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Wanted: Ox Team for Centennial Pageant

Blog post by Randi Richardson Two hundred years ago, in the early 1800’s, oxen and ox teams were common sights.  They pulled many of the Conestoga wagons that brought pioneers into Monroe County, hauled trees chopped from virgin forests and helped to break the sod to make the ground ready for crops.  Even after trains

A GLIMPSE OF BLOOMINGTON IN 1860

Blog post by Randi Richardson There is no one yet living that can recall firsthand memories of Bloomington in 1860.  And, unfortunately, newspapers aren’t of much help because Bloomington newspapers during that time mostly don’t exist. We might, however, glimpse one small window into the past with the publication of a column titled “Fifty Years

Roxy Theatre Closed

Blog post by Randi Richardson In an effort to determine when the Roxy Theatre closed in Bloomington at 221 N. College, every issue of the Bloomington (IN) Daily Herald Telephone was reviewed starting on January 1, 1955.  This date was chosen because there was no listing for the Roxy in the 1956 telephone directory or city directory

Lest We Forget

Blog post by Randi Richardson I met Charles Gromer at the Monroe County History Center garage sale in June 2019.  He was thumbing through a thick stack of orphan photographs, those pictures abandoned by their families without identification.  “It’s sad,” I said “to see photos of people discarded without identification and separated from the families

A New Resource in the Research Library

Blog post by Rod Spaw Memories fade, but photographs remember.  That makes visual images important resources for exploring the past. Photos can raise questions, provide clarity or suggest additional avenues for discovery. New to the Monroe History Center’s collection of research tools is an index of photo studios that operated in Bloomington between 1892 and