The Monroe County Historical Society welcomes you to beautiful Bloomington located in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. Our History Center offers both permanent and rotating exhibits throughout the year giving Monroe County residents and visitors of all ages a chance to experience what life in Monroe County was like for diverse people at different times […]
Willis O. Tyler, the son of Isaac and Mary Tyler, members of Monroe County’s black community, was born in Bloomington on July 19, 1880. His parents lived on East 10th Street in what was at that time known as the “Buck Town” neighborhood. He attended Bloomington’s public schools including, undoubtedly, the Center School at 6th and Washington, the only Bloomington school designated specifically for black children.
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A new edition of the 1818-1881 Monroe County Marriage Records Index is available in the library and for purchase in the museum store. The second edition, re-indexed by volunteer Lee Ehman, makes many corrections to the index originally published in 1995. Lee has also been busy digitizing our marriage records. Now records through April, 1921 […]
In early June 2016, Ancestry made available on their subscription website
tens of thousands of digital images of vital records from the State of
Indiana.
Birth Records: 1907-1940
Marriage Records: 1958-2005
Death Records: 1899-2011
While these records represent a rich and valuable resource for Indiana
genealogists, it isn’t quite as good as it sounds. For starters, this is a
monumental project, and it takes considerable time to put all the records
online. When all is said and done, however, it is expected that 17,000,000
records from these three sources will be available online. Some of the
records are up now and others are being added until the project is complete.
Those records already online are searchable.
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On Fee Lane, north of the railroad tracks and on the east side of the road facing north, stands Foster Quadrangle, an Indiana University dormitory built in 1964 as part of the university’s post-war expansion. Between the dorm and Fee Lane is a small cemetery enclosed by a low limestone wall. This is called the […]
Using materials generously donated by Alice Reed Morrison, the History Center Research Library has launched its first online exhibit. The Lake Monroe Oral History Project focuses on the stories of Salt Creek Valley residents who were displaced by the construction of Lake Monroe in the 1960s.
This exhibit, created for the History Center by interns Delainey Bowers and Dorothy Berry, uses original audio recordings and photos from Morrison’s 1986 dissertation entitled “Portrait of a Lost Community: A Folklife Study of the Salt Creek Valley of South Central Indiana and the Effects of Community Displacement Following Formation of the Monroe Reservoir.” […]
In honor of the 2018 Monroe County Bicentennial, we have had Monroe County’s first deed book preserved. Dating from December 1817-December 1825, this book is a record of the first land transactions in the county. Along with these first land sales, Deed Book A also contains numerous city plat maps. This invaluable piece of Monroe County history can now be viewed in the MCHC Research Library.
Bloomington Plat Map, Deed Book A, 1818. Note that this map may have been added in later, or may have been edited by various recorders.
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The MCHC library has two new maps on display!
A map showing the location of all cemeteries in Monroe County is mounted near the southeast corner of the Education Room beside the Cemetery of the Month display. This map is the result of years of work by the Cemetery Committee in locating as accurately as possible all cemeteries that are now extant or have ever existed in the county. It is plotted on a modern map showing present roads and other geographic features to simplify finding the cemetery. Unfortunately we do not know the exact location of many of the cemeteries. Others have been destroyed and some removed to new locations.
A portion of the cemetery map showing cemeteries found in Bloomington Township
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The Monroe County Historical Society was organized in 1905 when interested members of the community met at the Christian Church and heard Rev. Amzi Atwater read a paper titled “Recollections of the University 40 Years Ago.” Atwater was the first president and curator of the Society.
Atwater came to Bloomington to attend Indiana University in 1864. After completing two degrees, he was called to be the pastor of a Disciples church in Ohio, but returned to IU in 1870 to teach Latin and Greek. In 1888, he was made a vice president of the university and served in that capacity for four years.
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