Bloomington

The McLean County Courthouse and Square is located in downtown Bloomington, Illinois. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places and... encompasses the old McLean County Courthouse and the courthouse-facing sides of three downtown blocks. The historic buildings at the other side of the square were destroyed by fire in the 1980s. The Square is bordered by four Bloomington streets: Main Street, Center Street, Jefferson Street and Washington Street. The site was home to three previous courthouses before the current one was built around 1900. The first courthouse at the site was built in 1832, the second in 1836 and the third was built shortly before the present building but was destroyed by fire. The McLean County Courthouse housed the McLean County Circuit Court from 1900 to 1976. The building itself was designed by William Reeves and John M. Baillie of the Peoria firm Reeves and Bailey. The original construction was completed in 1900 at a cost of $461,640. Shortly after its completion, a fire destroyed many of the buildings in the square and the courthouse. The courthouse was rebuilt in 1903 as before following the fire.
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Franklin Square, or Franklin Square Historic District, in Bloomington, Illinois, McLean County, encompasses parts of four blocks surrounding the... city's Franklin Park. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Franklin Square contains the homes of former Vice President Adlai Stevenson I and Governor Joseph Fifer. The Square includes parts of Prairie, Chestnut, Walnut and McLean Streets and lies to the northeast of downtown Bloomington. The sections of those streets included in the Square are the 300 and 400 blocks of E. Chestnut and E. Walnut Streets, the 900 block of N. Prairie and N. McLean Streets. The area surrounding the park is dotted with homes that have historical significance, be it their architecture or those who occupied the homes, they hold special distinction in the annals of history. Some of the historically important homes include, the 1864 Burr House, the 1869 Dodson-Stevenson House and the 1895 Fifer-Bohrer House. The Burr House was constructed in 1864 by the Hayes & Evans Contracting Company. It was constructed in an Italianate style but has Queen Anne style elements from early construction features. The home stands at 210 E. Chestnut St. in Bloomington.
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White Place Historic District is located in the McLean County city of Bloomington, Illinois. The district is a residential neighborhood including... numerous historic homes. The district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been since 1988.
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The Bloomington, Illinois Holy Trinity Church Rectory and Convent has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. The Rectory... and Convent Building is situated behind the art deco church on the site of the 1869 Holy Trinity Church, which was destroyed by a tornado before it was completed. A fire completely obliterated the church in 1932, but the church was financed, and recovery was quick. The finished Art-Deco building was completed in 1933 and opened in 1934. It still stands today.
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Richard Webb was a film, television and radio actor. He was born in Bloomington, Illinois. He appeared in more than fifty films, including many... westerns and films noir including Out of the Past , Night Has a Thousand Eyes , I Was a Communist for the FBI and Carson City . Today, he may be best remembered as the star of the 1950s TV series Captain Midnight, based on a long-running radio program of the same name. In 1958, he guest starred as agent James Foster in Bruce Gordon's short-lived docudrama about the Cold War, Behind Closed Doors. In 1954, Webb played the notorious gunfighter John Wesley Hardin in an episode of Jim Davis's Stories of the Century western anthology series. The segment shows Hardin shooting two Indians in the back, gunning down a sheriff in a saloon, and finally being outgunned himself by an El Paso officer attempting to arrest Hardin, then a lawyer, on a new murder warrant, possibly his 41st or 45th killing.
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Cleo Madison was a theatrical and silent film actress from Bloomington, Illinois. Madison attended what is now Illinois State University in Normal,... Illinois. Her family moved to California after she left school. She made her first professional appearances on the Burbank and Belasco stages in 1911. Her initial engagement was in Santa Barbara, California. She played the role of the mother in Captain Swift. In March 1912 she debuted as the leading woman of Ernest Shipman's stock company in Phoenix, Arizona. Her first production was When We Were Twenty-One. For a few years Madison appeared in western films with Dave Hartford and Walter Kerrigan. She became the head of her own company, during which time she was directed ably by Wilfred Lucas. Madison demonstrated her dedication and versatility in The Trey o' Hearts , which was produced by Universal Pictures. The film featured the actress in shipwreck scenes. The filming was done in Bear Canyon, Devil's Canyon, San Diego, California, Coronado, California, Tijuana, Mexico, Point Loma, California, San Pedro, California, and Dead Man's Island.
