Bloomington, Indiana - Indiana University
May 12 &13, 2008
Return to Urbanindiana.com Home PageAll Photographs Copyright © 2008 - 2011 by Robert E Pence Bloomington, Indiana, population 69,000, is located about fifty miles south of Indianapolis in Indiana's limestone
country, and is seat of Monroe County and home to Indiana University. I drove there to see an exhibit of Thomas Hart
Benton's work at the Indiana University Art Museum, and spent a little more than a day walking around the town and
campus with my camera. Enjoy the photos. Looking west on Kirkwood Avenue from the Indiana University campus.
Nick's was a long-time tradition when I haunted these parts more than forty years ago. 
The 1906 Monroe County Courthouse was designed by Fort Wayne architects Mahurinand Mahurin. It's a beautiful building kept in beautiful condition; the copper dome recently
was restored.
Keep your city beautiful. Exterminate Taggers. 
Indiana Memorial Union 
The topography is limestone hills, and summer storms often dump heavy rains. When that happens, the Jordan Riverexpands rapidly to cover most of the meadow.
Downtown Bloomington seen from the IMU tower. 
IMU Hotel entrance. 
Beck Chapel and Dunn Cemetery. 
Auditorium with Indiana Murals by Thomas Hart Benton. 
Lilly Library 
Indiana University Art Museum. 
The Light Totem is lit with colored light-emitting diodes that change color andpattern in frequently-changing sequences. At night they illuminate the nearby
building wall.
Owen Hall was named for Richard Owen of the New Harmony Owen family. Hewas state geologist and made many contributions to Indiana and to his science.
I sweat my way through quite a few exams in Wylie Hall more than 40 years ago. 
Dunn's Woods is home to many beautiful, towering old Beech trees. 
Maxwell Hall, nicely Romanesque. 
Fire gutted the Student Building in 1990 during renovations; only the exterior walls were left standing. The building wasreconstructed to modern codes while appearing just as it originally did..
One of the young men in my dorm was an accomplished builder of radio-controlled model aircraft. He used to test-flythem on Woodlawn Field. Early one evening he put the finishing touches on a beautiful biplane with a wingspan of
about three feet. Eager to try it out, he carried it to the field accompanied by an enthusiastic entourage. The plane
took off and flew perfectly and he put it through its paces until it started to run out of fuel. In the failing light he didn't
see the power lines that ran above the far end of the field then, and coming in for a landing the plane suddenly
disintegrated in mid-air and rained down in a shower of pieces. He didn't cry, but I wanted to when I saw how
hard he was trying not to.
In 1962-1963 Monroe Hall and surrounding Brown, Green and Morgan Halls were pretty much the center of my life fornine months. They were brand-new then. Now, they look drab 'n shabby.
New construction; I don't know what it will be. 
Campus power plant. 
Sorry. No trains this time; the only ones I heard were late at night after I was all tucked in at my motel. 
I got a couple buses, though! 
Returning to Campus at dusk for some photos of the Light Totem displays. 
Heading down Kirkwood for a view of downtown after dark. 
School's out for the summer - not much going on. G'night.