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Divorce Once Major News

By Rose H. McIlveen Sept 24 1983 Treatment of Divorce – 1920s style – in the Bloomington Evening World was a far cry from the tactful avoidance of that particular legal matter today. Only a casual glance at the front page of the Evening World indicates the difference in page make-up style and editorial policy. It was, admittedly,

Began With Bicycle: Traffic Long a Problem

We’ll be frequently highlighting old “Looking Back” articles which were a long-standing column in the paper reflecting on earlier life in Monroe County . By Rose H. McIlveen Sept 10, 1983 Ever since Monroe Countians figured out that using some kind of vehicle was preferable to walking, traffic has been a problem here. Consider, for

The Monroe County “Turkey King”

Turkey Story Turns Out To Be a Real “Tail” of Woe by Herbert Skirvin Jan 8, 1983 Every time I sit down to a holiday feast, I think of Harry A. Axtell, Monroe County’s turkey king of long ago. I also recall a narrow escape I had from a vicious gobbler, bent on committing mayhem. As

Missing Murder Case: Where Did Mrs. William Holder Go? (Part 2)

By Grace Donahue The Murder Trial for Mrs. Gladys Holder began on September 21, 1925. Holder was pleading not guilty,  claiming that the gun went off in an “accidental matter.” The case against her seemed tough- she shot  Daniel Arwine “Reckless” Honeycutt Jr., and Honeycutt died. The court went through a particularly  dramatic trial, as

Missing Murder Case: Where Did Mrs. Holder Go?

Blog post by Grace Donahue On May 20, 1925, local auto mechanic and wrestler, Daniel Arwine “Reckless” Honeycutt Jr. was  murdered. And the cause? A simple dispute over a car. Honeycutt Jr. had gone to the home of William  Holder, whom he had recently sold a car to. Only Holder had not been keeping up

A Century of Monroe County Maps

Blog post by Dave Nord   In 1815 Arthur Henrie, a surveyor employed by the U.S. government, drew a set of maps of a part of Indiana Territory lying between the watersheds of the west and east forks of the White River. Those maps, based on systematic, on-the-ground surveys, were the first professional maps of

Looking Beyond the Photos in High School Yearbooks

Blog by Rod Spaw “On January 27, the basketball girls won the first trophy which Unionville ever possessed. They accomplished this feat by defeating both the Gosport girls and the referees. …” Or so declared the Unionville High School yearbook of 1934. As much a part of adolescence as roller rinks and puppy love, the

Bloomington: The Center of Population

Blog post by Rod Spaw Bloomington leaders celebrated when the city was designated in the 1910 Census as the mean center of population for the United States. It gave them a powerful tool for promoting commercial investment in Bloomington. As calculated by the Census Bureau, the mean center is the point of balance if every

Horace Kearney’s Attempted Crossing of Dunn Meadow

Blog by Rod Spaw In Drawer 3, Unit N of Hallway Storage on the third floor of the Monroe County History Center is a scarred and scuffed piece of bamboo measuring 9 ¼ inches long by 1 ¼ inches in diameter. If not for the paper label glued to it, the hollow tube might be

Henry J. Feltus, A Newspaper Editor of the “Old School”

Blog post by Rod Spaw Viewing events through a political or ideological lens did not start with the internet, Fox News or MSNBC. It was not uncommon, in fact, for newspapers throughout much of U.S. history to rely on political patronage for their success. Even when the advertising model of business took over in the

Whetsell’s Shoe Store

Blog post by Hilary Fleck While looking through our postcard collection, I found this photo postcard of Whetsell’s Shoe Store with an amazing reflection in the store window of the County Courthouse. I looked through the directories in our Research Library and discovered that the store was located on the south side of the square

A Famous Novelist Comes to Bloomington

Blog by Rod Spaw Author Theodore Dreiser had not seen Bloomington in 25 years when he arrived on Aug. 26, 1915. It was his 44th birthday, and the writer of “Sister Carrie” and other novels was on a two-week tour of his native Indiana by automobile. His means of conveyance was a brand new, 60-horsepower Pathfinder

Commemorative Fishing at the History Center

By Wayne Hastings My perception of my great grandfather Charles Ervin Wall has always been intricately tied to fishing. According to family lore, he was an expert fisherman who was commonly seen frying a dozen or two panfish even before the sun fully came up. If bluegills could talk, I am sure they too would

The Disappearance of a Chambers Family from Smithville

Blog post by Randi Richardson “It was heart rending,” according to her obituary, “one of the most pitiable sights witnessed in the south part of the county.” Mary Chambers, noted only as “Mrs. James Chambers” in her obituary, about 44 years age and a resident of Smithville, reportedly had been sick and running a fever

Over 100 Years of Innovation in the Kitchen

Blog post by Wayne Hastings Within the last one hundred years there has been a vast number of inventions that have permanently changed how people cook and prepare meals. Modern kitchen appliances have progressively made cooking more convenient and has created gadgets we cannot imagine living without today. However, equally important are the inventions that