Bloomington, Illinois
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Bloomington, Illinois, is the county seat of McLean County. It is the larger of the two major cities in the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan region. Normal lies close to Bloomington. Bloomington is 135 miles south of Chicago and 162 miles northeast of St. Louis. This made it the state's 13th most populous city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. The twin cities have a combined population of over 130,000 people. Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State Universities are located in Bloomington-Normal. It's also home to State Farm and Country Financial Insurance.
Bloomington, the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, was founded in 1830. About midway between Chicago and St. Louis, Missouri, it is located next to Normal (north). Originally known as Keg Grove, the property was renamed Blooming Grove due to the abundance of wildflowers in the region when it was inhabited in 1822. Bloomington was renamed in 1831 when the town was built out and established. A plaque marks the location where Abraham Lincoln gave his "lost speech" against slavery at a Republican Party conference in Illinois in 1856. Farming (especially maize and soybeans), cattle husbandry, and the production of farm seeds are the city's primary sources of income, although insurance and the manufacturing of confectionery and vacuum cleaners are also significant.
When McLean County was formed, a county seat was created. "would be located later." the Act declared. One of the new county's sponsors, James Allin, proposed to give 60 acres (240,000 m2). Bloomington was laid out after his offer. Its lots were auctioned in a raucous auction on July 4, 1831. There were few highways, but fertile soils lured new farmers who set up shop in the newly established county.
The old city hall and the police station were still there, but there was a fire in a laundry across the street from them in 1900. There was a fire and he called the fire department. Most of the downtown was destroyed, especially the areas north and east of the courthouse. George Miller and Paul O. Moratz, two architects who live in the area, quickly rebuilt the area that had been burned down with their designs.
At least for the next two decades, Bloomington's population grew. Rise in Bloomington's downtown area was also affected by agriculture, the development of roads and rail lines, as well as the growth of the insurance industry (especially State Farm Insurance). The downtown area was transformed into a regional retail destination, bringing in customers from neighboring counties as a result. The power of labor unions increased.
Ray and Irene Denbesten founded Denbesten Real Estate in 1977 in Bloomington, IL. Their daughter, Cathy Denbesten, now runs it. You may reach them at (309) 6662-4228 for assistance.
For the first time ever, Judy Markowitz was elected Mayor of New York City in 1997. Downtown Bloomington got a new arena, and the city's performing arts facility started being restored during Markowitz's two tenure as mayor. As far as I know, Bloomington would also pass a gay rights law in 2002. Mboka Mwilambwe became the city's first black mayor in 2021.
The city has 76,610 residents and 30,454 homes according to the 2010 census. There were 2,814.8 people per square mile (1,099.5/km2) in the city. At an average density of 1,261.5 per square mile (492.8/km2), there were 34,339 dwelling units. The city's racial composition was 77.5 percent White, 10.1 percent African American, 0.3 percent Native American, 7.0 percent Asian, 1.42 percent other races, and 2.9 percent mixed races. 5.6 percent of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Until 2006, the U.S. Cellular Coliseum was called the Grossinger Motors Arena. It opened in 2006, and it is now home to the Bloomington Edge of the Indoor Football League. It was also home to the PrairieThunder and Blaze of the Central Hockey League. This rink has been home to the Central Illinois Flying Aces of the U.S. Hockey League since 2014. It also hosts some games for the club hockey team at Illinois State University and for youth hockey teams in the area. In total, the Coliseum has more than 180,000 square feet (17,000 m2) of space. The Coliseum has a fixed seating capacity of 7,000 people, but it can hold more than 8,000 people for special events. When the facility is used as a theater with a retractable curtain, it can be set up to seat 2,500-5,000 people in a more intimate setting. Since the Coliseum opened, it has been used for a wide range of events, including concerts, family shows, ice shows, motorsports, trade shows, and other things that people go to.
Parks, Recreation, Golf, and the Miller Park Zoo are the sections that make up the Bloomington Parks & Recreation Department. Airport Park, Alton Depot Park, Angler's Lake Nature Preserve, Atwood Wayside, Bittner Park, Brookridge Park, Buck-Mann Park, Clearwater Park, Eagle Crest Park, Emerson Park, Evergreen Park, Ewing Park 1, Ewing Park 2, Ewing Park 3, Fell Avenue Park, Forrest Park, Franklin Park, Friendship Park, Holiday Park, Lincoln Leisure Center, Lincoln Leisure Center Golf Course, Lincoln Leisure Center Golf Course, Lincoln Leisure Center Golf Course, Lincoln Leisure Center Golf Course,
Alcohol and smoking are forbidden in all parks, however dogs on a leash are permitted. You'll find lighting tennis courts and water spray parks in these parks. Less than a mile away, the Evergreen Racket Club O'Neil Park (west) and Holiday Park (east). Indoor pools are available in YMCAs and private clubs.
