One community. Two cities. One downtown. One uptown.
If you’ve recently moved to this area, you may have some questions about Downtown Bloomington and Uptown Normal. WGLT’s Welcome Home series is here to help. (And while we’re just focusing on Bloomington and Normal today, don’t overlook downtown Lexington either. It’s got some really cool stuff.)
Why is “downtown Normal” called Uptown Normal?
Normal’s central business district was actually called Downtown Normal until 2006, when town leaders officially renamed it “Uptown Normal.” That came in the early years of a major redevelopment of downtown/uptown that began around 2001. It was aimed at injecting new public and private investment — millions of dollars — into the area and making it a destination.
The name “Uptown” emerged from a Normal Town Council retreat and was suggested by then-council member Cheryl Gaines, according to Sonja Reece, who was on the council then, too. They liked it, although some in the community felt Normal was trying to be too “uppity” with the rebranding, Reece said.
“But in fact, it was a nice identity. We are ‘up’ on the map. North is up, and that’s where we are (relative to Downtown Bloomington),” Reece joked. “It was the right time. … We wanted people to feel the excitement of it. It was to denote a new beginning for us, and I think it did.”
What’s the difference between Downtown and Uptown?
There’s plenty.
Downtown Bloomington is bigger and older, and its history — from the architecture to the literal McLean County Museum of History at its core — is more central to the experience of being there. It’ll look familiar to those who’ve spent time in other Midwestern central business districts.
“It serves as kind of a template or an example for communities of a similar size in the greater Midwest,” said Bill Kemp, librarian at the museum. “The pattern of the rise, the decline, and the struggles — we’ve yet to have a renaissance here in Bloomington — of the central business district or core downtown can be told in many other communities.”
Uptown Normal is smaller and much of it is newer, driven by that redevelopment. The historic and restored Normal Theater in the heart of Uptown, for example, didn’t open until 1937 — about a century after Bloomington was born.
“For much of local history, what we now call Uptown Normal was little more than an after-thought of the economic big picture of the community,” Kemp said.
Downtown can feel more like an entertainment district, with lots of bars that are popular with young people (including college students) and two large city-owned performing arts venues on the north and south end: Grossinger Motors Arena and the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts (BCPA).
Uptown is anchored on one side by the adjacent Illinois State University, as well as the community’s only Amtrak passenger rail stop (Uptown Station) connecting us to Chicago and St. Louis.
Susie Tod knows a thing or two about Uptown and Downtown. She owns Sugar Mama Bakery that had locations in both places for a few years. It’s now operating solely in Downtown.
“(Downtown) is very classic. It’s your more typical small-town feel. Lots of old buildings. We’ve really kept the characteristics of the old architecture,” Tod said. “It’s very eclectic. There’s a lot here.”
How are they similar?
Like so many communities, the sprawling suburbanization of America has threatened Bloomington and Normal’s central business districts, triggering responses by local leaders and a search for a new identity.
Downtown’s heyday was the first half of the 20th century, said Kemp. At one point, there were a half-dozen department stores downtown, and 11 hotels.
“The hive of activity that Downtown Bloomington would have (had) say in the 1940s or 1950s is something hard for us to imagine today. The number of people on the sidewalks. The level of foot traffic,” he said.
As cars became ubiquitous, the center of commerce shifted east in Bloomington, toward what would become Veterans Parkway today. Towanda Plaza opens in 1958, then Kmart in 1962, then Eastland Mall in 1967. And on and on.
Those pressures are partly what prompted talk of redeveloping Uptown in the late 1990s and early 2000s. At first, it was described as merely a “facelift,” then became a full-fledged “renewal.” And Normal was off to a late start, because at least Downtown Bloomington had bars and nightlife; Normal was a dry town (no booze sales) until 1973 — after the first Atari came out.
“We were living in a time where it was, we make some changes, or we were gonna see everything that happened on Veterans take over and become the business focus. And this part of Normal would just wither up. We could sit aside and let that happen, or we could say, no, let’s make a focus on this area,” said Sonja Reece. “That was the driver.”
What’s Downtown Bloomington known for?
