Historic Context

1 HISTORIC March 2 March 1853 CONTEXT 1839 Arrival of History helps us understand aspects of the community that puzzle residents and policy makers. For example, Incorporated Railroads why do we have industrial operations in the midst of some residential neighborhoods? Records of an earlier Bloomington explain: the railroad once crossed through those neighborhoods, and adjoining areas were filled with industries that needed the railroad. That railroad is gone, and its land has a new purpose, but the patterns 1922 of land use it created are still with us. Knowing our Founding of 1926Chicago history not only explains how our city grew, but how we ROUTE can plan for future neighborhoods and anticipate a new State Farm Opens Bloomington we can only imagine. St. Louis 66 19 KEY FINDINGS The arrival of the railroads in 1853 gave Bloomington a whole new Highly productive farmland wasn’t the only resource waiting to be place in the world. In an era when roads were rough and horsepower discovered under the tallgrass prairie that surrounded Bloomington. wasn’t a metaphor, rail connections made travel to Chicago and St. In 1867, coal was discovered on the west side of the city, close to the Louis and closer destinations like Peoria and Springfield a manage- Chicago & Alton railroad corridor. The present-day highway inter- able undertaking. The bounty of farms and the expanding ranks of change at West Market Street and Interstates 55 and 74 sits atop the manufacturers could find their way to new markets, and people and excavated area where coal was mined in Bloomington for sixty years. products from across the world arrived in Bloomington on the rails. Over time the working places for some of Bloomington’s residents Bloomington neighborhoods are a case study in changing patterns of shifted from the hard physical labor of the 19th century workshop, development. From the simple grid streets of a 19th-century prairie factory and coal mine, and moved towards life in the shop front or village, Bloomington accommodated new arrivals, such as railroads office. A growing and prosperous middle class could afford to hire and highways into the structure of the City. In the post-war boom workers for jobs they might once have done themselves, and the years from the 1950s onward, Bloomington has tried variations on founding of State Farm and the expanding insurance industry con- the modern suburb, replacing short blocks and right angles with tinued the shift to white collars from blue. long winding streets fruited with clusters of cul-de-sacs. 20 EXPLORATION & SETTLEMENT thousand, with a history of Spanish and ent; in the 1860s, coal was discovered, and gradual compared with central Illinois cities French control. The monumental land was mined at the city’s western edge for sixty such as Peoria, which had easier access to In the early 1820s, as settlers of Euro- transfer of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 years. The location of Bloomington between the movement of people and goods via river pean origin migrated into the area that would elevated St. Louis as the capital of the Loui- Chicago and St. Louis would trigger the traffic, but growth was comparable to other become Bloomington, they encountered a siana Territory. mix of geography and politics that brought communities developing in the expanse of region already altered by 17th century explo- These new settlers to central Illinois the railroad to the city, making possible the prairie between the Illinois and Sangamon ration that followed the Mississippi tribu- were drawn to a forested area that came ever-increasing flow of people, materials, rivers. taries north to Lake Michigan, eventually to to be called Blooming Grove. The groves, products and cultures that still characterize Despite relative isolation, new enter- the future site of Chicago at Fort Dearborn. timbered areas that grew along rivers and Bloomington today. prises were establishing themselves in Bloom- French explorers established outposts along streams crossing the prairie, were desirable Bloomington’s development into ington, adding to the attractions that would the Illinois River, including Fort Crevecoeur locations to both the settlers and the Na- a stable city began with sixty acres of land draw new residents. In one notable instance, and later Fort Clark at Peoria. tive American groups in the area. However, offered by settler James Allin to create the Illinois Wesleyan University was founded in Down the Illinois and Mississippi peaceable interactions with Native resi- core of the new city and include a site for the 1850, bringing a new level of educational and rivers, St. Louis was an established city of ten dents meant Blooming Grove could grow McLean County courthouse, establishing cultural resources to enrich the community. as a town, not a fort. Bloomington as the county seat. Mr. Allin’s THE RAILROADS ARRIVE The groves signaled the presence generosity to his new community bore imme- of water, and the timber provided building