CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS
Champaign is the largest city in the Champaign County, Illinois with a population of just over 67,000 residents. Located in the central part of the state, it is a setting that offers a rich mix of environments and lifestyle options plus the peerless cultural and intellectual pleasures of being home to one of the country’s top universities, the Champaign Urbana Campus of the University of Illinois.
A vibrant business community provides the backdrop for rich economic life, encouraging new commerce and industry. As the home of the world-renowned University of Illinois National Center for Super-Computing, Champaign is attracting and retaining a diverse group of traditional and high-tech companies that are leaders in building and expanding the national and global information superhighway. The US Army Corps of Engineers maintains a Construction and Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in Champaign that attracts many of the top minds in the field. Educated and visionary, the workforce and companies that call Champaign home are an integral part of the city’s exceptional appeal.
Champaign’s a whole lot more than education and business, it’s also a great place to raise a family. The city maintains an extensive network of public parks, which have been recognized nationally 3 times with Gold Medals for Excellence. Boasting sports facilities, bike paths and nature trails, there’s plenty of outdoor enjoyment and family fun to be had when you call Champaign home.
Neighborhoods are the core component of the community. The City of Champaign is composed of 39 different neighborhoods that vary in size, location, housing styles, and social composition. To better serve the community, city government has made its mission to focus services at the neighborhood level and to identify and correct problems quickly.
Intellectual stimulation, economic opportunity, cultural attractions, outdoor adventure and responsive government make the Champaign living experience beyond compare.
LOCATION
Champaign, Illinois, a city of vibrant neighborhoods and charming parks, lies 3 miles west of the I-72, 2 miles north of the I-74 and 4 miles west of the I-57 in the central part of the state, nearby the Indiana border. Surrounded by charming rural areas that claim some of the world’s richest farmland, whether you enjoy a city or country lifestyle, there’s a home for you in Champaign and its environs. It is 17.4 square miles in area and the Kaskaskia River, part of the second largest river system in the state and a tributary of the Mississippi River flows along the west side of the city.
Champaign is 135 miles south of Chicago, just a little more than a two-hour drive, and 124 miles west of Indianapolis. Its 165 miles from St. Louis and 86 miles from the state capital at Springfield. The city shares a border with Urbana that runs north south through the heart of the University of Illinois campus.
TRANSPORTATION/AIRPORTS
Champaign has immediate access to the interstate highway system. US Interstates 72, 3 miles west, and 74, 2 miles to the north, provide east-west access, while 4 miles west Interstate 57 provides north-south access. The city is also served by State Route 45, traveling north-south and State Route 150, traveling east-west.
The closest airport is the regional Willard Airport/CMI, which is operated by the University of Illinois. Served by four major carriers including Delta Airlines, American Airlines, American Connection and Northwest Airlines, it is located just 5 miles south of town and offers flights connecting to major hub airports like Chicago O’Hare. The regional airport in Decatur is about 40 miles to the southwest and Chicago O’Hare, the busiest airport in the country with flights to any destination you can imagine, is about a two-hour drive north. Flightstar out of local Willard Airport offers airport facilities for private planes and charters.
The former Illinois Central railroad line, now owned by Canadian National, runs north to south through the city offering easy rail travel opportunities to Chicago, Indianapolis and beyone. A spur line from the Canadian National line provides service to industry and grain elevators to the west of the city. Norfolk Southern railroad operates an east to west line through the city. The NS line connects to Urbana in the east and Bloomington in the west. Amtrak, runs two trains daily northbound to Chicago, and two evening trains southbound, one to Carbondale and the other to New Orleans. The local bus system, the MTD, serves Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and the surrounding areas which uniting the towns and cities in a easily navigatable web. Champaign is also served by Greyhound and the Illini Swallow bus companies and in 1999, a new transportation center named the Illinois Terminal was completed and presently consolidates all passenger rail and bus service for Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy into this one convenient depot. Suburban Express also operates a weekend bus service between the University of Illinois and Chicago as well as express buses to Chicago O’Hare Airport. When you live in Champaign, you’re never far from where you want to go.
