BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA

'Bloomington' is a city in south central Indiana. Located about 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis, it is the seat of Monroe County. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Bloomington had a total population of 69,291, making it the 7^th largest city in Indiana.
Bloomington is the home of Indiana University's flagship campus (established in 1820), attended by approximately 40,000 students, the original and largest campus of the Indiana University system. It is also the home of the Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington, the Kinsey Institute, and The Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute.
Bloomington's Indiana University campus is regarded as one of the most beautiful in the nation. In 1991, Thomas Gaines, a landscape artist, published a book, ''The Campus As a Work of Art'', in which 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 Indiana University's annual bicycle race Little 500.
Bloomington has sister-city relationships with Posoltega, Nicaragua and Santa Clara, Cuba.

Contents

Geography

Climate

Demographics

Politics

Famous residents

Nearby points of interest

External links

Geography

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.
Bloomington is a karst-area situated in the rolling hills of southern Indiana. The relatively varied topography of the city provides a sharp contrast to the flatter terrain more typical of other portions of Indiana.

Climate

Bloomington receives ample rainfall; annual precipitation averages 44.2 inches, with 19 inches of snow. January temperatures average 30.4 degrees, with July temperatures averaging 76.2 degrees. Relative humidity is generally high throughout the year.

Demographics

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.

Politics

The Democratic Party recently has dominated city politics and has retained the mayor's office since 1972.
Bloomington was the first city 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, including a recent law adding "gender identity" to the list of protected human rights.

Famous residents

Note: This list does not include students attending Indiana University. Please see Indiana University (Bloomington) for famous alumni.

★ Mark Kruzan, mayor

★ Arija Bareikis, actress

★ Joshua Bell, violinist

★ Hobie Billingsley, diving champion and coach

★ Diane Bish, Famed organist and international television personality of the PBS show "Joy of Music." American concert and recording artist, composer and conductor

★ Myles Brand, president of the NCAA and former president of Indiana University

★ Meg Cabot, author of ''The Princess Diaries''

★ Hoagy Carmichael, American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader

★ Dana Carpender, American author and columnist

★ William Cook (entrepreneur), billionaire, founder of Cook Inc.

★ James Counsilman, US Olympic Swimming Coach

★ John Merle Coulter, former president of Indiana University

★ Malcolm Dalglish, hammered dulcimer player, composer, and choral director

★ John Darnielle, singer-songwriter

★ Kueth Duany, college basketball player at Syracuse University

★ Mick Foley, a professional wrestler and author — born in Bloomington, but moved to Long Island as an infant

★ Karen Joy Fowler, a Nebula award-winning author

★ Rex Grossman, football player, Chicago Bears

★ Bobby Helms, writer and singer of ''Jingle Bell Rock''

★ Douglas R. Hofstadter, cognitive scientist

★ Brett Horvath, Bar Supervisor for Indiana Memorial Union and local celebrity

★ Elliot Huck, state champion speller

★ Bobby Knight, hall of fame basketball coach

★ Kathryn Janeway, a fictional character within the Star Trek universe

★ Chet Jastremski, olympic swimmer

★ Jared Jeffries, basketball player, New York Knicks

★ David Starr Jordan, former president of Indiana University and Stanford University

★ Kraig Kinser, an ARCA driver

★ Steve Kinser, race car driver

★ Alfred Kinsey, founder of Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction

★ David Lander, actor

★ Brad Leftwich, old-time musician

★ Paul Mahern, singer of the 1980s punk rock group Zero Boys

★ 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

★ Denny Miller, actor

★ Carrie Newcomer, singer-songwriter

★ Angelo Pizzo, producer and writer for ''Rudy'' and ''Hoosiers''.

★ Erik Pearson, baseball player for the New York Yankees. Played 14 seasons had 10 all-star appearances and 9 Cy Young Awards.

★ Kevin Pope, cartoonist, MAD Magazine, ''Melvin and Jenkins''

★ David Lee Roth, lead singer of band Van Halen

★ Alfred Ryors, former president of Indiana University

★ Jeff Sagarin, statistician for sports, contributor to USA Today

★ Kelvin Sampson, basketball coach

★ Frithjof Schuon, philosopher, metaphysician

★ Jan Shipps, leading historian of Mormonism

★ János Starker, cellist

★ John Strohm, indie rock singer, guitarist, and lawyer

★ Sarkes Tarzian, Armenian-born U.S. engineer, inventor and broadcaster (1900-October 1987)

★ Jeri Taylor, producer for the Star Trek television series

★ Herman B Wells, president of Indiana University

★ Sam Wyche, football coach

★ Jerry Yeagley, hall of fame soccer coach

★ Kent Benson,Basketball player, 1976 all-America team and all-Big Ten team

Nearby points of interest

★ 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

★ Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division - Naval Base

★ Hickory Ridge Fire Tower

External links

★ Bloomington City Government

★ Bloomington and the Environment

★ Bloomingpedia - Bloomington's own City Wiki (released July 2005)

★ Breakaway Bloomington Indiana History Section

★ Bloomington Indiana Convention and Visitors Bureau (Tourism Information)

★ Herald Times (Local paper)

★ MCCSC - Monroe County Community School Corporation

★ Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporation

★ BloomingtonOnline.NET