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Downtown
The downtown area of Bloomington contains a variety of businesses, services and residents. Check out the Category:Downtown page for more articles.
Links of Interest
- The Square
- Kirkwood Avenue
- Bloomington Fire Department
- The Waldron Arts Center
- Dunnkirk Square
- and many more...
Recent Events
- The 4th of July Parade
- Walnut Street Development of Bloomington purchased the building on the southwest corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Washington Street in early-mid 2006. This building is the current location of; Ladyman's Cafe, Roadworthy Guitar and Amp, and Greek's Pizzeria. Plans for the property are not publicly known.
- Arts Fair on the Square
- Taste of Bloomington
History
The downtown area of Bloomington was becoming decrepit in the 1970's when local entrepeneur Bill Cook took an interest. His CFC firm renovated the Graham Hotel into the Graham Plaza office building in 1979, and the city built a parking garage next door. Businesses continued to evacuate: the J.C. Penney store moved to College Mall in 1981. But in 1983 county officials renovated the Monroe County Courthouse and the Justice Building, and the next year the Commission for Bloomington Downtown was formed. Renovations of the Princess Theater, One City Centre, and Wickes Department Store followed.
In 1986, the Walnut Street Parking Garage went up, and the Fountain Square Mall renovations soon followed.
Still, by this time many downtown mainstays had disappeared:
