Stories taken from or inspired by the H-T Archives at the Monroe County History Center By Rod Spaw John Terhune can tell you a thing or two about The One that Got Away, but his is no fish story. It is a tale of the elusive moment, and what it takes to capture history, turning
“Looking Back” by Rose McIlveen March 28, 1987 Monday, August 29, 1898, was not a run-of-the-mill kind of day in Smithville. That was when the locals awoke to discover that in the near future, at least, they would have father to go to to “wet their whistles.” Chirped the Bloomington Courier, “The people of Smithville have a
Looking Back by Herbert H. Skirvin 8/8/81 Three cheers for the old fashioned country stores, like those once existing in and around Bloomington! They were enshrined in Americana years ago, but a few real-life survivors can still be found in some of the nation’s out-of-the-way spots. Then, too, there are the replicas, fascinating the vintage
Looking Back by Rose McIlveen April 1981 Monroe Countians who are used to making regular stops at the drive-in-windows of their banks probably didn’t realize that their ancestors had to swap goods and services to get their necessities. In 1833, Mrs. Cornelius Perring, wife of the principal of the Young Women’s Seminary, wrote to a
Looking Back article by Rose McIlveen Apr 21 1984 One of the more ostentatious tombstones in Rose Hill Cemetery bears the name of J.B. Crafton. The impressive monument – made of two colors of granite with ornamental carving – is, in reality, only a memorial to the man. He isn’t buried beside there or anywhere
“Looking Back” article by Rose McIlveen 6/25/83 Bear hunting was a challenge engaged in by the earliest Monroe County settlers for practical rather than sporting reasons. Before the supply wagons carrying goods for sale began to find their way to the county, settlers were obliged to live on a combination of the corn they could
“Looking Back” by Rose McIlveen Aug 10 1986 The heart of any community the size of Stinesville was traditionally found in its high school. It was the social center of the town, and residents rallied around the basketball team – called the Quarry Lads – through good seasons and bad. In 1963 the schools in
By Rose H. McIlVeen 7/31/82 “An act for the encouragement of agriculture” was approved by the Indiana Legislature in February 1835. According to to The History of the Counties of Morgan, Monroe and Brown, Indiana, the following June a meeting was held in Bloomington for the purpose of organizing a local agricultural society. Participants in the public
Looking Back article by Rose H. McIlveen July 14, 1984 Two of Bloomington’s streets were named for military veterans, who served in different wars. Grimes Lane is named for Major Silas Grimes, the youngest of 13 children whose parents settled in Clear Creek Township in 1816. He was born on the family’s 160-acre farm and
Looking Back by Ruth L. Huff May 19, 1984 In 1890 the residents of Ellettsville were in an uproar because the Monon railroad was trying to change the name of their village to Logan. The exact reason for the change was unclear. Perhaps the railroad preferred the shorter name in order to facilitate their record
