Illinois State University in Normal in McLean County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
World War I Memorial Stone
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 21, 2025
1. World War I Memorial Stone
William Auth Ralph Barron C. Nolan Smith Earl Ralph Hart Louis Eddy Davis Rolf Leo McManus Howard Henry Hardy Doy William Skinner Maurice James Peters William Roy Hinthorn Allington Joyce Jolly Robert Benjamin Huffman Edmund White Sutherland Arthur Wilhelm Niedermeyer
Erected 1920 by Illinois State Normal University.
Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Education • War, World I.
Location. 40° 30.519′ N, 88° 59.499′ W. Memorial is in Normal, Illinois, in McLean County. It is in Illinois State University. It is on South University Street, on the right when traveling north. The memorial in on the campus of Illinois State University, on the west side of the quad near Fell Hall. Touch for map. Memorial is in this post office area: Normal IL 61761, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this memorial is in Central Illinois. It is also in the American Midwest and in the Corn Belt. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World,
this page online
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Illinois State University Veterans Memorial (within shouting distance of this marker); William Saunders (within shouting distance of this marker); Capital Stone from the Third McLean County Courthouse (within shouting distance of this marker); Veterans Memorial (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Old Main Bell (about 300 feet away); The Illinois State Normal University (about 400 feet away); Old Main (about 400 feet away); Illinois State Normal (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Normal.
Regarding World War I Memorial Stone. According to the ISU website's database of campus artwork, this memorial, which they assigned the title "World War I Memorial Stone," was dedicated in 1920, when the university was still called Illinois State Normal University. (The school was renamed Illinois State University in 1964.) Each of the men listed had some link to Illinois
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 21, 2025
2. World War I Memorial Stone Marker
ISU's castle-like Cook Hall can be seen in the background.
Several of the men died of disease they contracted during the war, including William Auth of Rankin; Ralph Barron of Glasford; Earl Ralph Hart of Edinburg; Rolfe McManus of Palmyra (the spelling on this marker differs from his gravestone); Howard Hardy of Sheldon; Edmund Sutherland of Bloomington and Arthur Niedermeyer of Decatur.
Louis Davis was born and raised in Bloomington; his father was president and managing editor of The Pantagraph newspaper. He joined the war effort and became an aviator. He died in Houston on May 10, 1918, at age 24 when the plane he was flying had engine trouble and crashed into the ground about 18 miles from that city's Ellington Field. He is buried in Bloomington's Evergreen Cemetery. He also became the namesake of Bloomington's VFW Post.
C. Nolan Smith of downstate Freeburg was killed in battle at age 23 on November 10, 1918, one day before the armistice ended the war. According to an obituary
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 21, 2025
3. World War I Memorial Stone Marker
Doy Skinner of Cullom was a rural mail carrier before enlisting in the war effort in 1917. He got married in December 1917 before being sent to France as a member of the 129th Infantry. After spending close to two months in the trenches of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Skinner was killed on October 17, 1918, when a piece of shrapnel pierced his heart. He is buried in Cullom's St. John's Cemetery.
Maurice Peters was born in Vermilion County, Indiana, and he is also buried there. According to an application for a war department headstone for Peters, he was in the Medical Corps and had enlisted from Illinois. Otherwise, his link to either Bloomington-Normal or the Illinois State Normal University could not be determined.
William Hinthorn was considered the first person from Normal to die in World War I. He was born and raised in Lexington and Hudson, small towns north of Normal, before attending the normal college. He enlisted in the military in December 1917 and was sent to Missouri's Jefferson Barracks to join the quartermaster corps. He fell ill soon thereafter and eventually succumbed to pneumonia on January 19, 1918. He is buried at the Hudson Cemetery.
Allington Jolly was born in South Dakota and enrolled at Illinois Wesleyan University in neighboring Bloomington in 1911. He enrolled in the Army and started his war effort driving a car for General John J. Pershing. He later transferred into aviation, becoming a well-regarded captain in the French Air Force. After the war, while still on active duty, Lt. Jolly was selected to fly an experimental plane called the "Christmas Bullet," the brainchild of a man named William W. Christmas, featuring, among other things, flexible upper wings and miniature lower wings. The first version of the Bullet had crashed and killed its pilot in January 1919, but Christmas obtained more financing and built a second version. Jolly piloted that new plane's maiden voyage over Long Island, N.Y., on April 27, 1919, but he died when the wings fell off that plane, which fell 150 feet and crashed to the ground. Jolly is buried in Cropsey Cemetery, east of Normal.
Robert Benjamin Huffman was a native of South Dakota and was attending Illinois State Normal when he registered for the draft in 1917. Huffman served in the 20th Field Artillery Regiment, 5th Division in France. He was killed in battle on October 1, 1918. He is buried at Saint Mihiel American Cemetery.
Also see . . .
1. World War I Illinois State Normal University Service Records. (Submitted on June 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
2. The Pantagraph: First World War claimed lives of local aviators. (Submitted on June 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
Credits. This page was last revised on June 23, 2025. It was originally submitted on June 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 155 times since then and 15 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on June 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.
