Blog post by Randi Richardson On October 1, 1918, as nature dressed the trees in lovely autumn colors, many life-changing events were occurring within the Student Army Training Corps (S.A.T.C.) on the IU campus. That morning, precisely at 11 AM, President William Lowe Bryan met with 1,200 inductees assembled on Jordan Field in an oath-taking
Blog post by Randi Richardson On April 6, 1917, more than two years after the beginning of World War I, the United States declared war on Germany. A military draft was instituted in the U. S. for all men between the ages of 21 and 30 and was soon amended to include all men from 18-45.
Blog post by Randi Richardson Golden eagles, not to be confused with bald eagles, are one of the largest, fastest, nimblest raptors in North America. They hunt on land and in the air. They are capable of preying on land animals the size of a small deer with a grip strength said to be 100 times
Blog post by Randi Richardson In 2017, in a blog item on this website, Joshua O. Howe was credited with assembling the first horseless carriage to run on the streets of Bloomington. But there seems to be another side to the story. Mary Loftin, in an article published in the Bloomington Daily Herald Telephone on
Blog post by Randi Richardson Lots of people from Monroe County had kin that lived in Brown County located adjacent to Monroe County on the east. Some of those kin may be among those noted in the June 2019 issue of the Brown County Journal dedicated exclusively to hucksters—the vehicle operators and the families and communities they
Blog post by Randi Richardson This sketch accompanied the circus announcement published in the Bloomington Evening World on July 26, 1924. The caption under the sketch noted that the “biggest lion is the one that tried to kill the trainer and the smallest lion is the one that saved its master’s life.” It was additionally
Blog post by Randi Richardson After shooting and killing Elzie Easton and gunning down his companion, James Douglass, on Christmas Eve, 1889, George Buskirk, the saloon keeper, escaped through a rear door and headed east to the home of his mother. He reportedly gave some thought, initially, to turning himself in to the sheriff, or
On Monday morning, February 26, [1838], about half past four in the morning, the citizens of Bloomington were roused from their sleep by the ringing of bells and cries of fire. It was soon ascertained that the fire was in the frame buildings owned by G. R. Johnson and occupied by Mr. Jonathan Legg as
Blog post by Randi Richardson On May 9, 1883, the Bloomington Progress reported that a car load of old rubber boots had been gathered up over the past year and shipped to eastern cities as they were in great demand by the manufacturers of chewing gum. The rubber was reportedly melted in large kettles and
A MONTH IN THE YEAR OF A FLU EPIDEMIC IN MONROE COUNTY
Blog post by Randi Richardson From January 1918 through December 1920, five hundred million people around the world were infected with the flu which resulted in the deaths of somewhere between three to five percent of the world’s population. Many of those who died were soldiers. During the month of October, 1918, the number of
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