Normal 1-5-0 is the observance of the Town of Normal’s founding in 1865, one hundred fifty years ago this year.
In celebration of their sesquicentennial, (which is too hard to say so we love saying “One Five O” instead), there are a lot a great events happening in UPTOWN this year, but especially this weekend.
I was lucky to snag an interview with Town of Normal Assistant City Manager Sally Heffernan & McLean Co. Museum of History Development Director Beth Whisman about the big schedule of fun planned for this weekend, September 11-13th, and you can enjoy the podcast of our chat by clicking HERE.
We covered a lot about the amazing circus connections to our community, and about the on going lecture series that you can attend, or watch videos of, from official and unofficial local historians, who will teach you more about Normal than you ever thought possible!
Here is the first of the 6 that will be available, featuring retired ISU Historian Paul Holsinger, who discusses the early years. Here is a small taste of his prologue:
Normal, Illinois exists today because of the vision of one man: Jesse Fell. Long before there was anything in the area except miles and miles of empty prairie, Fell saw its potential and dreamed of building not only his own home there but also of creating “the most moral and best-behaved town in the Midwest”. He planted literally tens of thousands of trees, brokered the location of the state’s first public university, Illinois State Normal University, to be located in his ideal town, and long before his death, became unquestionably its leading citizen. Had he been able to fulfill all his dreams, Normal would have become Illinois’ only public educational center, the home of both a great teachers college and the state’s engineering and agricultural university as well. Indeed, if he could have accomplished it, every state-sponsored institution, from its prisons to its asylums for the insane, would have called Normal home. That did not happen but it was not for Fell’s lack of trying.
Get the full schedule of lectures past and forthcoming HERE.
