By Rose McIlveen Jan 7, 1984 Say “blizzard” to a Monroe Countian who was around 66 years ago, and you probably hear – with embellishments – a first-hand account of the blizzard of 1918. It wasn’t exactly one of the better aspects of the “good ole days.” The facts – as reported in the Weekly
By Rose H. McIlveen Sept 24 1983 Treatment of Divorce – 1920s style – in the Bloomington Evening World was a far cry from the tactful avoidance of that particular legal matter today. Only a casual glance at the front page of the Evening World indicates the difference in page make-up style and editorial policy. It was, admittedly,
By Grace Donahue The Murder Trial for Mrs. Gladys Holder began on September 21, 1925. Holder was pleading not guilty, claiming that the gun went off in an “accidental matter.” The case against her seemed tough- she shot Daniel Arwine “Reckless” Honeycutt Jr., and Honeycutt died. The court went through a particularly dramatic trial, as
Blog post by Grace Donahue On May 20, 1925, local auto mechanic and wrestler, Daniel Arwine “Reckless” Honeycutt Jr. was murdered. And the cause? A simple dispute over a car. Honeycutt Jr. had gone to the home of William Holder, whom he had recently sold a car to. Only Holder had not been keeping up
Blog post by Rod Spaw Bloomington leaders celebrated when the city was designated in the 1910 Census as the mean center of population for the United States. It gave them a powerful tool for promoting commercial investment in Bloomington. As calculated by the Census Bureau, the mean center is the point of balance if every
Blog by Rod Spaw In Drawer 3, Unit N of Hallway Storage on the third floor of the Monroe County History Center is a scarred and scuffed piece of bamboo measuring 9 ¼ inches long by 1 ¼ inches in diameter. If not for the paper label glued to it, the hollow tube might be
Blog post by Randi Richardson Fourteen miles northwest of Bloomington lies the little town of Stinesville, Indiana. Founded in 1855, Stinesville was once a hub of Indiana’s stone industry. By the early 1900s, the Hoadley Limestone Mill was the town’s primary employer, and when the mill was destroyed by fire in 1916, the town went
Blog post by Randi Richardson On a moonlit night, under a star-studded sky, a melancholy, young man sat on the spooning wall situated on the south side of campus along Third Street. It was late summer before the students returned to campus for the fall semester of 1927. All was quiet as he pondered his
The summer of 1952 wasn’t just another summer. Swimming pools and movie theaters closed. Children were kept inside their homes by frightened parents. No doubt about it, people were scared. They had every right to be. It was an epidemic year for polio. According to one study, the only thing they feared more than polio in 1952 was
Blog post by Randi Richardson Several months ago I watched an Oscar-winning movie, Green Book, from the comfort of my home with ear phones and captions so I didn’t miss a word. The move is based on the true story of two men, an Italian-American named Anthony Vallelonga aka Tony Lip, and an African American, Don Shirley, a gifted