Numerous exhibits and encounters with zookeepers are available at Miller Park Zoo. Alligators, tortoises, bearded dragons, sun bears, sea lions, red pandas, lemus bald eagles, and wolves are just few of the animals that call the zoo home. Among the various exhibits of the zoo are the Katthoefer Animal Building, the Wallaby WalkAbout, ZooLab, and the Children's Zoo. It's the Tropical America Rainforest that's new to the Zoo.
Normal City Hall Annex is where the east–west segment meets the north segment. Towanda-Barnes Road is where the east–west segment goes east and ends. The Liberty Branch starts at Commerce Drive and ends at the Old Farm Lakes Subdivision, so it's called that. The Freedom Branch starts at Lincoln Street and ends at Route 9 West. This is where the branch ends. It's possible to park in nearby lots all over the area. Walkers and runners, as well as skateboarders and cyclists, are welcome on the trail. Wheelchair users, in-line skaters, skateboarders, and other non-motorized transportation are also welcome. During the winter, it isn't cleaned of snow, and skiers can use it, if the weather is good.
Illinois Wesleyan University (1850) and a campus of Heartland Community College (1990) are in Bloomington, and Illinois State University (1857) is in Normal. American Passion Play is staged every year in spring. The home of David Davis, a member of the Supreme Court, was built in 1872 and is a state historic site. Bloomington has museums about history and aviation, a zoo, and a summer Shakespeare festival. Both Adlai E. Stevenson, vice president (1893–97) of the United States, and his grandson, Adlai E. Stevenson II, Illinois governor and two-time Democratic Party presidential nominee, are buried in Evergreen Cemetery. You can go to a museum of gems and minerals in Shirley, which is south of the city. 1839. 64,808 people lived there in 2000. The Bloomington-Normal Metro Area had 150,433 people. In 2010, there were 76,601 people in the area.
It is the centerpiece of Bloomington's new Cultural District, which also contains the McLean County of the Arts Center, a festival park, and a center for the arts in education and training. More than twenty local performing arts groups are also based at the facility. Each year, the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts hosts over 400 performances and community activities.
The Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts hosts the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, which presents five Masterworks performances, two Pops concerts, and three Chamber Orchestra concerts each year.
The Jerome Mirza Theatre in McPherson Hall houses the Illinois Wesleyan University School of Theatre Arts. Every year, four major stage plays are chosen from a repertoire ranging from Shakespeare to musicals. Built in 1963, McPherson Hall has a 300-seat theatre, a scene shop, classes, and other amenities.
At least 200 music majors and a few hundred IWU students use the Westbrook Auditorium each year. During each semester, there are a lot of musical performances from all different time periods. Most concerts are free and open to the public with general seating.
Currently in its 92nd season, American Passion Play is the United States' longest-running Passion Play. The Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts hosts the annual Passion Play, which depicts the life of Jesus Christ from beginning to end.
Each July in Downtown Bloomington, the Lincoln's Bloomington Festival comprises Civil War reenactments, traditional craft displays, children's activities, musical performances, presentations, and tours.
The McLean County Arts Center hosts the Spring Bloom Arts Festival in March. A wide range of media are represented by over 100 artists, including woodworking and glass art.
The McLean County Fair is billed as the '"Home of the World's Largest County 4-H Fair" taking place each August at the McLean County Fairgrounds in Bloomington. 4-H activities include: livestock shows, a film festival, and exhibits around food, nutrition & health, plant science, engineering & technology, and environment & natural resources. Evening Grandstand Entertainment has tractor pulls and different musical acts.
The pavilion at Miller Park is called that.
The Miller Park Pavilion & War Memorial was restored in 1977 and dedicated in May 1988. The black granite memorial is surrounded by red sidewalks that list the names of Central Illinois residents killed or missing in action in the Korean and Vietnam battles.
