The town of Normal, Illinois looking east on North Street. The historic Normal Theater is in the foreground. Photo by Willjay

Founded in 1865, 2015 marks the Town of Normal’s 150th anniversary.

In order to celebrate the anniversary, the town has recently announced new programs that recognize the community and its citizen’s impact on its history.

The first is the Legacy Program, which recognizes businesses, churches, nonprofit organizations and community groups that have had a longstanding physical presence in Normal.

Eligible entities can apply for the program, and will be awarded with window clings bearing the town’s 150th anniversary logo as well as each businesses status; Silver (25-49 years), Gold (50-74 years), Diamond (75-99 years), or Platinum (100+ years).

“We’d like to recognize and honor the time these places have been in the Town of Normal,” Mercy Davison, Town Planner said.

In addition to being a part of the legacy program, those entities can also participate in the History Presentation Board program.

“We’re interested in hearing peoples’ stories about the history of Normal and how their organization, business, or family had an impact on Normal,” Davison said.
While the Legacy Program is only open to entities with a physical presence in Normal, the History Presentation Board program is open to those without a physical presence as long as they demonstrate their impact on Normal and its residents.

“We just got an application from the Twin City Amateur Astronomers, who have been around for decades but don’t have an office so they can’t get a window cling,” Davison said. “They certainly have had an impact though, so they can submit their story and some pictures for the program.”
The program also allows for businesses or organizations that have offices in Bloomington to submit their story on how they’ve impacted Normal.

“There are businesses that are physically located in Bloomington, but have surely impacted Normal,” Davison said. “We’d love for them to submit their story and explain how they have been important to the Town of Normal.”

The information gathered from the program will be transferred to a professionally designed template and displayed in various electronic formats. Select boards will be shown at town events and all will be permanently archived at the McLean County Museum of History.

“We want to make sure that all the information that we collect is maintained appropriately, and the history museum is definitely the best entity to do that,” Davison said.

From the end of August through the end of October the town will host a lecture series in the Town Council Chambers in Uptown Station.

“We’ll have noted historians and some panel discussions about particular parts of Normal’s history,” Davison said. “It’ll be a very interesting series.”

The largest celebration of the year will be during the weekend of September 11-13, when the town will celebrate the anniversary with “Back to Normal,” in Uptown.

On September 12th and 13th, Uptown will host the Normal History Fair, where organizations, businesses, and individuals can show off their Normal memorabilia.

“There’ll be a combination of different things,” Davison said. “Whatever people have to show off that pertains to the history of Normal. It could be a milk bottle collection, matchbooks collection, yardsticks, and whatever else from throughout time that has a connection to Normal.”

Applications for all the programs and the fair are available at normal.org. Applications for the Legacy and History Presentation Board Programs are due by May 1st.