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McLean County, Illinois, is home to the city of Bloomington, which also serves as the county seat. Bloomington-Normal is the second-largest city in the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan region and is located next door to Normal. Bloomington is located 162 miles (261 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis and 135 miles (217 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. The city had a population of 78,680 in 2020, making it the 13th-largest city in Illinois and the fifth-largest city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area, according to the census. There are around 130,000 people living in the twin cities when they are combined with Normal. Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University are located in the Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, metro region. area. State Farm Insurance and Country Financial are also headquartered there.
All over the world, people came to trade and do business in the town's center, which is now called Downtown Bloomington. Abraham Lincoln, who was working as a lawyer in Springfield near the town, was one of them, too. A well-known Bloomington resident, Jesse W. Fell, came up with the idea for Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1854 and played a big role in getting Lincoln to run for President.
In 1977, Ray and Irene Denbesten established Denbesten Real Estate in Bloomington, Illinois. Their daughter, Cathy Denbesten, now runs the business. Call them right now at (309) 6662-4228 if you need assistance purchasing or selling a house.
As a whole, the City of Bloomington and McLean County are the fastest-growing metro area in Illinois. Over the years from 1990 to 2006, the population of the area has grown by 28%. There has been the most growth in Bloomington, where the U.S. Census Bureau did a special census of the city in February 2006, and found that the population had grown by 15.7% in less than six years.
The city had a median income of $58,662, and the median income for a family was $81,166. Compared to women, males had a median income of $56,597, while women had a median income of $38,191. There was $32,672 in per capita income for the city. 1.1% of the population was living below the poverty line, including 12.6% of people under 18 and 6.3% over 65.
A previous home of the Central Hockey League's PrairieThunder and Blaze, the Grossinger Motors Arena (originally the U.S. Cellular Coliseum) opened in 2006 near southwest downtown Bloomington. As of 2014, it also hosts games for the Illinois State University club hockey team and area youth hockey programs. The Coliseum has a fixed seating capacity of 7,000 but can accommodate over 8,000 for special events. The venue may also be used as a theatre with a retractable curtain, seating 2,500-5,000 people. Since its inception, the Coliseum has staged concerts, family performances, ice shows, racing, and tradeshows.
Citizens for a New Public Library establishes a Friends of the Library organization in 1976 in order to generate funds for a new public library via bond issues. This campaign began in 1977. The effort was a success, and the library reopened as "Bloomington Public Library." in 1977 at its present location at 205 East Olive Street. Public services offered by the library include a Bookmobile that distributes to nearby areas and was initially introduced in 1926 as the Library on Wheels.
Recreation, Golf, and the Miller Park Zoo are the four sections of the Bloomington Parks & Recreation Department. Atwood Wayside, Alton Depot Park, Angler's Lake Nature Preserve, Atwood Park, Bittner Park, Brookridge Park, Buck-Mann Park, Clearwater Park, Eagle Crest Park, Emerson Park, Evergreen Park, Ewing Park 1, Ewing Park 2, and Ewing Park 3 are just a few of the parks and golf courses that the Department of Public Works maintains on its 1,100-acre (4,5 km2) estate.
Miller Park Zoo has a lot of different animals and zookeepers to meet. There are a Sumatran tiger, an Amur leopard, sun bears, reindeer, sea lions, red pandas, lemus, bald eagles, pallas cats and red wolves in the zoo. Wallaby WalkAbout and ZooLab are two of the many things you can see at the zoo. There is also a Children's Zoo, Animals of Asia, and the Katthoefer Animal Building. New to the Zoo is the Tropical America Rainforest, which is a new area.
The Bloomington-Normal Constitution Track is a 24-mile (39-kilometer) running, walking, cycling, and rollerblading trail that runs across most of the city on dedicated right-of-way. When traversing the main streets, the route is separated from traffic by bridges and tunnels. From Kerrick Road in Normal to Grove Street in Bloomington, the path follows the abandoned Illinois Central Gulf (ICG) railroad north–south.
The Genevieve Green Gardens at Ewing Cultural Center were dedicated in 2007 as part of the Illinois State University's 150th anniversary celebration. Architects and landscape designers from all over the world worked together to make the gardens a reality, with help from the late Bruce V. Green, an avid gardener who gave $5.2 million to start the project. The gardens include a new public entry which directs visitors to a formal plaza, the entrance to the manor, grass patio, theater walk with a widened walkway and additional plantings.
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.
The McLean County Arts Center has been serving Central Illinois for almost 130 years. Each year, 12 art exhibits are organized, including the Holiday Treasurers exposition and auction, and the Amateur Competition and Exhibition, which has been held for almost 70 years. The Arts Center also hosts community events including the Uptown Normal Sugar Creek Arts Festival and the Bloomington Spring Bloom Arts Festival.
