foundries and machine shops, including the large
shops of the Chicago & Alton railway, slaughtering and meat-packing
establishments, flour and grist mills, printing and publishing
establishments, a caramel factory and lumber factories. The value of the
city's factory products increased from $3,011,899 in 1900 to $5,777,000
in 1905, or 91.8%. There are valuable coal mines in and near the city,
and the city is situated in a fine farming region. Bloomington derives
its name from Blooming Grove, a small forest which was crossed by the
trails leading from the Galena lead mines to Southern Illinois, from
Lake Michigan to St Louis, and from the Eastern to the far Western
states. The first settlement was made in 1822, but the town was not
formally founded until 1831, when it became the county-seat of McLean
county. The first city charter was obtained in 1850, and in 1857 the
public school system was established. In 1856 Bloomington was the
meeting place of a state convention called by the Illinois editors who
were opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill (see DECATUR). This was the
first convention of the Republican party in Illinois; among the
delegates were Abraham Lincoln, Richard Yates, John M. Palmer and Owen
Lovejoy. The city has been the residence of a number of prominent men,
including David Davis (1815-1886), an associate justice of the United
States Supreme Court in 1862-1877, a member of the United States Senate
in 1877-1883, and president _pro tempore_ of the Senate in 1881-1883;
Governor John M. Hamilton (1847-1905), Governor Joseph W. Fifer (b.
1840); and Adlai Ewing Stevenson (b. 1835), a Democratic representative
in Congress in 1875-1877 and 1879-1881, and vice-president of the United
States in 1893-1897. Bloomington's prosperity increased after 1867, when
coal was first successfully mined in the vicinity.

In the _Transactions_ of the Illinois State Historical Society for
1905 may be found a paper, "The Bloomington Convention of 1856 and
Those Who Participated in it."

BLOOMINGTON, a city and the county-seat of Monroe county, Indiana,
U.S.A., about 45 m. S. by W. of Indianapolis. Pop. (1890) 4018; (1900)
6460, including 396 negroes; (1910) 8838. It is served by the Chicago,
Indianapolis & Louisville and the Indianapolis Southern (Illinois
Central) railways. Bloomington is the seat of the Indiana University
(co-educational since 1868), established as a state seminary in 1820,
and as Indiana College in 1