NORMAL, ILLINOIS

'Normal' is an incorporated town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. It had a population of 45,386 as of the 2000 census. The smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area in area and population, its population had risen to 50,519 by 2005.^[1] Normal is the southern terminus of Interstate 39.
Originally known as North Bloomington, the town was incorporated as Normal in
February of 1865^[2]. The name was taken from Illinois State Normal University, a teacher-training institution located there. The school has since been renamed Illinois State University after becoming a general four year university. Normal is adjacent to Bloomington, Illinois, and when mentioned together they are known as the "Twin Cities," "Bloomington-Normal," or simply "B-N." The current mayor of Normal is Chris Koos.
The main campus of Heartland Community College, a two-year, fully accredited institution, and a satellite campus of Lincoln College, which offers associate degrees as well as four-year programs, are both located in Normal.
Uptown Normal (formerly Downtown Normal) is currently being revitalized to attract new businesses, and it was recently made the home of the new Children's Discovery Museum. The district is also home to the historic and non-profit Normal Theater, a restored Art Deco theater owned by the Town of Normal that runs classic and independent films. In 2007, the town council agreed to rename Downtown Normal to "Uptown Normal."
A large percentage of residents of Normal are employed by Illinois State University, State Farm Insurance (Corporate Headquarters in Bloomington), COUNTRY Insurance & Financial Services (Corporate Headquarters in Bloomington) , and the Mitsubishi Motors North America manufacturing facility, which manufactures the Eclipse, Eclipse Spyder, Endeavor, and Galant.

Contents

Geography

Schools

Demographics

Notable Natives

Media

FM radio

AM radio

Analog television

Digital television (DTV)

Print

Trivia

Points of interest

Sports teams

References

External links

Geography

Normal is located near (40.512189, -88.988701).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 35.4 km² (13.7 mi²), 35.3 km² (13.6 mi²) in land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) (0.44%) in water.

Schools

The Town of Normal is in the McLean County Unit District No 5 School District.[1]

★ Normal Community High School (NCHS)

★ Normal Community West High School (NCWHS)

★ Kingsley Junior High School (KJHS)

★ Parkside Junior High School (PJHS)

★ Chiddix Junior High School (CJHS)

★ Parkside Elementary

★ Oakdale Elementary

★ Fairview Elementary

★ Grove Elementary

★ Glenn Elementary

★ Colene Hoose Elementary

★ Prairieland Elementary

★ Sugar Creek Elementary

★ Brigham Elementary

★ Fox Creek Elementary

★ Northpoint Elementary

★ Pepper Ridge Elementary

★ Towanda Elementary

★ Carlock Elementary

★ Hudson Elementary
There are also two schools in Normal that are operated by Illinois State University. They are:

★ University High School

★ Thomas Metcalf Elementary

Demographics

The census of 2000 counted 45,386 people, 15,157 households, and 8,184 families as town residents. The population density was 1,286.6/km² (3,332.6/mi²). There were 15,683 housing units, with an average density of 444.6/km² (1,151.6/mi²). The town was 87.57% White, 7.71% African American, 0.15% Native American, 2.21% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.93% from other races, and 1.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.56% of the population.
There were 15,157 households, 27.3% of which had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.0% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.96.
In the town the population was spread out with 17.5% under the age of 18, 38.1% from 18 to 24, 23.1% from 25 to 44, 13.7% from 45 to 64, and 7.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.5 males. The unusual age and sex distributions are due in large part to the presence of Illinois State University. A significant number of students at Illinois State University reside in Normal, and the institution has large programs in several female-dominated academic fields, such as education and nursing.
The median income for a household in the town was $40,379, and the median income for a family was $60,644. Males had a median income of $41,323 versus $27,486 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,775. About 5.6% of families and 19.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.4% of those under age 18 and 3.9% 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 Normal.

