Bloomington, Indiana, United States

🇺🇸 Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana. According to the Monroe County History Center, Bloomington is known as the "Gateway to Scenic Southern Indiana". The city was established in 1818 by a group of settlers from Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Virginia who were so impressed with "a haven of blooms" that they called it Bloomington.

Bloomington is the home to Indiana University Bloomington. Established in 1820, IU Bloomington has 45,328 students, as of September 2021, and is the original and largest campus of Indiana University. Most of the campus buildings are built of Indiana limestone.

Bloomington has been designated a Tree City for 32 years, as of 2015. The city was also the location of the Academy Award–winning 1979 movie Breaking Away, featuring a re-enactment of Indiana University's annual Little 500 bicycle race. Monroe County's famous limestone quarries are also featured in the movie.

History The area in which Bloomington is situated was previously inhabited by the Delaware, Potawatomi, Miami, and Eel River Miami.

Bloomington was platted in 1818. A post office has been in operation at Bloomington since 1825. Bloomington was incorporated in 1827.

The current city logo was adopted on January 6, 1986, by the Bloomington Common Council. It was a combination of peony and trout lily, inspired by both quilt patterns used by regional folk artists in 19th century and the shape of Downtown Square.

The Elias Abel House, Blair-Dunning House, Bloomington City Hall, Bloomington West Side Historic District, Cantol Wax Company Building, Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, Cochran-Helton-Lindley House, Courthouse Square Historic District, Hinkle-Garton Farmstead, Home Laundry Company, Illinois Central Railroad Freight Depot, Johnson's Creamery, Legg House, Millen House, Millen-Chase-McCalla House, Monroe Carnegie Library, Monroe County Courthouse, Morgan House, J.L. Nichols House and Studio, North Washington Street Historic District, The Old Crescent, Princess Theatre, Prospect Hill Historic District, Second Baptist Church, Seminary Square Park, Steele Dunning Historic District, University Courts Historic District, Vinegar Hill Historic District, Wicks Building, Woolery Stone Company, and Andrew Wylie House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Many African Americans moved to Bloomington from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Tennesseee and Kentucky during the 1860s through the 1880s. Bloomington also attracted Scotch Irish Presbyterians from South Carolina.

Geography According to the 2010 census, Bloomington has a total area of 23.359 square miles (60.50 km²), of which 23.16 square miles (59.98 km²) (or 99.15%) is land and 0.199 square miles (0.52 km²) (or 0.85%) is water.

Economy The Bloomington and Monroe County region is home to major employers representing a diverse collection of fields, including education, the life sciences, advanced manufacturing and technology.

Bloomington is a regional economic centre anchored by Indiana University and home to a diverse business community involved in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, technology, health care, and the arts. Bloomington's concentration of employment in the life sciences is six times greater than the U.S. average, and employment in the technology sector has grown by over 80 percent in recent years. Companies based in Bloomington include Cook Group, Author Solutions, OneWorld Enterprises, BloomingFoods and Singota Solutions.

Bloomington has been recognised by Inc. Magazine as one of "America's Best Cities for Doing Business" and as one of Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 50 "Hottest Small Cities for Entrepreneurs". Additionally, Forbes Magazine ranked Bloomington No. 3 in its "Best Places for Business Careers" feature.

Education: Indiana University Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest campus.

Indiana University is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". It has numerous schools and programs, including: the Jacobs School of Music; the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering; the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs; the Kelley School of Business; the School of Public Health; the School of Nursing; the School of Optometry; the Maurer School of Law; the School of Education; the Media School; and the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. The university is home to an extensive student life program, with more than 750 student organizations on campus and with around 17 percent of undergraduates joining the Greek system. Indiana athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are known as the Indiana Hoosiers. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference. Since it does not have a mascot, all teams are known simply as "Hoosiers".

Indiana's faculty, staff, and alumni include nine Nobel laureates, 19 Rhodes Scholars, 17 Marshall Scholars, and five MacArthur Fellows. In addition, students and alumni have won six Academy Awards, 49 Grammy Awards, 32 Emmy Awards, 20 Pulitzer Prizes, four Tony Awards, and 95 Olympic medals (51 gold, 21 silver, and 23 bronze).

Education: Ivy Tech Community College Ivy Tech Community College (Ivy Tech) is a public community college system in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the state's public community college system and it has more than 40 locations. It is also the state's largest public postsecondary institution and the nation's largest individual accredited statewide community college system serving nearly 100,000 students annually on campus and online and another 60,000+ dual credit students in high schools throughout Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Newspapers • The Herald-Times • Indiana Daily Student.

