Bloomington MN | About Our Community
Arts in the Parks includes not only musical performances from classical to 80s, but also offers everything from moonlight movies to exploding fireworks. All of our programs are completely free of charge and open to the public. For a complete listing of all Arts in the Parks programs please see our brochure, or view our Arts in the Parks calendar of events at the bottom of this page!
Bloomington MN Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation programs
Adaptive programming and inclusion services Bloomington
Bloomington Parks and Recreation Inclusion Services are provided to program participants with disabilities who request some kind of support that will allow them to fully participate the programs offered by the Parks and Recreation Division.
Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington is the fifth largest city, as of 2016 estimates, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in Hennepin County on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River. Bloomington lies 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Minneapolis.[6] As of the 2010 census the city's population was 82,893,[7] and in 2016 the estimated population was 85,319.[4]
Established as a post–World War II housing boom suburb connected to the urban street grid of Minneapolis and serviced by two major freeways, Interstate 35W and Interstate 494, Bloomington's residential areas include upper-tier households in the western Bush Lake area and traditional middle-class families in its rows of single-family homes in the central to eastern portions. Large-scale commercial development is concentrated along the Interstate 494 corridor. Besides an extensive city park system, with over 1,000 square feet (93 m2) of parkland per capita,[8] Bloomington is also home to Hyland Lake Park Reserve in the west and Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in the southeast.
Bloomington has more jobs per capita than either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, due to the United States' largest enclosed shopping center, the Mall of America[9] , and the only IKEA in Minnesota. The headquarters of Ceridian, Donaldson Company, HealthPartners and Toro, and major operations of Express Scripts, Seagate Technologies and Wells Fargo Bank are also based in the city.
In 1839, with renewed conflict with the Ojibwa nation, Chief Cloud Man relocated his band of the Mdewakanton Dakota from Lake Calhoun, Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis to an area named Oak Grove in southern Bloomington, close to present-day Portland Avenue.[11] In 1843, Peter and Louisa Quinn, the first European settlers to live in Bloomington, built a cabin along the Minnesota River in this area.[12] The government had sent them to teach farming methods to the Native Americans. Gideon Hollister Pond, a missionary, who had been following and recording the Dakota language from Cloud Man's band, relocated later that year, establishing Oak Grove Mission, his log cabin. Pond and his family held church services and taught the local Dakota school subjects and farming. Passage across the Minnesota River in Bloomington came in 1849 when William Chambers and Joseph Dean opened the Bloomington Ferry. The ferry remained operational until 1889, when the Bloomington Ferry Bridge was built.