preserving and Celebrating 100 Years with COUNTRY Financial

Video

Lunch and Learn: The Art of the Rug with Hossein Nateghpour

Video

Making Insurance Interesting - Stories from State Farm with Corporate Archivist Buck Farley

Video

The Silent Killer: Dangers of Asbestos in the Workplace Panel Discussion

Video

Working for a Living

10 items

Building for a Growing Population
A growing community in need of housing meant a greater need for workers in the construction tra...

Digital Exhibit

Crafting Custom Products for a Local Market
Skilled craftsmen set up shops and began to produce one of a kind items for the local market. T...

Digital Exhibit

Diesel Engines Replace Steam Engines
The merger of the Chicago & Alton and Gulf, Mobile & Ohio (GM&O) railroads in 1946,...

Digital Exhibit

Insuring the Automobile
The insurance industry grew rapidly in McLean County, providing many jobs for salesmen, clerks,...

Digital Exhibit

Merchandising Expands Dramatically
Merchants and their workers saw their businesses grow as the population increased and more good...

Digital Exhibit

Merchants Move to Bloomington’s East Side
When Eastland Mall was completed in 1966, some Bloomington merchants opened a second store at t...

Digital Exhibit

Powering the Community
Coal, used for generating electricity and for heating homes and businesses, was discovered bene...

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

Robotics Replaces Some Workers, But Hand Work Remains Necessary
When Diamond Star Motors began production in 1988, the assembly line included state-of-the-art ...

Digital Exhibit

Selling Cars and Taking Flight
As automobiles gained popularity, the number of car dealers grew. But dealers needed capital in...

Digital Exhibit