Joy in Winters Past

Most Midwesterners have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with winter. Oh sure, some love it unreservedly, some hate it with equal passion, some love to hate it, but most us both love AND hate it at various times. In my last post I began to delve into some of the unsavory aspects of winter, primarily... it just lasts way too long!

The last few days, however, have been a pleasant reminder that our Midwestern winters can be beautiful, joy inspiring times. My walk to work has been under stars that are as bright as stars can only be when it's below 20F outside. The air is crazy crisp and cold, the moon is a tiny sliver of silver with the rest faintly, but clearly visible. The snow has been fairly undisturbed and about 5-7 inches deep. The mid-day glance across the fields reveals windswept white landscape, punctuated by still-golden corn stubble under an impossibly blue, endless Illinois sky. Evenings are cold with the blazing orange sunset lighting up the snow and casting the bare trees into sharp silhouette before the sun fades and snow and sky take on a short-lived shadowy blue that has to be seen to be believed.

In this spirit I share with you an article pulled from the pages of the Pantagraph chronicling past winters and the advent of ice-skating as a common past time at Miller Park in Bloomington, IL. Follow the link to read the whole article, a few excerpts:

The first known reference to ice-skating at Miller Park on the city’s west side appears in the Dec. 5, 1895, Pantagraph. “Bloomington has found a new winter sport, and from this time on skating parties will be as common as bobsled parties and coasting parties have been in the past,” noted the newspaper.

That evening “mirth and jollity reigned supreme” as 400 skaters sped around the frozen surface. “The wind was as sharp as a razor, and those who stood on the bank shivered. But the moon rose, round and bright, over the eastern trees, and filled the entire valley with a flood of radiance,” added The Pantagraph. “Fancy skaters were there by the dozens, besides those who slid on their heads. And young ladies were out by the scores, some who could skate and some who couldn’t and some who were afraid to try.”

If you've never ice skated on a frozen pond on a winter's night, you really need to find an opportunity to do so. Even better of there are areas of fresh, new, powdery snow - not too deep of course. Nothing quite like gliding over unmarked snow in the moonlight.

Way back in January 1896 a feature in The Daily Leader (a long-defunct competitor to The Pantagraph) painted a picturesque portrait of a “grand skating carnival” with “belles and beaux … skimming on steel beneath the electric light and soft moonbeams.” In the early evening The Daily Leader reporter “mixed with the gay throng, 500 people, men, women and children; boys in knickerbockers, misses in kilts; young men and young women, all ages, all colors, all creeds, all nationalities, all political faiths.”

A day earlier a heavy snowfall had blanketed the city, so 25 men on skates pulled and steadied an improvised scraper to clear a track along the edge of the lake, “and in this the merry-makers glided in groups, one behind the other.”

From time to time through the decades city officials established other skating venues. In the winter of 1928-1929, for instance, the city flooded the old school lot at the corner of Oak and Monroe streets on the city’s near west side. Lobbying hard for the rink was Alderman Val Simshauser, described as “a champion of fun and safety for children.”

Despite the occasional appearance of such facilities, Miller Park remained the community hub for skaters. In mid-January 1942, an estimated 1,000 locals ages 2 to 70 “whizzed” over 10-inch-thick ice on Miller Park’s large lake. “There were children hardly able to walk on solid earth, scampering along on all fours,” noted Pantagraph reporter John Temple. And for those fleeing Old Man Winter, the park pavilion offered a “huge fire in the old-fashioned stove.”

I've recently become somewhat fascinated by Miller Park and its part in the history of Bloomington. Mostly just because I'm a history dork, but I think we're all starting to realize our culture has somehow lost a sense of community that we didn't realize was worth saving... 'till it was gone. The good news is, we don't need a city sponsored park or infrastructure to have good relationships with our neighbors and enjoy the types of community we all need.

Get out and enjoy the winter! Don't be afraid to skate on the ponds (don't be stupid about it either, Country Roads takes no responsibility for idiots). Invite your neighbors, get some bumps and bruises, have fun. Take joy in winter.

~ Gabriel

Bill Kemp, the Archivist/Librarian at the McLean County Museum of History has put together a series of articles at the Pantagraph detailing various aspects of life in Bloomington/Normal and the surrounding counties throughout the history of the region. I find these articles fascinating and intend bring a few of these articles and stories to my blog in an effort to celebrate the history and cultural roots of Central Illinois.