bloomington, indiana - may 12 & 13, 2008

Bloomington, Indiana - Indiana University

May 12 &13, 2008

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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 Mahurin and 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 River expands 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 and pattern in frequently-changing sequences. At night they illuminate the nearby building wall.

Owen Hall, named for Richard Owen of the New Harmony Owen family. He was state geologist and made many contributions to Indiana and to his science.

Wylie Hall, where I sweat my way through quite a few exams more than 40 years ago.

Dunn's Woods is home to many beautiful, towering old Beech trees.

Maxwell Hall, nicely Romanesque.

The Student Building was gutted by fire in 1990 during renovations; only the exterior walls were left standing. It was completely rebuilt to modern codes while appearing just as it originally did..

One of the guys in my dorm was an accomplished builder of radio-controlled model aircraft. He used to test-fly them on Woodlawn Field. Early one evening he put the finishing touches on a beautiful biplane with a wingspan of about four 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 for nine months. They were brand-new then. Now, they look drab 'n shabby.