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
Blog post by Randi Richardson Behind the historic Mayfield house on Oard Road, with enough space in between for a nice sized garden, is a cemetery. It’s relatively small in size, about half an acre, with 106 or 107 aging, barely legible tombstones. Today it is known as the Vernal/Mayfield Cemetery. Rev. Leroy Mayfield probably
Blog post by Randi Richardson Richland Township, Monroe County, Indiana, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Lisa Schock did a nice article about the home published in the Bloomington Herald-Times on July 9, 1994. It was accompanied by a lovely photo taken by Phil Whitlow that showed shuttered windows and a nicely kept
Blog post by Wayne Hastings Just a few weeks ago, I was responsible for accessioning a small group of donations given to us by Shirley Bowman. Bowman, a 1961 Elletsville graduate, offered the Center a wonderful assortment of high school memorabilia which included two pairs of beautifully hand-designed ‘senior cords’ owned by both Shirley and
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
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
Blog post by Randi Richardson The old town pumps were a part of Bloomington’s early endeavors to furnish water for the community. One of the first acts of the Monroe County commissioners in 1818 was the cleaning out of two springs near the square for public use. As the community grew, so did the need
Rev. Moses M. Porter, who for 50 plus years was pastor of the Second Baptist Church, was during his lifetime one of the best known blacks in Bloomington. He was the best known preacher this town ever had, according to Howard “Doc” Lewis in a newspaper article from the Bloomington Sunday Tribune and Star Courier
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
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