diate fruit, as the lots were quickly purchased The Illinois Central and Chicago & material and fuel. The wooded areas and and the first courthouse was built in 1832.1 Alton railroads both began service to Bloom- prairies were also rich habitats for wildlife, Within five years a more imposing court- ington in 1853.2 The Chicago & Alton rail a food source for Native and settler families house would be built, and be frequented by corridor exists today as the Union Pacific rail alike; their remnants still draw hunters Abraham Lincoln. line through west Bloomington. The Illinois today. Bloomington’s early years saw res- Central line has been remade as a part of Although the early settlers could idents arriving at a steady rate. Dozens of Constitution Trail, just west of the Clover not have fully understood their good residents became hundreds, and by the Lawn estate of David Davis, and immediately fortune, in their new home they found a 1850 Census Bloomington’s population was east of Evergreen Cemetery. balance of factors that proved the founda- about 1,600 persons. Population growth was The introduction of railroad service tion for the community’s future success. to the City had immediate impact. By 1860 The presence of necessities and the resourc- the population more than quadrupled. In es soon to be discovered supported the new 1870 Bloomington boasted nearly ten times settlement. as many residents than in 1850, after only Adapting the prairie landscape for seventeen years of railroad access to the City. farming revealed that local geology, hydrol- ogy and biology had melded to create some Footnotes: of the most productive agricultural land in 1) As illustrated in Fig. 1.3, “Map of Bloomington, the world. The wealth of this land became 1838,” prepared by the McLean County Historical Figure 1.1. Map of Illinois, 1820 the basis for the wealth of the communities Society from oral histories. John Melish; digital image that it fostered. Other resources were pres- 2) The Chicago and Alton railroad operated under © 2000 by Cartography Associates Figure 1.2 Detail of 1850 Illinois Central Railroad map several names related to destinations. 21 of the railroad introduced a new component near the east side neighborhoods of hand- reflect their specific concerns. In a pattern to the City’s pattern, one that created physi- some houses belonging to the upper levels of familiar in immigrant communities across cal constraints on City residents and the City Bloomington society. As noted earlier, this the history of the United States, new arrivals itself. effect on land use persists today, although sought to live among others who shared their Railroads required infrastructure to in the case of the Illinois Central Railroad countries of origin, their language, and the support their operations and provide access corridor, the rail itself is long gone. experiences that led them to a new life in for passengers and freight customers. Keep- America. Neighborhoods also formed around IMMIGRATION ing the trains running also required facilities a common religious heritage, as families for manufacturing, maintenance, repair and Advances in technology such as the sought connections through their churches. storage of equipment and materials. Rail- railroads, and the steel plows brought to mar- These emerging ethnic neighbor- road tracks also imposed traffic limitations, ket by John Deere, helped to sustain Bloom- hoods, often developing near employment, both to insure safety and, in the case of the ington’s growth and the prosperity of McLean continued the traditional neighborhood Figure 1.3 Bloomington in 1838 Chicago & Alton, by drawing a diagonal line County. Improved access to the outside world, design that characterized 19th century Source: McLean County Museum of History through the street grid. greater manufacturing and agricultural pro- Bloomington. Churches, schools and shops Beyond population growth, the These needs made a permanent mark ductivity, and the exchange of goods and ma- would define a neighborhood meeting place, advent of rail service brought changes to the on Bloomington’s pattern of residential and terials thus continued to expand through the and be surrounded by smaller homes on physical structure of the City. Bloomington, industrial development. The Chicago & Al- nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. streets arranged in a grid. The structure of before the railroad, adopted and maintained ton rail yard and workshops on the west side Immigrants carried out much of the some neighborhoods, such as those adjoining a traditional city plan common to many were already a presence in the 1867 plan of labor of these new enterprises, many arriving the west side rail corridor, was modified to towns and cities throughout the Midwest. the City (Figure 1.5), and remain with us to- in the United States from Europe; in central accommodate large-scale industrial or trans- The courthouse had pride of place in its day.

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