A History of Founders' Grove in Maps
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Pictures from Washington Street
Harry K. Dick was a businessman in Bloomington and was a veteran of WWI. During WWII he served on the Red Cross Board and Draft Board. He lived at 1204 East Washington.
Dorothy Dick was a student at IWU in 1940. She and four other coeds are at a Bloomington bowling alley. Her father was Harry K. Dick, and she was a little girl when she lived at 1204 East Washington in 1920.
These three boy scouts won a contest to find a lost child. They are Jack Brougher (1208 E. Washington), Dan Sperry and Harry Knapp (1207 E. Washington).
Earl Brougher (Jack's father) was a linotype operator at the Pantagraph. Here he is demonstrating the linotype machine to Orvid Halane, a newspaper carrier, on newspaper carrier day at the Pantagraph. C.J. Halane is watching. Brougher lived at 1208 E. Washington.
Major Carter Duncan grew up at the house at 1210 East Washington, but when he visited from his post in South America in 1942 his parents, Eugene and Catherine, were living at 1701 East Taylor Street.
Helen Schaeffer was the daughter of Archie Schaeffer, one of the architects who designed the downtown State Farm Building. The Schaeffers lived at 1215 East Washington.
Charlotte Schaeffer (far right) was an IWU art student in 1944. She made her career as an artist with the graphic design department of Marshall Fields in Chicago. After retirement she returned to the family home at 1215 E. Washington. Charlotte designed the logo for Founders' Grove Neighborhood.
Helene Nafziger was a second grade teacher at Smith School in Normal. She lived with her parents and two sisters at 1217 Washington in 1940. She was his youngest daughter. Helene never married and was active in the Bloomington Bible Church which her father had founded.
Fred Carlton was the supervising engineer at the Bloomington High School. He is pictured here in 1937. The puppy was found in a dressing room of the high school, locked there for 13 days after he entered the school during the Christmas Jubilee show. He recovered slowly after nearly starving in the school over the Christmas break. Mr. Carlton lived at 1218 E. Washington from at least 1920 until his death in 1943 with his wife Clara and sons, Morris and Everett.
Dora Munson (right) was a long time home ec teacher at Bloomington High School. She lived as a boarder with Effie McDaniels, a widowed lady, at 1222 E. Washington from 1926 until at least 1940. Here she is introducing parents to the Home Ec class in 1949. She is 53 years old in this image. She was the aunt of radio announcer Don Munson.
Mrs. George Kneller (left) moved to Bloomington to manage the Bentley's clothing store with her husband. Her hobby however, was breeding canaries. She had 600 birds living in her house at 1219 East Washington. Here she is shown with Mrs. Grover Hill, wife of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, another canary fancier. Mrs. Kneller was known internationally (among canary fanciers!) for her work in breeding birds for special colors. The birds lived in large cages in two bedrooms of the house, but the windows in this room seem too close to be one of the bedrooms (it's my house!) Before she rented the house on Washington, she rented the house at 1501 E. Grove.
The Burnell brothers operated this shoe store at 116 West Washington for 36 years and closed it shortly after this remodel in 1937. Harry Burnell lived at 1503 Washington, and his brother Ralph lived at 405 Leland. Their father and mother lived at 1221 East Washington.
Sally Jo Bishop was the winner in a child's beauty pageant in 1938. She lived at 1225 East Washington with her parents P. Minor and Marie Bishop. Sally married Richard Boge and worked for over 50 years in the jewelry business, many of those years with Jack Lewis Jewelers, where she was still working in 2007.
Jim Cox, of 1227 E. Washington takes water from a canvas bag during a Boy Scouts outing. These canvas bags were much like those used by the military. The bag would be filled with water from a natural source, then treated with chlorine before drinking. The second boy was Bob Solomon.
Fred "Brick" Young, of IWU Football fame and Pantagraph sports editor, lived at 1230 E. Washington Street (first the home of his in-laws, Robert and Mary Morrison) until 1980. He is with one of the Pantagraph newspaper carriers on a special day celebrating the carriers as they experienced the work of newspaper men. Walter Wellenreiter is interviewing NCHS coach Ralph Arends as Fred Young looks on.
In 1947 WJBC hosted a radio trivia show for area grade school students. This is the team from Washington Grade School. In the Pantagraph they named eight people in the image, so we are not sure which one is which, but the first girl on the left should be Judy McKnight, who lived at 1232 E. Washington with parents William and Alice.
Janet Cole was a sophomore at BHS when this photo was taken. She was working at a downtown department store. she lived at 1301 E. Washington with her parents. In 1946 she graduated from BHS and her plans were to go to Stanford and qualify for work with the airlines.
