Life in Bloomington-Normal is more interesting than you may think that it is. Here are some fun interesting facts that you may not have known even if you have leave here or around here your whole life, and if you are new or visiting, sit back and think how your town/city compares to Bloomington-Normal!

• In 2011, Bloomington-Normal was name the 17th geekiest city in the United States due to the high percentage of workers that are involved in the engineering, mathematics, science, and technology professional. Sounds like a great place to work if you are interested in or do already work in one of those fields!
• Illinois State University was ranked 83rd on a list of the nation's top public schools by the U.S. News & World Report in 2011. You might think of applying, you'd be getting into a pretty good school.
• If you are visiting or a resident of the city and have children the Children's Discovery Museum located in Uptown Normal would be a fantastic place to spend a few hours and experience creativity and learning skills for your children. They will have fun while learning and not even know it! It was named "The best creative children's experience in Illinois by Media World's USA's "Best of" Series" in 2010.
• Want to visit or live in the 80th Best Place to Live out of a 100 places? Then Bloomington-Normal is the place to be because of their financial status, housing prices, education, quality of life, and a variety of leisure activities and culture. The weather and residents' demographics placed them high on the list in 2006 by CNN Money.
• Pepsi is the official soft drink of Bloomington.
• The character Henry Blake from the hit series M*A*S*H was originally from Bloomington-Normal.
• The Goregrind metal band, Impetigo, formed in Bloomington in 1987.
• John F. Kennedy visited Lucca Grill in 1960 during his presidential campaign. At the time, the downtown pizza restaurant and bar was owned by John Baldini, who was also the county Democratic party chairman. The restaurant has long been known as the unofficial Democratic party headquarters in an otherwise solid Republican area.
• Nancy Reagan stayed at the then popular Coachmen Motel while still an actress.
• The city is referenced on the vinyl edition of the Sufjan Stevens album Illinois, in the title of the song "Let's Hear that String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way out in Bloomington-Normal". In another album by Stevens entitled The Avalanche, the city is mentioned in the song "The Henney Buggy Band".
• Bloomington is home to State Farm world headquarters.
• In 1934 Gus and Edith Belt opened Americas first Steak and Shake, it started as a gas station with a chicken restaurant attached, the quickly realized that the town already had too many chicken restaurants.They changed their main entree to steak burgers and business began to boom, The first steak and shake is now a Monicals pizza located in between main and center street right where Bloomington meets Normal.
• Normal is home to one of the world's tallest dormatories, Waterson Towers, Built in 1967, the building houses over 2,000 students and towers over other buildings in the area, standing at a whoping 298 ft. or 28 story's.
• Bloomington-Normal is no longer number one by far in restaurants per capita.
• The Kickapoo Indians were the first to settle the on the land with the first non native settlers arriving in the 1820's. The first settlers were farmers attracted to the land for its fertile soil and almost perfect farming conditions.
• Abraham Lincoln frequented Downtown Bloomington area during the 1860's when he was a practicing lawyer.
• In 1900, Bloomington's downtown area was hit with a major fire destroying most of the buildings.
• Bloomington got its name in 1830, before that in was known as Blooming Grove, and prior to that Keg Grove.
• The namesake for The Wizard of Oz is buried here in Bloomington.
• Craig Robinson, Darryl Philbin from the critically acclaimed show The Office, received his undergraduate degree from Illinois State University in 1994.