Located on Robinhood Lane, off Towanda Avenue, the Community Players Theater is one of the oldest volunteer-staffed community theaters in the area. The theater, which first opened its doors in 1923, just celebrated its 88th season.
The Illinois Wesleyan University School of Theatre Arts houses its talent within the Jerome Mirza Theatre at McPherson Hall. Four main stage plays are shown here each year, chosen from a playbill that includes everything from Shakespeare to musicals. McPherson Hall, which was finished in 1963, is named after IWU's 10th President, Harry W. McPherson. It has a 300-seat theater, a scene shop, classrooms, and other things.
Two main plays are produced each year by the Miller Park Outdoor Summer Theatre, an amateur theater company supported by the city of Bloomington, IN.
The 21st anniversary of USA Ballet, a world-renowned dance group, will be commemorated in 2011. At Illinois Wesleyan University's McPherson Theatre, USA Ballet performs three times a year and offers classes for children and outreach initiatives.
The American Passion Play is now in its 92nd season. It is the oldest Passion Play in the United States that has been going on for that long. Each spring, the Passion Play is put on at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. It's set in Palestine and shows the whole life of Christ, from his birth to his death.
A Civil War reenactment, traditional craft displays, children's activities, musical performances, presentations, and tours are all part of the Lincoln's Bloomington Festival each July in Downtown Bloomington.
The McLean County Arts Center hosts the Spring Bloom Arts Festival in March each year. It's an indoor fine art festival with over a hundred artists showing everything from carpentry and glass art to sculpture and paintings. There are also prints and pictures and jewelry made by hand on display.
The McLean County Fair, which takes place in August at the McLean County Fairgrounds in Bloomington, is touted as the "Home of the World's Largest County 4-H Fair". In addition to livestock exhibitions and a film festival, 4-H members may participate in exhibits on topics such as food, nutrition, and health, plant science, engineering, and natural resources management. Tractor pulls and different musical groups are part of the evening grandstand entertainment.
Ewing Manor was built by Bloomington architect Phil Hooten in the Channel-Norman style that was popular with the rich in the post-Victorian era. The surrounding gardens were created by noted landscape architect Jens Jensen, who also designed Springfield's Lincoln Memorial Gardens. The theatre on the grounds play host to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival each summer.
The McLean County Museum of History has been around since 1892, when the McLean County Historical Society was started. This is when the museum started. The museum is housed in the old McLean County Courthouse. It has permanent and rotating exhibits that show how Central Illinois has changed over time. This place is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The pavilion at Miller Park is called the Pavilion.
A Bell Sea Cobra, a Huey helicopter, and an F-14 Tomcat are among the restored aircraft on exhibit at the Prairie Aviation Museum.
The David Davis Mansion provides an insight into the life of Abraham Lincoln's friend and mentor, David Davis, who served as a United States Supreme Court Justice and was a crucial figure in Lincoln's presidential campaign in 1860. The Davis Mansion, erected in 1872, is a paragon of mid-Victorian design and taste, combining Italianate and Second Empire architectural aspects. His Bloomington house, which was passed down through three generations of the Davis family, had all of the contemporary amenities of the time: a coal-burning furnace, gas lights, and indoor plumbing. The David Davis Mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic landmark.
This tour is sponsored by the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Tours begin at the McLean County Museum.
In addition to the many museums and banks that can be found in the heart of Bloomington's downtown, the area also has a high concentration of artists' studios and galleries, as well as a variety of specialized shops and support services. There are a wide variety of eateries and a vibrant nightlife in the city. Tour de Chocolat, Farmer's Market, Tour de Metro, Pub Crawl and Once Upon a Holiday are just few of the unique events that provide visitors an opportunity to get to know the region. State Farm Insurance and other large companies may be found in downtown Bloomington, along with a variety of unique shops, pubs, and restaurants. The city and county governments of Bloomington and McLean County also have offices in the area.
Illinois Wesleyan Institution, established in 1850, is a private residential university with a student-faculty ratio of 12 to 1 and an enrolment of 2,100 students. It was once associated with the United Methodist Church. The University is divided into three colleges: the College of Liberal Arts, which has 17 academic departments; the College of Fine Arts, which has professional schools of art, music, and theatre arts; and the School of Nursing, which has professional schools of nursing. The five-story Ames Library, the Center for Natural Science, and the Shirk Center for Athletics and Recreation have all been added at Illinois Wesleyan in the last decade. Since 1970, Illinois Wesleyan University, an NCAA Division III school, has had more than 100 athletes named to the Academic All-American team. Hairmasters Institute of Cosmetology, Inc. teaches pivot point hair sculpture, hair design, long hair design, hair texture, hair color, people skills, and salon management.
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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