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Arthur Hughes was an American actor on the stage, radio and films. On Broadway, he performed in two dozen plays between 1923 and 1968, including... Mourning Becomes Electra and Elizabeth the Queen . On television he appeared in The Dupont Show of the Week and Playhouse 90. Hughes was best known as the titular character Bill Davidson on the long-running daytime radio serial, Just Plain Bill, and he acted in other well-known radio programs such as the Fu Manchu Mysteries and Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons. During the 1960s, he appeared in several TV movies. He also appeared in films, including The Great Gatsby and Woody Allen's Bananas . Hughes and Edward Pawley, of Big Town fame, were good friends. They were roommates in their early years in New York City where they were appearing in Broadway plays. They appeared together in a popular Broadway production titled Subway Express . Hughes was a witness at Pawley's marriage to his first wife, stage actress Martina May Martin, in 1922.
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Joel Franklin Higgins is an American actor and singer with a stage career spanning over 30 years. A graduate of Michigan State University where he... was a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity, Higgins initially performed in coffee houses to help pay his way through school. After leaving with a degree in advertising and working for six months for General Motors, Higgins went to Europe to perform. In 1968 he enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed at Camp Casey in Korea, serving as the Special Services Sergeant in charge of Entertainment. Following his Army days, he and several friends wrote a musical revue called The Green Apple Nasties. After leaving the Army, he sold the show to a producer and went on the road for two and a half years. During a performance in Louisville, Kentucky, Higgins was approached by a producer who asked him to play Sky Masterson in a local theater production of Guys and Dolls. He went on a 17-week tour of the Midwest in the role.
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Richard Webb was a film, television and radio actor. He was born in Bloomington, Illinois. He appeared in more than fifty films, including many... westerns and films noir including Out of the Past , Night Has a Thousand Eyes , I Was a Communist for the FBI and Carson City . Today, he may be best remembered as the star of the 1950s TV series Captain Midnight, based on a long-running radio program of the same name. In 1958, he guest starred as agent James Foster in Bruce Gordon's short-lived docudrama about the Cold War, Behind Closed Doors. In 1954, Webb played the notorious gunfighter John Wesley Hardin in an episode of Jim Davis's Stories of the Century western anthology series. The segment shows Hardin shooting two Indians in the back, gunning down a sheriff in a saloon, and finally being outgunned himself by an El Paso officer attempting to arrest Hardin, then a lawyer, on a new murder warrant, possibly his 41st or 45th killing.
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John Campbell is a jazz pianist born July 7, 1955 in Bloomington, Illinois. He studied piano privately as a youth, then attended University High... School and, briefly, Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois before moving to Chicago in the mid 70s, then to New York in the 80s. John has worked with numerous jazz artists, including Terry Gibbs and Buddy DeFranco, Stan Getz, Eddie Harris, James Moody, Charles McPherson, and Clark Terry, and in the late 80s was pianist for Mel Tormé. John has recorded as a soloist on Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. 29 and in various trios, such as After Hours with bassist Todd Coolman and drummer Gerry Gibbs, and Workin’ Out with bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Billy Drummond. John now lives in the Los Angeles area.
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Cleo Madison was a theatrical and silent film actress from Bloomington, Illinois. Madison attended what is now Illinois State University in Normal,... Illinois. Her family moved to California after she left school. She made her first professional appearances on the Burbank and Belasco stages in 1911. Her initial engagement was in Santa Barbara, California. She played the role of the mother in Captain Swift. In March 1912 she debuted as the leading woman of Ernest Shipman's stock company in Phoenix, Arizona. Her first production was When We Were Twenty-One. For a few years Madison appeared in western films with Dave Hartford and Walter Kerrigan. She became the head of her own company, during which time she was directed ably by Wilfred Lucas. Madison demonstrated her dedication and versatility in The Trey o' Hearts , which was produced by Universal Pictures. The film featured the actress in shipwreck scenes. The filming was done in Bear Canyon, Devil's Canyon, San Diego, California, Coronado, California, Tijuana, Mexico, Point Loma, California, San Pedro, California, and Dead Man's Island.
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Forrest Taylor was an American character actor whose artistic career spanned six different decades, from silents through talkies to the advent of... color. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Taylor was a veteran of the stage by the time he started appearing as a silent lead in both short and feature-length films. Little is known about his early days on stage, but he essayed prime roles in the films The Terror of Twin Mountains , Sunset Country , April , True Nobility and The Abandonment , before joining the army during World War I. He would not return to films until 1926, appearing in A Poor Girl's Romance. During the 1930s, Taylor became entrenched as a supporting player in B-westerns and several cliffhanger serials, often playing either the action or brains heavy roles. As he grew older and grayer, Taylor migrated to nice guy roles, such as the father of the heroine, a lawman, or a scientist. Then, after the westerns and serials faded he migrated to television work. From 1952 through 1954, he costarred as Grandpa Fisher on the religious TV series This is the Life.
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