By Matt Nokes I remember being interviewed for the role of Permanent Collections and Exhibits Intern during the second week of classes of my senior year. I immediately knew that this would be a great place to work. Hilary and Gabby–curator and assistant curator–were very friendly and made for great supervisors–always offering to help or […]
Tales of the H-T: blog posts taken from or inspired by The Herald-Times archive at the Monroe County History Center Blog post by Rod Spaw Election night is a special time to be around a newspaper office. It’s sort of like Christmas Eve in Santa’s workshop; weeks of careful planning and preparation come down […]
Blog post by Assistant Curator, Gabby Krieble. Be sure to stop by the History Center to see the “Order Up! Restaurants of Monroe County” exhibit before it closes on November 5. Many mid-century American sit-down restaurants prided themselves on excellent service. Boxman’s and Groves Restaurant in Bloomington were no exception. The photo above shows the […]
by Rose McIlveen March 22, 1986 For the Irish, the trauma of uprooting themselves from the old country may have been offset by the promise of a fresh start, but most of them who came to Monroe County did not leave the futures of their children to chance. Fully 64 percent of the Irish families […]
Blog post by Rod Spaw Tales of the H-T: Stories taken from or inspired by the Herald-Times archive at the Monroe County History Center. A display intended to inform the public about an environmental hazard had unintended consequences for the Monroe County Public Library and its patrons in the summer of 1984. The issue was […]
“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” 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 […]
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 […]