Adlai Ewing Stevenson was elected to serve on the Board of Education in 1878. Just fifteen years later, Stevenson was elected to serve as Vice President of the United States (1893 to 1897) under President Grover Cleveland.
Stevenson was born in Christian Co., Ky. He practiced law at Bloomington, Ill., and was twice (1874, 1878) elected to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat. He was First Assistant Postmaster General during Grover Cleveland's first term (1885–89) and Vice President during his second. In 1900, Stevenson again ran for Vice President on the Democratic ticket, this time with William Jennings Bryan. After losing this election he later ran (1908) for governor of Illinois but was defeated. He was the grandfather of former Illinois Governor, Adlai Stevenson and former actor McLean Stevenson (M*A*S*H), both of whom attended Bloomington Public Schools.