Downtown is an arts hub for the broader Twin City community.
More than 120 artists currently show work downtown, spread out in more than a dozen galleries and studios. In addition to the arena and BCPA, the McLean County Arts Center also is there. There’s also quite a bit of public art.
“We have a large variety of restaurants inside of downtown. We have music venues, which is really nice. We have game stores. We have curiosity shops. You name it, we probably have it,” said Hannah Horn, a downtown development specialist for the City of Bloomington.
A big draw is the Downtown Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. It’s outdoors on the Museum Square from May to October, then moves indoors to the arena the rest of the year.
“This year we had the largest number of vendors and the largest (amount) of community outreach we’ve ever had before,” Horn said. “So that means you’ll see a different local musician (at the market) every weekend. We’ve really tried to put an emphasis on that.”
Downtown’s First Friday events are another entry point. Shops stay open late on the first Friday of each month, usually with a theme like “Downtown Dog Days” or “Spring is in Bloom.”
“That gives people an opportunity to walk around that wouldn’t normally come to the downtown area and see the different things that are going on, aside from the nightlife,” said Tod.
What’s Uptown Normal known for?
The circle, or traffic roundabout, is the center of Uptown Normal in many ways. It’s a nice place to sit, eat lunch or watch a musician perform. The Constitution Trail coils around it.
The Uptown redevelopment project’s first major projects included the Children’s Discovery Museum (opened in 2004) and Uptown Station (2012). Both are located right on the circle, with two undeveloped properties on its northern arc that are targeted for future projects.
Uptown also is known for its big weekend events and festivals, where the streets are shut down to make room for pedestrians, vendors, and entertainment. Some of the most popular include Make Music Normal (typically June), Sweet Corn Circus (August), and the Sugar Creek Arts Festival (October).
Sonja Reece, the former town council member, lives in Uptown. She said every day is exciting.
“I just have to look out my window and I’ll see something every morning that’s interesting and new,” she said. “There’s people going to the train station. There’s bikers. There’s walkers. There’s people in the park (circle). It’s easy for me to walk downstairs and go to a shop or a restaurant.”
While downtown has more galleries, Uptown has an art scene, too. ISU’s University Galleries is located adjacent to Uptown Station, and the station itself — which doubles as City Hall — has its own display of local artwork that’s surprisingly robust.
What’s the future for Uptown and Downtown?
Big things are planned in both Downtown and Uptown. But there are challenges.
The City of Bloomington made multimillion-dollar investments in Downtown with the construction of the arena and the adjacent Bloomington Ice Center in 2006, plus the refurbishment of what became the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. The decision to build the arena was a polarizing one politically in Bloomington, and the pandemic kept it largely dormant for a few years. That’s now easing, and the venue is starting to get busier again.
Bloomington city leaders are next embarking on a major streetscapes project that aims to create or expand public spaces, improve walkability and accessibility, and bridge downtown to the surrounding neighborhoods. That comes after an extended period where big-picture thinking largely failed to lead to big executed projects happening downtown.
“The future is definitely within our hands. The downtown streetscapes (project) is a really good starting point. But if you’re a member of the community and you’re like, ‘Hey, I really love what I saw in a different community and would love to see that here,’ we would like your feedback,” Horn said.
“We’re gonna keep the historic ties, but make it more accessible, more family-friendly, more dog-friendly. We’re bringing some vibrancy that’s been kind of missed for a little bit, especially during the pandemic, back into downtown. It’s a really exciting time.”
Uptown redevelopment is still underway. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2024 on an underpass (under the train tracks) between the children’s museum and Uptown Station. It will connect the main Uptown area to the underdeveloped area to the south, where the newly approved plan calls for multiple public parks and plazas, as well as space for businesses and housing.
Despite offering tax breaks, the Town of Normal has struggled to find developers that can bring projects to the finish line. The Trail East and Trail West sites on the circle remain undeveloped after many years of planning for mixed-use buildings. It took six years to fill a high-profile vacancy on the first floor of the One Uptown building on the western arc of the circle. Hacienda Leon restaurant is now there.