Magazines • Bloom Magazine.

Media: Television • WTIU is a PBS station owned by Indiana University along with its sister radio station WFIU an NPR station. • WTTV is licensed to Bloomington but is based out of Indianapolis as well as its sister station WXIN, which are both owned by Nexstar Media Group.

Bloomington also receives stations from Indianapolis and is part of the Indianapolis market. A five-channel public-access television station is housed in the Monroe County Public Library. The station, known as Community Access Television Services or CATS, was established in 1973 and serves as a "dedicated constitutional forum". In April 1995, Rox, a program produced at CATS (then Bloomington Community Access Television, or BCAT), became the first TV series distributed via the web, with an episode titled "Global Village Idiots".

Radio stations • W203BL 88.9 FM. Owned by and broadcasts Air 1 Radio Network, which is a Christian music radio station. • W241CD 96.1 FM also called Rock 96.1 The Quarry is a rock radio station that plays programming from Westwood One including "96 Rock" WFTK Cincinnati based morning hosts JD & Bridget. It's a sister station to WGCL and WTTS, which are also owned by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc. Tarzian was a prominent figure in town. • WBWB 96.7 FM, also called B97, is a Top 40 radio station and it's a sister station to WHCC. • WCLS 97.7 FM is the Local classic rock music station. • WCYI 104.1 FM is an ultra low powered religious FM radio station broadcast out of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. • WFHB 91.3 and 98.1 in Bloomington, 100.7 in Nashville and 106.3 in Ellettsville. It's the Local Community radio station. • WFIU 103.7 FM The NPR station in town. Owned by Indiana University. • WGCL WGCL AM 1370 and 98.7 FM. WGCL is the local news talk radio station and is a sister station to WTTS and Rock 96.1 The Quarry. • WHCC 105.1 FM, also called Hoosier Country 105, is a local country station which is also one of the flagship stations of Indiana Hoosiers Sports Network along with The Fan 1070 AM. Sister station to WBWB. • WIUX 99.1 FM, The local student radio station of Indiana University. It is a low powered station. • WMYJ 88.9 FM, also called MyJoy Radio, is a Southern Gospel radio station that is licensed to Oolitic, Indiana, and serves the Bloomington, Indiana area. • WOMB 89.9 FM, also called With Our Mother Blessed, is a Christian radio station licensed to Ellettsville, Indiana. • WTTS 92.3 FM is technically licensed to Trafalgar, Indiana. It transits to Bloomington and Indianapolis. It's an Adult Album Alternative station. Sister station to WGCL and Rock 96.1 The Quarry Owned by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc. • WVNI 95.1 and 107.7 FM is also called spirit 95, which is a Christian contemporary music station broadcasting from Nashville, Indiana.

Airports • Monroe County Airport (no scheduled commercial flights) • Indianapolis International Airport (nearest commercial airport, 50 miles (80 km) away)

Bicycling Bloomington is a gold-rated bicycle-friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists. There are several significant bike trails in and around the city, most notably the B-Line Trail which runs north to south for almost four miles through the core of Downtown Bloomington and south through Switchyard Park. An east to west version has also recently been completed along the 7th street corridor. Bloomington and Indiana University briefly ran a dockless bikeshare program called Pace, launched in June 2018. The program was cancelled after less than a year.

Highways • I-69 • SR 37 • SR 45 • SR 46 • SR 48 • SR 446.

Bloomington, for many years was one of the largest cities without an interstate or freeway. However, interstate access finally occurred in December 2015 when the Interstate 69 expansion between Evansville and Indianapolis was completed to Bloomington.

The upgrading of SR 37 from a 4 Lane Highway to Interstate standards for the next section of I-69 between Bloomington and Martinsville was originally scheduled for completion in August 2016. As of November 2018, the construction was substantially complete. The last section between Martinsville and Indianapolis is scheduled for completion in 2024.

State Road 45 (SR 45) and State Road 46 (SR 46) run through Bloomington together on a four-lane highway known as the "bypass".

State Road 48 (SR 48) starts as a four-lane highway on the city's west side before narrowing to two-lanes at Oard Rd outside the city limits.

Public transportation Local bus service is provided by Bloomington Transit.

Bus service to Indianapolis is provided by Miller Transportation bus lines, services to the Indianapolis International Airport is provided through shuttle services such as GO Express.