Historical Overview

Explore the following links for additional information on the history of Champaign or continue reading for a brief overview. Enjoy!

• News Gazette Champaign 150th Booklet
• Creation of the City of Champaign
• History of the Champaign City Buildings
• City of Champaign Township Relationship

From untamed wilderness to the highly developed establishment it is today, the City of Champaign’s existence is largely due to the inception of the largest railroad undertaking in the 1850s, Illinois Central Railroad. In an effort to shift trade from the Mississippi and St. Louis and encourage the development of Central Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas as well as other prominent state officials of the time assembled a very ambitious transportation plan called the Internal Improvements Act of 1837 in which the largest project was to be the railroad construction from Galena to Cairo.

Built where it was easiest to construct, the railroad purchased an 80-acre tract from the heirs of Matthew Wales Busey to the west of the established town Urbana. The location of the depot clearly ignores Urbana’s location as it is significantly north of the center of town, does not orient to any of their streets and places woodlands between the depot and Urbana. However, the tract was probably chosen because it was close to the point where the railroad interested the State Road connecting Danville, Urbana, and Bloomington. With the help of approximately ten thousand men laboring at any one time on the railroad line, the Urbana Station was built in time for the first train to arrive on July 24, 1854.

Since mail almost immediately began to come into the area by rail, the Depot soon needed its own post office. The name “Urbana” was already taken by the station, so the new facility was designated as “West Urbana” and in 1857, the depot incorporated separately as the Village of West Urbana. Clearly the future of the City lay with the tracks. As Urbana refused to expand toward the tracks, in 1860 West Urbana moved to incorporate as the City of Champaign and was granted the right with a charter a year later.

The next big development was the coming of the Illinois Industrial University, a decision made by the state in 1867. Due to the lobbying efforts lead by Clark Robinson Griggs, the University came to Champaign County over the other candidates including Logan, McLean and Morgan counties.

Through the years, Champaign has remained a very stable community even during the generally difficult times of the Great Depression and the two World Wars. The presence of the railroad guaranteed that Champaign would become the business center of the community and the university would provide many amazing cultural amenities. Without question, the railroad and the University have made Champaign what it is today.