BLOOMINGTON, a city of Indiana, U.S.A., 53m. south west of Indianapolis; the county seat of Monroe county. It is served by the Monon route and the Illinois Central railway. The population in 1920 (95% native white) was 11,595, and it was 18,227 in 1930 by Federal census. There are limestone quarries in the vicinity, and the city has considerable manufactures of furni ture, baskets, and hampers, gloves, wax products and other corn modities, amounting in value in 1925 to $10,962,456.
Bloomington was settled about 1818. It is the seat of Indiana university, which had an enrolment of 5,742 students in 1926-27, and a budget appropriation from the legislature of $1,610,000 for the year 1927-28. Its history goes back to the State seminary, established in 1820 on land granted by Congress for the purpose in 1816. The name was changed to Indiana college in 1828, and to Indiana university in 1838, to correspond with the develop ment in scope. Since 1867 women have been admitted to all de partments. The school of medicine, with its training school for nurses and its three teaching hospitals, and the school of dentistry, are in Indianapolis. The extension division maintains centres in Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, and Gary. The biological station of the university is on Winona lake, in the northern part of the state.