McHistory

The sudden freeze of ’36 came with a vengeance. It was like a wild prairie fire that snipped everything in its path. And woe to him who was far from human habitation.

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.

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 music.

There are many colorful characters in baseball. For Hall of Famer Burleigh "Old Stubblebeard" Grimes, the color in question is blue.

Legendary broadcaster and storyteller Campbell "Stretch" Miller had the attitude of why let facts get in the way of a good story.

There was a time people operated elevators across the country, instead of passengers just pressing buttons as they do today.

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. it also offered an outlet for young women before they had opportunities to play other organized sports.

By now, most people know the Rivian story in which a scrappy startup electric automaker brought a mothballed Mitsubishi plant back to life, hired 8,000 people, and has now gone on to make more than 100,000 vehicles. Fewer may know Rivian was not the first electric automaker in Bloomington-Normal.

Alpheus Pike campaigned in the eastern theater of the war and, after two years and nine months of service, was captured in May 1864 at a battle near Drewry’s Bluff in the Bermuda Hundred campaign and was sent to a notorious Confederate prison camp.

Illinois high school basketball teams are grinding through the late parts of their seasons as the state tournament approaches early next month. In this episode of our series McHistory, we learn about the longest-running annual basketball tournament in the state — 112 years and counting.