History:

In the late spring of 1921 a group of men headed by Kaywin Kennedy, A. L. Beyer and C. W. Frey, among others, called their friends and associates together to form a Bloomington Kiwanis club. The group, which met at the Illinois House Hotel, grew to more than fifty members during the summer. Soon after their formation the group applied to Kiwanis International to be chartered as an official club. The charter was granted on September 21st 1921. The charter was delivered to Bloomington on November 14, 1921 by the sponsoring Kiwanis Club of Springfield.

In 1928 the Bloomington Kiwanis Club absorbed the Bloomington Lions Club adding members and prestige as these two clubs of community leaders became one.

In 1932, The Kiwanis club, in association with the Bloomington Pantagraph developed a Community Gardens project in which several acres of land south of town were loaned by land owners to plant vegetable gardens to help feed a community suffering from the deprivations of the Great Depression. The project provided work for unemployed men in the community and also provided a bounteous harvest to feed the hungry.

In 1931, the Bloomington Pantagraph, under the leadership of Kiwanian Reverend Frank Breen began sponsoring Camp Limberlost, a camp for area children. By 1932 Kiwanians were increasingly involved in the project and in 1934 Kiwanis became co-sponsor. In 1940 The Bloomington Kiwanis Club became the sole sponsor of the project. For more than 75 years this project has continued. It is now the longest running continuous project in all of Kiwanis International. It is also the oldest residential camp in Illinois. Thousands of third and fourth grade children have been involved in this camping experience over the years. Children, grandchildren and recently great grand children of campers have attended the camp.