Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington (
IPA: ) is a city in south central
Indiana. Located about 50 miles southwest of
Indianapolis, it is the county seat of
Monroe County. As of the
2000 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 69,291. Bloomington is the 7th largest city in Indiana.
Bloomington is the home of Indiana University's
main campus (established in 1820) attended by about 40,000 students and the largest and original campus of the
Indiana University system. It is also the home of the
Kinsey Institute.
Bloomington's Indiana University campus is regarded as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the U.S. In 1991, Thomas Gaines, a landscape artist, published a book,
The Campus As a Work of Art, and in it he named the Bloomington campus one of the five most beautiful campuses in America. Most of the campus buildings are built of
Indiana limestone. Due to the presence of the university, Bloomington is more diverse demographically than is typical for the state.
Bloomington has been named a
Tree City for more than 20 years. The city was the site of the
Academy Award-winning movie
Breaking Away, featuring the annual IU bicycle race
Little 500.
Bloomington has
sister-city relationships with
Posoltega, Nicaragua and
Santa Clara, Cuba.
 |
A Fourth of July parade passes the Monroe County courthouse in Bloomington, Indiana |
Bloomington is located at (39.162147, -86.529045).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 51.6
km² (19.9
mi²). 51.1 km² (19.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.5 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (1.00%) is water.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 69,291 people, 26,468 households, and 10,454 families residing in the city. The
population density was 1,356.0/km² (3,511.1/mi²). There were 28,400 housing units at an average density of 555.8/km² (1,439.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.03%
White, 4.24%
African American, 0.29%
Native American, 5.26%
Asian, 0.07%
Pacific Islander, 1.10% from
other races, 2.01% from two or more races, and
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 2.49% of the population.
Of the households 17.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.2% were
married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 60.5% were non-families. 39.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.76.
In the city the population was spread out with 12.7% under the age of 18, 42.3% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 12.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,377, and the median income for a family was $50,054. Males had a median income of $32,470 compared to $26,100 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $16,481. About 10.3% of families and 29.6% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 17.3% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over. However, traditional measures of poverty can be highly misleading when applied to communities with a large proportion of students, such as Bloomington.
The
Democratic Party recently has dominated city politics and has retained the mayor's office since 1972.
Bloomington was one of the first cities in the state to ban smoking in all public and private businesses, including private clubs. It was also the first city in the state to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, it lagged behind
Marion County in protecting gender identity.
Monroe County politics show a wider variety of political diversity than do city politics.
Note: This list does not include students attending Indiana University. Please see Indiana University Bloomington for famous alumni.*
David Lee Roth, former lead singer,
Van Halen*
Joshua Bell, violinist
*
Hobie Billingsley, diving champion and coach
*
Myles Brand, president of the NCAA and Indiana University
*
Hoagy Carmichael, American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader
*
John Merle Coulter, president of Indiana University
*
Malcolm Dalglish, hammered dulcimer player, composer, and choral director
*
John Darnielle, singer-songwriter
*
Mike Davis, basketball coach
*
Mick Foley, a professional wrestler
*
Rex Grossman, football player
*
Bobby Helms, writer and singer of
Jingle Bell Rock*
Douglas R. Hofstadter, computer scientist
*
Bobby Knight, hall of fame basketball coach
*
Kathryn Janeway, a fictional character within the
Star Trek Universe
*
Jared Jeffries, basketball player,
Washington Wizards*
David Starr Jordan, president of Indiana University
*
Alfred Kinsey, founder of
Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction*
Bill Mallory, football coach
*
Scott May, basketball player, 1976
NCAA National Basketball Player of the Year
*
Sean May, basketball player,
Charlotte Bobcats*
Branch McCracken, basketball coach
*
John Mellencamp, singer, songwriter
*
Alfred Ryors, president of Indiana University
*
Jeff Sagarin, statistician for sports, contributor to
USA Today*
Kelvin Sampson, basketball coach
*
János Starker, cellist
*
John Strohm, indie rock singer, guitarist, and lawyer
*
Herman B Wells, president of Indiana University
*
Sam Wyche, football coach
*
Jerry Yeagley, hall of fame soccer coach
*
Indiana University Bloomington*
Assembly Hall (Bloomington) - Five
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship banners on display.
*
Brown County, Indiana*
Brown County State Park*
Hoosier National Forest*
Lake Lemon*
Lake Monroe*
McCormick's Creek State Park*
Morgan-Monroe State Forest*
Yellowwood State Forest*
Monroe County Airport*
Upland Brewing Company - Currently the largest
microbrewery in the state of Indiana.
*
The Bloomington Playwrights Project - produces only new plays by American playwrights
*
Bloomington City Government*
Bloomingpedia - Bloomington's own
City Wiki (released July 2005)
*
Breakaway Bloomington Indiana History Section *
Herald Times (Local paper)
*
Bloomington Real Estate Information*
Pictures*
Bloomington Daily Photo