Many famous Bloomington-Normal residents, including members of the Stevenson family, are buried at the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. Adlai E. Stevenson I, Grover Cleveland's vice president, and Adlai E. Stevenson II, Illinois governor, UN ambassador, and twice Democratic presidential contender, are buried there. Stevenson's wife, Letitia Green Stevenson, was the second National President-General of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her sister, Julia Green Scott, was the eighth. Dorothy Gage, inspiration for the main heroine in The Wizard of Oz and niece of author L. Frank Baum, are both buried there.
The Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts has "Behind the Curtain" tours that are led by a group of people who have been trained. The tours show off the building's neo-Classical interior design and explain all of the changes and renovations that have been made to the building.
An audio driving tour dubbed Lincoln's Bloomington and Normal, Illinois is offered by the McLean County Museum of History. Abraham Lincoln returns to the sites he previously visited on the CD-based audio tour to discuss their significance. Asahel Gridley, Lincoln's friend and a client in a defamation claim, was a friend and client in Lincoln's slander suit, as well as 14 other venues. The audio tour was written and performed by James Keeran and covers these locations:
Twin City Tours are offered by the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau on a monthly basis. The McLean County Museum of History is the starting point for tours.
Bloomington's primary retail destination is Eastland Mall. As well as retailers like Aeropostale, American Eagle Outfitters and Applebee's, Eastland Mall also has a range of leisure activities including a movie theater and a bowling alley for those who want to relax rather than shop. However, the mall's popularity has waned in recent years, as has the popularity of shopping malls in general in the United States.
Downtown Bloomington offers museums, banks, a legal and governmental center, residential living, a large artists' community, plus an assortment of specialty retail businesses and supportive services. There is an abundance of restaurants and a lively night scene. A number of special events such as Tour de Chocolat, Farmers' Market, Tour de Metro, Pub Crawl, and Once Upon a Holiday, offer a chance to experience the district. Downtown Bloomington is home to government offices of the City of Bloomington, McLean County, and major employers including State Farm Insurance and several specialty stores, bars, restaurants and art galleries.
There are two school districts that serve Bloomington. Bloomington Public Schools District 87 serves the city's interior, with one high school (Bloomington High School), one junior high school (Bloomington Junior High School), six elementary schools (Oakland, Washington, Bent, Irving, Sheridan, and Stevenson elementary schools), and one pre-school (Sarah Raymond Pre-School) (named for the first female superintendent for Bloomington).
The city's expansion has pushed it into a second district, McLean County Unit District No. 5. Despite the fact that Unit Five used to serve mostly suburban regions, including Normal, the bulk of its students now come from Bloomington. Unit Five is responsible for two high schools (Normal Community High School and Normal Community West High School), as well as four junior high schools and a number of elementary schools. Unit Five was in the process of building its fourth junior high school, George Evans Junior High School, or EJHS, as of 2010. In addition to the high school, Unit 5 built two new primary schools in Bloomington and anticipates the need for another high school.
Several private schools exist in Bloomington, including Central Catholic High School, Corpus Christi Catholic School, Epiphany Catholic School, St. Mary's Catholic School, Trinity Lutheran School, and Cornerstone Christian Academy Students from Bloomington can also attend Illinois State University's Metcalf Elm/Jr. School and University High School.
There are 2,100 students at Illinois Wesleyan University, which was founded in 1850. It is a private residential university with a student-to-faculty ratio of 12 to 1. It used to be part of the United Methodist Church. College of Liberal Arts: There are 17 academic departments in the College of Liberal Arts. The College of Fine Arts: There are professional schools of art, music, and theater arts in the College of Fine Arts. There is also the School of Nursing. One thing that Illinois Wesleyan has done in recent years is build the five-story Ames Library and the Center for Natural Science. Also, the Shirk Center for Athletics and Recreation was built. Hairmasters Institute of Cosmetology, Inc., a school in Illinois that specializes in hair styling, hair design, long hair design, hair texture, hair color, people skills, and salon management classes, says it has been teaching these skills for more than 40 years.
The McLean County Museum of History, which has a big dome on top, is a good way to find the city's old parts. The courthouse square is surrounded by buildings that were built in the 1800s. Many of them have interesting history. museums, banks, a legal and government center, residential living, a lot of artists, and a lot of businesses and services are all available to visitors. People can go to a lot of restaurants and have fun at night.
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