Flick Fact: Is winter nearly over ... or it hasn’t started yet? | Local News | pantagraph.com

Since 2000, can you name Bloomington-the month with the most snow on a regular basis? (1) February; (2) December; (3) January; (4) November.

Yes, it is February (1). According to the National Weather Service, the blizzards of February 1-2, 2007 and February 13-14, 2007 poured 13 inches in the Twin Cities, the largest snowfall since 2000. Since the start of record keeping, the largest snowfall in BN was also in February. From February 27 to 28, 1900, a blizzard left 21 inches, ranking first on the BN snow list of all time.

What do you remember from the 90s? 80's? Before the 70s? This collection focuses on local businesses and institutions that have closed their doors and stayed in our memory.

Grand Hotel is a landmark in the restaurant of Twin Cities.

Jefferson Cafeteria was located on the east side of Bloomington Courthouse Plaza from the late 1930s to 1969. 

The advertisement boasted "exquisite food-carefully cooked by seven experienced women who like to cook and prepare seasoning food." Special offers include butter chicken, deep sea bass, grilled chicken, lemon pudding and pumpkin pie. Between 4 and 33 cents.

The Jefferson cafeteria was closed by Donald Thompson, who took over these operations from John Grassfield in May 1968. Grassfield opened a cafeteria in 1933.

The College Hills shopping center was completed two months earlier than originally planned and opened on August 14, 1980. The shopping center has an area of ​​177,000 square feet and a public area of ​​75,000 square feet. The construction cost of this 45-acre site was $21 million. In the 1980s, the College Hills Mall and Eastland Mall provided Barisan Nasional shoppers with five major department stores and 117 smaller stores.

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, the entire shopping center closed its stores until it started selling in November 2003. Cullinan Properties Ltd. purchased the property, and Shoppes in College Hills today opened on August 17, 2005-almost 25 years after the original opening.

Double Nickel Drive-In is a "unique and exciting restaurant decorated in the 1950s" that opened in June 1988. Its name reflects its position on Business Loop 55.

The restaurant is located on Veterans Park Avenue and Morrissey Drive. It has two liftable windows and can accommodate 54 customers inside. It is built on the site of the original Streid restaurant and offers frozen eggs, ice cream, hamburgers, chicken, fish, etc.

Above: "3-year-old Ryan Chambers and 6-year-old Nicole Hilton didn’t know anything about the 50s, but the two dine in Double Nickel Drive-In in an all-50s style."

After adding food to the gas station’s gasoline, tires and overhead hamburger lineup, Gus Belt opened the first Steak'n Shake on Normal Avenue and Virginia Avenue (now home to Monical’s Pizza) .

This chain of restaurants was established in Twin Cities in 1934 and includes a sitting restaurant and a direct driveway.

Belt died in 1954, and his wife Edith ran the chain until 1969. Biglari Holdings Inc., the current owner of San Antonio, Texas, owns more than 500 Steak'n Shake restaurants in 27 states.

For a period of time, Bloomington was the North American headquarters of Eureka Co., which was later renamed Electrolux. From the 1940s to 2000, its vacuum cleaners and other products were produced in Bloomington-Normal.

Its history can be traced back to 1909, when Eureka Co. was established in Detroit. By 1927, the company sold a third of all vacuum cleaners in the United States

The company merged with Williams Oil-O-Matic, a Bloomington company that manufactured heating and cooling equipment in 1945, and became Eureka-WilliamsCorp.

In 1974, AB Electrolux acquired the company and then changed its name to EurekaCo. Over the years, the company has multiple offices in Bloomington, including E. Bell St. 1201, and its ultimate headquarters is at 807 N. Main. The name St. Eureka disappeared in 2004, when it was called Electrolux.

Sadly, after decades of becoming the main employer in the community, Electrolux completely eliminated Bloomington-Normal in 2011. Its final headquarters on Main Street was demolished this month.

In the summer of 1960, Normal became the location of the first Mr. Quick Drive-In. Drivein boasted a 15-cent "bigger, better, and tastier 100% pure government-inspected hamburger."

The last place of business of this restaurant chain in Bloomington has been closed and it went on sale in January 2001.

By the 20th century, Old Main had been the center of campus life. However, in 1946, out of concern for structural integrity, the dome and the entire third floor were demolished. Then a new roof was placed on the second floor. Although the state of the building has been reduced, the building continues to welcome students.

On July 17, 1958, the wreck was taken care of by the rest. Today, the old main monument can be found at the northern end of the ISU Quad with the bell of this beloved building. The Founders’ Day tradition requires members of the ISU community to venture out to the Quartet to participate in the award ceremony, in which the bell must be struck every year during the existence of the ISU.

The company moved there from another urban area in 1977. The hardware store closed in the summer of 1993, a victim of changes in the twin-city retail trend.

