McHistory: A Civil War Christmas

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In the early 1800s, supply chains were a lot shorter, but the lack of mechanized transportation sometimes made it tremendously difficult to bring goods to market. Yet, a regional — edging toward national — marketplace did thrive.

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This episode of McHistory chronicles a huge temperature drop in the winter of 1836 that unsettled settlers and led to stories and tall tales for generations.

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It takes a beloved or significant figure in the history of an institution to name a building after that person. Illinois State University ended up naming two libraries for Angeline Vernon Milner.

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Bloomington-Normal and McLean County are not really known as a cradle of country music. But there was this one time...in the 1930s. Cynthia May Carver, better known by her stage name “Cousin Emmy,” was a pioneer in country and roots music during the golden age of radio from the 1930s to the 1960s.

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Hall of Fame pitcher Burleigh Grimes was the last major league pitcher to legally throw a spitball. Grimes played with seven different major league teams, though mostly with the Dodgers and Cardinals. He retired in 1934, the year before he came to Bloomington.

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There are truths. And there are poetic truths, ones that illustrate the human condition even if the stories portrayed lack a certain...accuracy. Why let facts get in the way of a good story, after all? Legendary broadcaster and storyteller Campbell "Stretch" Miller had that attitude toward life and storytelling in McLean County and elsewhere.

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There was a time when people operated elevators across the country, instead of passengers just pressing buttons as they do today. Meet the elevator operators who kept McLean County moving.

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Baseball is happening and all is right with the world. Today, though, let's hear about another bat and ball game — softball. It was big in Central Illinois for many decades with lots of semi-pro teams and even industrial leagues for men and women, and offered an outlet for young women before they had opportunities to play other organized sports.

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The story of the Henney Kilowatt, the mid-20th century experimental electric battery-powered car made in Bloomington-Normal by the Eureka-Williams Corporation, is a colorful one, according to McLean County Museum of History Librarian Bill Kemp.

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