Notable Natives

★ McLean Stevenson, actor, born in Normal

★ Awadagin Pratt, musician, raised in Normal

★ Ogonna Nnamani, member of the US Olympic volleyball team, born in Normal

★ Andrew Bacevich, historian and author, born in Normal

★ Andrew Osenga, musician and songwriter

Media

FM radio

★ 88.1 WESN, Illinois Wesleyan University Student Radio

★ 89.1 WGLT, Blues & Jazz

★ 90.9 WILL, Classical music (RDS) (Urbana-Champaign)

★ 91.5 WCIC, Christian AC (RDS)

★ 92.9 WRPW "Power 92.9", CHR/Rhythmic (RDS) (Peoria)

★ 93.3 WPBG "93.3 The Drive", Classic Hits (RDS - Artist/Title) (Peoria)

★ 93.7 WTRX, Oldies (RDS)

★ 95.5 WGLO, Classic Rock (Peoria)

★ 96.7 WIHN "96.7 I-Rock", Active Rock (RDS)

★ 97.9 WBBE "97.9 Bob FM", Adult Hits (RDS)

★ 98.9 W255AI (Translates 91.5 WCIC), Christian AC (RDS)

★ 99.5 WDQZ "99.5 The Eagle", Classic Rock (RDS)

★ 100.1 W261BK (Translates 88.5 WBNH), Religious Music

★ 100.7 WVMG "Magic 100.7", Soft Adult Contemporary (RDS)

★ 101.5 WBNQ, CHR/Pop (RDS - Artist/Title)

★ 103.3 WEWT "Truth 103", Christian CHR (RDS)

★ 104.1 WBWN "B 104", Country (RDS - Artist/Title)

★ 105.7 WIXO "105.7 The X Rocks", Active Rock (RDS - Artist/Title) (Peoria)

★ 106.1 WZND Illinois State University Student Radio

★ 107.7 WYST "Star 107.7", Adult Contemporary (RDS)

AM radio

★ 1230 WJBC, News/Talk

Analog television

★ 19 WHOI, ABC (Peoria)

★ 25 WEEK-TV "News 25", NBC (Peoria)

★ 31 WMBD-TV "Newschannel 31", CBS (Peoria)

★ 43 WYZZ-TV "Fox 43", Fox

★ 47 WTVP, PBS (Peoria)

★ 51 W51CT, Trinity Broadcasting Network

★ 59 WAOE "My59", MyNetworkTV (Peoria)

Digital television (DTV)

★ 28 WYZZ-DT (43.1 - High Definition) "Fox 43", Fox

★ 40 WHOI-DT (19.1 - High Definition), ABC

★ 40 WHOI-DT (19.2 - Standard Definition), The CW Television Network

★ 46 WTVP-DT (47.1 - Standard Definition), PBS

★ 46 WTVP-DT (47.2 - High Definition), PBS HDTV

★ 46 WTVP-DT (47.3 - Standard Defnition), Create

★ 56 WEEK-DT (25.1 - High Definition) "News 25", NBC

★ 56 WEEK-DT (25.2 - Standard Definition), NBC Weather Plus

Print

★ The Pantagraph, local daily newspaper

Trivia

★ The original Steak and Shake was opened in Normal in 1934. [2]

★ Mitsubishi cars only North American manufacturing facility is located in Normal. [3]

★ The mayor of Normal will pay US$50 to anyone who can tell him a joke about his town he hasn't heard before. [4]

★ '' by Karen Hughes takes its name from the town.

Points of interest

★ Camelback Bridge

★ Constitution Trail

★ Fell Arboretum

★ Heartland Community College

★ Illinois State University

★ Normal Theater

★ Bloomington-Normal (Amtrak station)

★ Redbird Arena

Sports teams

★ Bloomington Extreme Arena league football @ The U.S. Cellular coliseum

★ Illinois State University Redbirds

★ Prairie Thunder Local Hockey Team @ The U.S. Cellular coliseum

References

1. http://www.normal.org/About/Profile.asp
2. History of Normal

External links

★ The Official Website of Normal, Illinois