The Monroe County Courthouse anchors the centre of Bloomington, sitting in a small square surrounded by the independent shops, restaurants, and bars that give the city its character. The 1908 Beaux Arts building — limestone, of course — has a copper dome that turns green in the rain and a grand interior rotunda open to the public during business hours.
The blocks surrounding the square are Bloomington at its best: Landlocked Music for vinyl, the Book Corner for used books, a range of cafes and restaurants that skew global and independent, and the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, a restored 1922 vaudeville house that now shows independent films and hosts live music.
Kirkwood Avenue, running east from the square toward the IU campus, is the main commercial strip. The Sample Gates at its east end mark the official entrance to Indiana University. The walk from the courthouse to the gates takes about 10 minutes and passes the city's best concentration of restaurants and bars.