History

The average corn yield last year in McLean County was nearly 247 bushels per acre. That's enough to blow the minds of the grandfathers of today's farmers. Agriculture has changed nearly beyond recognition in less than a century.

WGLT talks to Raymond McKoski, the author of a new biography of David Davis, whose mansion and historic site in Bloomington attracts thousands of visitors visit each year. "David Davis: Abraham Lincoln’s Favorite Judge" will be out next month from the University of Illinois Press.

Illinois organizations dedicated to the humanities and the arts are asking state lawmakers for help as they scramble to make up for federal funding cuts. One of them is the McLean County Museum of History.

A noted historian says it's fair to compare President Trump and Adolf Hitler, at least in one respect.

The spirit of Karl Marx is alive and well and living in America. That's according to Illinois State University history professor Andrew Hartman, whose new book is "Karl Marx in America."

Superfans and scholars of Abraham Lincoln are getting access to a new online research tool.

Happy birthday Abraham Lincoln. He’s 216. The McLean County Museum of History is hallmarking Lincoln’s Feb. 12 birthday with the start of a coloring contest to celebrate Lincoln and work on a mural showing a famous speech he made in Bloomington.

Christmas in America wasn't always the huge festive cultural movement we know today. The Puritans made the celebration of Christmas illegal. They thought such demonstrations were sacrilegious.

The film covers prehistoric times through 1900, exploring key moments in agriculture, rail transportation and education in McLean County.

In the early 1800s, supply chains were a lot shorter, but the lack of mechanized transportation sometimes made it tremendously difficult to bring goods to market. Yet, a regional — edging toward national — marketplace did thrive.