Indiana University is located in Bloomington, Indiana, a city situated in the rolling hills of southern Indiana. Approximately 40,000 students attend Indiana University and it is the original and largest campus of the Indiana University system. USA Today called Bloomington one of the top 10 student-friendly college towns. In 1991, Thomas Gaines, a landscape artist, named the Bloomington campus one of the five most beautiful in America in his book The Campus As a Work of Art. It has abundance of flowering plants and trees and graceful, limestone buildings. The city also has been named a Tree City USA for more than 20 years.
Bloomington has a rich theater and music culture. It is home to several professional theater companies, as well as community and amateur theaters. The city has a large folk punk music scene, and the renowned Lotus Festival of World Music, which occurs each fall, takes place in Bloomington. The Grammy Nominated band The Fray recorded their Triple Platinum debut album How to Save a Life at Echo Park Studios in Bloomington.
The city was the site of the Academy Award-winning movie Breaking Away, featuring Indiana University's annual Little 500 bicycle race. Bloomington is also famous for its rock quarries, also featured in Breaking Away, which residents have been known to use as swimming holes.
Revised 8/1/2009