Gill Country Inn is located in 

Her husband Larry bought the restaurant from Larry's father Ron in March 1997. Ron has owned the restaurant for 13 years. There has been a restaurant in that place for 40 years. Gil's was originally opened in 1978 by Gil Morton.

Cotton's Village Inn is located at 401 North Street in downtown Bloomington.

The restaurant is owned by Melton and Millie McNabney under the names of Mr. Cotton and Mrs. Cotton, and has specialties such as ham bread, butter chicken pie, Swiss steak, date nut pudding And pecan pie. 

"Cotton's is a unique restaurant located in the basement of the northeast corner of Main and Monroe. You walk up the steps covering the outside (still there) to a small restaurant with whitewashed walls decorated with hand-painted ivy and Bavarian scenery.

The simple daily specials on the menu are squeezed onto a typed paper with humorous thoughts and proverbs on the edges. The owner, Cotton McNabney, may take you to a table in a semi-private closet (formerly coal bunker) under the sidewalk. Don't know when the door will open, but when Route 66 passes through the city, Cotton is there. Cotton closed around 1976. The reopening as Halfpenny's Village Inn did not last long. A unique place that attracts tourists. "

Pictured above is August 1962: Jack Stats, left, a native and art teacher in Bloomington, has been doing murals on the walls of Cotton's Village Inn since high school.

Once Sinorak ruled.

This is what they call smorgasbord (or unit price, unlimited cafeteria) on the southern edge of Bloomington. Pete Karonis owns it and named it after himself.

You may get roast beef, fried chicken, ham, pork chops, salad, steamed vegetables, chunks of watermelon, and a tablespoon of cottage cheese until your eyes are discolored. People are actually queuing to enter the parking lot just to go through these food lines and fill up with plates and bowls, in order to indulge, enjoy or enjoy this delicacy or pleasure. You can get what you want, and the price remains the same.

The picture shows the dining table. Diners serve themselves; lunch is from 11 am to 2:30 pm and the price is 95 cents, and dinner is from 5 to 9 pm and the price is 1.65 US dollars.

The FW Woolworth Company opened on March 1, 1918 in the Durley Building on the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets in downtown Bloomington. In 1939, a fire destroyed the Durley Building, causing damages estimated at $300,000.

In 1967, Woolworth left the city center for Eastland Mall, which occupies 30,000 square feet. The picture shows a "colonial" storefront in a shopping mall.

After serving as a tenant of Eastland Mall for 30 years, the Woolworth location in Bloomington was closed in 1997; after 118 years of operation, it is one of the brand’s remaining 400 five-corner stores nationwide.

In 1922, Edward C. Biasi opened a shop in the northeast corner of Court Square. For the next 62 years, Biasi's was a fixture on the first floor of the six-story Griesheim building, which Biasi said was "probably the best commercial location in Bloomington."

Although Edward C. Biasi died in June 1963 at the age of 71, the business still received attention as Biasi's drugstore company developed. In 1973, pharmacists John L. "Jack" Ingold (John L. "Jack" Ingold) and Steven Richter (Steven Richter) bought the drugstore, although Ingold has been here since 1958 Worked, where he will be the sole owner. 

The disaster occurred in late August 1984, when the Grisheim Building was lost in the most spectacular fire in the recent history of the Twin Cities.

The fire proved Ingold's total loss, although with the help of John McGinnis, he opened a temporary business location at 413 N. Main St, a primary color wheel store. To its credit, Ingold (died in 2012) has never accepted moving his store to the vast east side of the city.

In mid-October 1984, less than two months after the fire broke out, Biasi returned to the east side of the Court Square and now returns to the Unity Building, which is an equally impressive multi-storey professional building located at the southern end of the block. Incredibly, less than four years later, on July 3, 1988, a fire destroyed the Unity Building. The next day, Ingold was shocked and said: "Lightning did strike twice."

Biasi reopened on the south side of the Court Square that month, and in November 1990, moved the pharmacy into the newly constructed Snyder building, which replaced the Griesheim and Unity buildings and the sandwiched building between 200 buildings. Building. North Main Street. After three-quarters of a century in downtown Bloomington, Biasi closed permanently on January 18, 1997.

When the General Electric factory opened in 1955, it employed more than 1,000 workers. It was in the eastern part of rural Bloomington at the time as part of the post-World War II movement that moved factories away from the inner city core to a more prosperous suburban environment.

In response to the economic slowdown and the casualties caused by the transition, General Electric Department of Consumer and Industry officials announced in 2009 that they planned to close the Bloomington plant by the end of 2010. Although the closure of the factory in October 2010 may not shock companies associated with General Electric, the loss is still mourning.

This 56-year-old factory employs 1,600 people at a time, expanding Bloomington to the east. It was also one of the first high-paying local companies that hired white workers alongside their white counterparts.

In 2012, Destihl converted the old warehouse of General Electric into a brewery, thereby increasing the output of many beer varieties. year 2011

Livingston Department Store on the south side of the square can be said to be the premier shopping store in the city in the 1960s. Roland's women's store on the north side of the square followed closely, perhaps the first impression of women.

The company was founded in March 1866 by Sam and Aaron Livingston, and the original name was McLean County Dry Goods Store. It is located in the middle of the 100th block on West Washington Street (south side of Court Plaza) and has been in existence for 113 years.

Livingston has a built-up area of ​​42,350 square feet, making it one of the larger department stores in outlying areas of Illinois. Today, by comparison, some Wal-Mart super centers have an area of ​​223,000 square feet. In 1946, Livingston excavated a complete basement to house the household appliances department and fur storage, thereby adding another floor.

By the 1970s, downtown Bloomington had begun to decline. Sears and JC Penney's left the city in the 1960s for Eastland Mall, Montgomery Ward later moved to College Hills to shop around 1980 center. Roland moved to the brave veteran Broadway New World, but closed permanently in the late 1980s. Local department stores and clothing stores have found that it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to compete with the huge economies of scale between Sears and other retail giants.

Livingston has never been out of the city. Although about $100,000 was spent on refurbishment and increased promotions, sales were disappointing, and Livingston closed on January 31, 1979. The store held a mandatory "closed-out" sale in the last week, providing store fixtures, mannequins ("wholes and parts"), cash registers and hangers.

Pictured: The Phoenix Hall is located on the south side of McLean County Courthouse Square and can be seen in this 1860 print (the hall spans the seven uppermost windows on the left). In 1917, Livingston was razed to the ground, 5 of the 7 buildings of the Greek Revival era (including the two Phoenix Halls) were razed to the ground, making it a modern department store road. Today, Michael's Restaurant occupies the street level of the building.

Over the years, new restaurants have come here. The property is also home to Oriental Buffet & Grill, Prescott's and Wildcat Brewery Co.. 

In 2004, the buildings of 305 N. Veterans Parkway were razed to the ground. Today's location is three restaurants: Noodles & Co., Chipotle Mexican Grill and Meat Heads.

The picture shows Edward Kruse, manager of the Bombay Bicycle Club in August 1991.

The Red Lion Inn was the number one live music club in downtown Bloomington in the 1970s, when the brick venue on the corner of the market and Center Street was at the pinnacle of nightlife dominance.

Here, the "regular" list includes names like REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick and Head East (heard of them before in other parts of the country). Bloomington Base is the second of the three roaring lions in northern Illinois, the first in Champaign, and the last in DeKalb.

Red Lion Inn opened on February 4, 1971, when the still-rising REO Speedwagon made its debut. 

In order to obtain a liquor license for seven nights a week, the establishment must be a member club. The staff took out a card and a lifetime membership fee of $1. At one point, there were approximately 18,000 members.

In March 1980, all three Red Lion Inns closed. In October of that year, Bloomington's location became a new, short-lived club called Off Center. Today, the property is the location of the McLean County Human Services Center.

metropolis

 Two decades of operation ended in 1993.

Subscribe to our daily headline newsletter.

{{description}}

Email notifications are sent only once a day, and only when there are new matches.

The police said: "The investigation showed that the shooting was an isolated incident." "Other information indicates that the shooting originated from a dispute between the victim and the arrested person before the incident."

The 24-year-old Sydney Mays (Sydney Mays Jr.) of Bloomington, 22 years old Nate Pena (Nate Pena) and Corey Jackson (Corey Jackson) and 33-year-old Juan Carlos Perez (Juan Carlos Perez) faced murder for murder. He also faces charges of attempted murder of Pena's 4-year-old son. The Riley Avenue apartment in Bloomington was paralyzed by an accident.

41-year-old Michael Bakana was accused of killing 22-year-old Mariah C. Petracca in Bloomington and seriously injured another who has not yet been released. Women.

The head of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce said on Monday that the state’s further relaxation of COVID restrictions is a victory for business owners, despite concerns about keeping the infection rate low.

School administrators in central Illinois are concerned about the impact of the increased graduation requirements in the recently passed Education Act on the ability of students and their areas to meet the requirements.

A soundbar, mixer, jewelry, designer clothing and other items were allegedly stolen at various times and subsequently appeared on Facebook Marketplace.

District officials announced on Monday that pupils at No. 5 Elementary School in McLean County would personally return to the school five days a week.

Saturday night from 6 pm to midnight will be the window with the most precipitation in the region.

An Indiana man was kept in McLean County Jail on charges of sexual assault.

Get the latest news sent directly to your device.