BRIEF HISTORY
Champaign County, Illinois was founded in 1833 by the Illinois legislature although the site of the modern day City of Champaign dates it’s first non native american settler to 1841. Champaign was founded in 1855, when the Illinois Central Railroad laid its track two miles west of downtown Urbana because the land was more stable for building than the land in Urbana proper. Originally called West Urbana, it was incorporated as a village in 1857 and renamed Champaign when it acquired a city charter in 1860. Both the city and county are named for Champaign, Ohio, the home county of Senator W. Vance who was responsible for the legislative act that created Champaign County.
Farming was the most common occupation in the area throughout the first half of the nineteenth century although this part of the Illinois prairie wasn’t particularly well suited to agricultural use. Here the prairies were generally wet and swampy and while not always ideal for cultivation, the land was perfect for grazing livestock. Two of the wealthiest cattlemen in the country lived in the area at the time and they would drive the cattle overland to markets as far as Chicago, Philadelphia and even New York. The combination of the arrival of the railroad and new technology would dramatically change the lifestyle of area residents. Farming on a large scale became appealing and technology made it profitable. The prairie offered the necessary land, however it was difficult to plow the sticky prairie soil.
The now famous John Deere solved this problem. His contribution to agriculture was a self-scouring new plow with a smooth steel surface that moved cleanly through heavy soil that served to usher in a golden age of farming for Champaign County, which continues to this day. The late 1850’s was a period of enormous growth, as trains became an easy link for transporting agricultural products to estabished cities with large markets, particularly Chicago. Access to markets meant that more goods could be transported back to the area at much more affordable prices to the local community and residents found their general standard of living on the rise. A growing population attracted new trades-people and professionals and by 1856, Grand Prairie Bank opened on University Avenue to serve this entrepreneurial community.
In 1861, Champaign is officially incorporated as a city and then witnesses the beginings of an African American Community that has remained vibrant to this day. Both the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Salem Baptist Churches of Champaign were founded during this Civil War era. Champaign was also part of the eighth district of circuit lawyer and future president Abraham Lincoln. In 1860, rallies for Lincoln were held to support his candidacy throughout the county. In 1868, Illinois' new state agricultural and mechanical college was founded on land in between Champaign and adjacent Urbana. The Illinois Industrial University as it was then known has become today’s famed University of Illinois Campus at Champaign-Urbana making the community an intellectual and cultural center. In 1937, the current City Hall was constructed during the Great Depression in a show of faith that Champaign would always be a city with a bright future.
Champaign is now the largest city in the county and still maintains its faith that despite the town’s storied past its best days always lay ahead.
ABOUT EDUCATION
There are 12 public elementary schools, 3 public middle schools and 3 public high schools in the well-regarded Champaign school district. Elementary school enrollment ranges from 365-520 per school and most of the elementary schools offer before and after school care while three preschool in addition to the usual K-5 program. Middle school enrollment ranges from 540 to 750 per school while high school enrollment ranges from 1200-1400 per school. There are just over 9200 students in the school district with average student to teacher ratio of 14 students per teacher (compared to the state average of 17 per teacher) plus the district employs 14 library and media specialists to serve the student body. There are 5 private elementary schools 3 of which are parochial schools. There is one private parochial school that serves a k-12 student body and another that serves a 9–12 student body. The local community college is Parkland College with a fulltime student population of 5186 students. It is a fully accredited community college with 15 Associate degrees normally transferable to most 4-year colleges and universities. It also offers 47 certificate degree programs, an extensive series of credit and non-credit continuing education courses for adults as well as special programs for K-12 students.
The University of Illinois Campus at Champaign Urbana is recognized as one of the top universities in the United States. It has over 35,000 full-time students in undergraduate and graduate studies. There are 150 undergraduate degrees offered and 100 graduate degrees. The university counts in its alumni 10 Nobel Prize winners and 16 Pulitzer Prize Winners. It is also the home of the University of Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NSCA), which is a leader in building the worldwide information superhighway.
Additional community educational resources include the Champaign Public Library. In addition to basic library services it offers a bookmobile and free home delivery to any Champaign resident unable to come to the library due to age or physical condition. Free tutoring is available through Project READ, which helps Champaign residents pass the GED exam or improve English-speaking skills through practice with volunteer.
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