After last week’s post on the changes in Iowa City, I wanted to compare Iowa City to another college town. And since I used to live in Bloomington, Indiana, that’s my choice!
When I moved to Iowa City (from Bloomington) in August 2007, I saw Iowa City as a bit of a step down. Bloomington felt like a slightly larger city with a slightly larger university in a slightly larger state. I thought I would spend a few years in Iowa City before moving on to a larger city.
On top of this, I saw Bloomington through rose-colored lenses. Hailing from the middle of nowhere in rural southern Indiana, Bloomington stood out to me as an oasis in a barren wasteland. Surely Iowa City couldn’t match any of that.
But 20 years later, I’ve reconsidered my views on all of this. Maybe Bloomington isn’t quite the place I saw as an 18 year old. And perhaps Iowa City can more than hold its own.
A Trip to Bloomington
In the fall of 2022, my partner and I took a road trip to Bloomington. Having left town in 2006 and 2007, respectively, her and I wanted to check in on the old place. What had changed? How would we relate to this place after a gap of a decade and a half?
Contrary to the opinions of my former idealistic self, I found Bloomington very much a product of its southern Indiana surroundings. It wasn’t quite the oasis I once thought it to be.
How so?
On the return trip, I really noticed the southern Indiana accents. I saw the friendliness that would strike those of us in the Upper Midwest as extreme, bordering on uncomfortable. When I walked into Soma, my once favorite coffee shop, it no longer stood out to be as minimally approachable and ‘cool.’ It just felt like a friendly, small town place.
Iowa City
But it wasn’t just my view of Bloomington that had changed. Iowa City also feels like a different place than the one I first encountered in 2007. As I worked through my 30s, I uncovered more of Iowa City’s depths.
Geographically, Iowa City is far better situated than Bloomington. Bloomington sits as an island of urban, college life in an overwhelmingly rural region. Its nearest city – Indianapolis – sits about an hour away and often requires navigating heavy traffic. By contrast, Iowa City feels like a genuine metro area. It’s surrounded by several other decently sized downs, and it’s a brief drive from Cedar Rapids and its airport.
Even within the cities themselves, Iowa City feels like it has more options for people in their 30s and 40s.
Here’s another way to put it. Iowa City feels like it has a culture that can thrive semi-independently from the University of Iowa. We have a non-profit cinema that shows indie films. We have a non-profit theater company with a full season of plays. And, each summer, we have a local non-profit that hosts free public music and art festivals. None of them are university affiliated.
I didn’t see much of that in Bloomington. It had a cultural scene, but that scene was almost always Indiana University dominated.
Town and Gown
Let’s dwell a bit on that last point. Broadly speaking, Indiana University and the University of Iowa relate to their towns in different ways.
IU stands apart from Bloomington, and often against it. When you enter the IU campus view the sample gates, these gates feel more than symbolic. In fact, you’re exiting one world and stepping into another one. And when IU adds culturally to the town, it’s often the only force doing so. The rest of Bloomington often feels like Ellettsville, the nearest southern Indiana town.
By contrast, the University of Iowa weaves through downtown Iowa City, both physically and culturally. The two balance one another. They partner together at times. And the town can, when it needs to, do interesting cultural things without the university.
Over the course of two decades, I’ve progressed from graduate student to faculty member to community member and (non-university) employee in a way that never felt strained. To move from one to the other wasn’t quite like switching worlds. It was just a matter of navigating life in a normal way.
Lessons Learned?
In comparing these two college towns, I thought about what makes a small city great. What do I want in a place to live, and how can college towns provide those things?
Translated into simple terms specific to college towns, I found that I wanted most of the things that make a larger city great – public transit, health care, things to do, people to meet – without all the things that make larger cities less livable – too many people, crime, and so on.
And here’s what I learned.
Far from the idea that Iowa City would be a smaller and less interesting version of Bloomington, I saw the place for its own merits. In fact, I found Iowa City as a more compact, urban version of a standard college town. And far from boring me, I’ve always found Iowa City to have plenty of new things (and people) to pique my interest.
Growing older in Iowa City feels achievable. I don’t think I’d say the same thing about Bloomington at this point. And Iowa City provides all these things at a cost of living significantly lower than what we find in major cities.
It’s a great place to live.
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