By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – A historical marker was dedicated Thursday evening at Miller Park to ensure a deeply buried secret in Bloomington’s past is remembered forever. Racial segregation existed here, just as it did in the south and in other Illinois cities.

At Miller Park, the historical marker acknowledges there were segregated beaches there during the first half of the 20th Century and beyond. The beach for people of color didn’t have a lifeguard, while whites had a much nicer and safer place to swim, recalled Mary Hursey, 84, of Bloomington

“It was terrible, the conditions that we had, and they had such a nice place over there,” said Hursey.

Hursey knew Phyllis Jean Hogan, 6, who fell off the diving platform and drowned there in August 1948. Hursey said she complained to the mayor, who decided then to integrate the beaches.

Illinois State University emeritus history professor Mark Wyman wrote the inscription on the historical marker. He said the community must come to terms with its flaws.

“For most of Bloomington-Normal, I’ve found the secret is still deeply buried that we ever had segregation here, virtually unknown within this community’s collective memory,” said Wyman.

“But, we in Bloomington-Normal today can not be afraid of this hidden truth,” Wyman also said.

The McLean County Museum of History raised $4,000 to pay for the historical marker.

The City of Bloomington, Bloomington-Normal NAACP, and Not In Our Town Bloomington-Normal were also involved in the project.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]