McHistory: The up and down lives of Bloomington's 'indoor chauffeurs'

There was a time when people operated elevators across the country, instead of passengers just pressing buttons as they do today.

“For decades, these indoor aviators, as they were once called, took people up and down all day long in the high-rise buildings of downtown Bloomington,” said Candace Summers, senior director of education at the McLean County Museum of History.

Elisha Otis developed the safety elevator while working in a factory in New York in 1852. The mechanism was designed with a ratchet that would pop open and catch the racks along the side of the shaft if the rope that raised and lowered the elevator snapped. Once the ratchet caught, it almost instantly stopped the car, and the elevator would safely descend. It made moving heavy equipment to upper floors of buildings much safer, said Summers.

Otis ventured out on his own and founded the Otis Elevator Company that still exists. The first elevator debuted in New York City in 1854. Three years later, Otis installed the first passenger elevator in a New York City building. He didn’t see much of the growing success of his invention. He died in 1861.

“His elevator basically revolutionized the way buildings were constructed, making them grow higher instead of wider,” said Summers.

A 1933 newspaper article estimated 40 buildings in Bloomington had elevators with "indoor chauffeurs."

Among them were the Illinois House on West Jefferson Street, Livingston and Sons on West Washington, Rolands on West Jefferson Street, the Ensenberger building on Center Street, the Griesheim building at Maine and Jefferson that burned in 1984, and the McLean County Courthouse, now the Museum of History.

Each building had an average of two operators, meaning there were at least 80 elevator operators living and working in Bloomington. Many made it a career.

Jake Dean operated the elevator in the People's Bank building on Center Street.

McLean County Museum of History

“He had been in the ‘up and down business’ for 20 years when he was interviewed in 1938,” said Summers. “Dean said he had a keen delight in dealing with the public. He said that almost everyone was dandy to him.”

Elevator operator was Dean’s second career. He had worked at the Chicago and Alton Railroad shops on the west side of town until an accident mangled a leg.

“The majority of people you meet are easily pleased. Of course, there are a few grouches, but I don't pay any attention to them,” said Dean.

“Do you know some of the pet peeves of an elevator operator? Are you acquainted with some of the trials which cause them to regretfully sigh, oh boy! Who wished this job of running an elevator on me?... Do you loiter along the way while the car is waiting for you? Maybe you forget to push the signal button, which is placed on all landings for your convenience as well as that of the man who saves you those long and tiresome walks from floor to floor," per The Pantagraph newspaper.

"It often happens that a dozen or more persons are waiting on the same car and impatiently too, while you wander along the way, or you make just as big a pest of yourself in the eyes of the operator by rushing toward the car and grabbing the door before it reaches the landing. Above all, in the pet peeve vocabulary of the elevator operator, do you announce your floor just as the elevator reaches the landing? Then worst of all, in the peeve book, do you get angry because the car carries you a floor or two beyond your landing and ask to return again?”

Emma Ploense was the longtime elevator operator at the McLean County Courthouse for about 40 years.

“The ups and downs of Emma's career have done anything but make a grouch out of the courthouse elevator operator," wrote the Pantagraph in 1980. "A cheery ‘good morning’ has gone to more than half a dozen court judges during Emma's long span, as well as to countless other public officials, juries, lawyers, people with problems and criminals on their way to a trial on the second floor."

McLean County Museum of History

Emma took pride and pleasure in helping the people who came into the courthouse, said Summers, adding she was beloved by everyone. She knew everything that went on in the building and was always ready and willing to help people get where they needed to go.

Asked if she remembered taking any really dangerous criminals up to Circuit Court, the veteran operator recalled only one really bad man. He was a handsome Sharpie who robbed a bank at Chenoa, and was quite friendly during numerous trips to the second floor trial whence he later was sent to prison.

“Doing a little digging myself, because I was curious who that bank robber was, I determined it was most likely David Blumenfeld, one of three men convicted of robbing the Farmer State Bank in Chenoa," said Summers. "His first two trials were held in the courthouse in 1927 and 1929. Also, fun fact! Another one of those bank robbers was one of those Funks [of seed company and Funks Grove fame]. Harry Funk was also convicted of robbing the bank in Chenoa.”

In a 1955 Pantagraph interview, Ploense said at that time she had been on the job for 28 1/2 years.

“Figuring about 30 trips up and down each hour of Emma's day, the operator has probably traveled over 29,000 miles during her soaring career. That is based on a slide-rule estimate,” wrote the Pantagraph in 1921.

Summers said when the day came to replace that elevator in 1980 with a push button car, it was said that no one could ever replace Emma Ploense.

McLean County Museum of History

“And that elevator just got replaced in 2023. They replaced it because they couldn't get parts. Safety codes had changed, just like when they put the new elevator and when Emma took over,” said Summers.

As of 1981, there was still an elevator operator working downtown in the Livingston building. The occupation eventually became extinct, but only recently in Illinois.

Last month, Chicago Magazine reported on the end of the final live-operated elevator in Chicago. It was in the Fine Arts building on Michigan Avenue. It dated to 1898 when the Studebaker Carriage Company constructed the building. Parts became difficult to find, but the magazine reported the deciding factor was the only person who could repair that elevator was about to retire.

McHistory is a partnership between WGLT and the McLean County Museum of History.