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City of Urbana company history timeline

1833

The settlers celebrated the formation of their new town in a ceremony on July 4, 1833.

1850

In 1850, President Pierce approved the land grant for the Illinois Central Railroad.

1852

Busey died on December 13, 1852, but not before he had discussed station sites with the railroad.

1853

By July 1853, construction crews had begun erecting depot buildings on the northern portion of the holding-the first buildings of any sort in the future city.

1854

In January 1854, the UNION reported that “a large number of citizens met at the Court House … for the purpose of taking into considerable measures for building a plan road from the Court House to the Depot.”

Beginning on March 22, 1854, several large additions were surveyed and recorded in what was to become Champaign.

In 1854, a train depot was built, then a steam mill, stores, a church, and a post office.

1855

The restriction was rescinded on February 14, 1855, to the extent that the railroad could “layout” towns only at “such points on the (line) where their depots are already located and established.”

On June 2, 1855, Archa Campbell became the first mayor.

Champaign was founded in 1855, when the Illinois Central Railroad laid its rail track two miles west of downtown Urbana.

1856

The UNION reported that on January 7, 1856, the first election in the “West Urbana” precinct had occurred; 84 votes were cast electing two justices of the peace and two constables.

1857

Also in January, 1857, the UNION announced the anticipated spring opening of the Cattle Bank.

“It was not until after 1857 that the township began to fill up to any appreciable degree.

During 1857, the growth of West Urbana abated somewhat.

1860

Originally called “West Urbana”, it was renamed “Champaign” when it acquired a city charter in 1860.

1861

In 1861 they voted to make their town into a city, and to name it Champaign.

The Cunningham history noted that “plans for additions to the courthouse” in fact, “razed the (old) courthouse to its foundations and erected thereon a (new) fire-proof building” which was opened for public use in 1861.

1863

Cunningham described the opening event: ” … on the 17th day of August, 1863, the one car -the total of the rolling stock of the corporation -propelled by a team of mules, rolled into Urbana from the West.” “The railroad,” he continued, “was north more than it cost Urbana.”

1868

The new college was called Illinois Industrial University, and it opened in 1868 with 77 students.

1878

The 1878 history was in agreement: “That portion of Champaign now occupied by business blocks was a slough and the mud was of great depth along what is now Main Street.”

1946

An undergraduate division of the university opened in Chicago in 1946.

1981

The stone arch bridge which carried the tracks across the Boneyard survived, albeit in a most neglected condition, long enough to be restored in 1981 by the Champaign Park District.

1982

In 1982 Chicago Circle merged with the University of Illinois at the Medical Center to form the University of Illinois at Chicago.

2000

By the year 2000, Champaign measured 17 square miles and had a population of 67,518 people.

2010

To help the City celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2010, local PBS station WILL-TV produced the series “Illinois Pioneers”, which examines different aspects of Champaign’s rich history.

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1833
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