When John Borg Lueschen attended BHS he lived at 1310 E. Washington with his parents. He attended IWU as an art student. After his marriage to Joyce Jeffres, another IWU art student, they wanted to set up a studio. Joh worked mainly in ceramics. Bloomington Normal ordinances prevented them from doing what they wanted to do, so they created their studio in a closed service station in Lexington IL. A few years later John was in the National Guard and his obituary states that he had a long career as a naval architect designing barges, boats, diving bells, and dredges.
Mrs. Clifford Coolidge and Katharine Lukes playing violins in costume for a performance of "A Christmas Carol." Mrs. Coolidge lived at 1312 E. Washington.
Barbara Coolidge was a Bloomington artist who grew up at 1312 E. Washington. (Sister to Clifford Coolidge Jr.) She later lived at 709 E. Taylor. She made her living repairing china, pottery and ceramic pieces. This is Barbara in 1941, looking very modern! At the time of her death in 1983, she was living at 1206 E. Grove Street.
Patricia Klemm was one of three daughters of Carl and Frances Klemm. Here she is modeling a wedding dress for a Pantagraph photo spread. They lived at 1314 East Washington.
Betty Klemm with her fiancé, Otis Johnson, with his parents at a dinner celebrating their engagement at the Illinois Hotel. Betty was the oldest daughter of Carl and Frances Klemm. Sadly, Otis Johnson died just two years later following a brain surgery.
Adlai Stevenson with a group of navy officers in 1943. Loring Merwin is the man at far left, in his Navy uniform. He received a commission as a reporter during WWII. In order to have access to the theater of war, the reporter had to be officially associated with a newspaper as well as one of the armed forces. Adlai Stevenson lived at 1315 E. Washington as a boy. Loring Merwin lived at 1320 E. Washington.
Eloise Fisher was one of the daughters of Mabel Fisher of 1317 E. Washington. Here she is at a rehearsal of a Community Players production in the Joseph Fifer Courtroom. she was active in both the Community Players and its competitor, Playcrafters.
Helen Hoblit was married in 1946 to Julian Salley. Her first husband, Alfred Marshall, was killed at Anzio in 1944. She lived at 1323 E. Washington with her mother and stepfather (her father had died). The party after her wedding was at the Bloomington Country Club.
Chet Wetterlund and Myra Jane Rodgers, two IWU students in 1941 at social club dance with entertainers, singer Penny Lane, and bandleader Boyd Raeburn. Myra and Chet were engaged to be married, but Chet was killed in flight training. Myra joined the WAVES and worked in Washington DC through most of the war as communications personnel, handling coded messages. Myra lived at 1403 E. Washington with her parents Harry and Ruth. Her brother Bradford was a doctor and served throughout the war.
Barbara Hoblit Dolan (second from left) lived at 1508 E. Washington with her husband Alonzo Dolan Jr. and her daughter Charlotte. She grew up at 1308 E. Grove street, the daughter of Harris and Florence Hoblit. These ladies were members of the History and Art Club. Jean Soper, Barbara Dolan, Mrs. Richard Ahroon (a visitor) and Florence Fifer (seated) a granddaughter of Governor Fifer.
Freida Frey (white collar) lived at 1607 E. Washington with her husband Delmar and her in-laws, Clarence and Geneva Frey. Here she is with four other members of the Community players, making costumes for a production.
The Young Men's Club was a popular business men's club in Bloomington and in 1950 William Beich was initiated into the club wearing an off shoulder romper and drinking milk from a baby's bottle. The other men are Bill Frey and Phil Baumgart. William Beich grew up at 1608 E. Washington with parents Otto and Harriet Beich.
Paul or Billy Beich in 1936 with the family's great Dane in the living room at 1608 E. Washington. Bill was 14 in 1936 so it seems more likely this is Bill. Paul was nineteen.
Mary Watson lived at 1701 E. Washington with her parents Dr. William and Stella Watson. The three girls are Pat Gehle, Mary and Barbara Scott. The young man was unidentified. Mary later attended the University of Illinois and married Jack Caplinger. The girls are at the Lakeside Country Club.
Hazel Sloan grew up at 1703 E. Washington. She was the daughter of Dr. Guy Sloan, who was tragically widowed when Hazel was born. Hazel attended the University of Colorado and worked in California as a school secretary before she married Robert Deneen, a Bloomington attorney.
Spencer Ewing was a Bloomington attorney and his wife Lena Spencer was a leader in the county Home Bureau and the Associated Country Women of the World, an inter