Chronology of Selected Events in Champaign County - Champaign-Urbana

This chronology of selected events in Champaign County comes from the 1983 A Commemorative History of Champaign County Illinois: 1833-1983. Please add more events to this time-line to help fill in gaps in this history.

??? - 1833	Kickapoo, Pottawattamies, and Delawares (Native Americans) live in Champaign County, Illinois. The last of the organized Native American tribes leave Champaign County in 1833. The tribes were all forcibly moved west of the Mississippi, with the last tribe to leave being the Kickapoos in 1833, who were moved to Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1832, an eastern tribe, the Miami, briefly stayed in Champaign County en route to a reservation west of the Mississippi. (http://www.walkinginplace.org/td/source.htm)
1818	December 3 - Illinois became a state.
1822	Runnel Fielder settled in Big Grove, north of present Urbana; he was the first recorded settler in future Champaign County. In 1828, he made the first land entry in the Big Grove area. The Grove covered about 5,000 acres and could be seen from a distance of ten miles.
1824	Henry Sadorus settled his family at Sadorus Grove; he is credited with being the first permanent settler in Champaign County.
1827	The first recorded settler in the Homer area was a man named Gentry. He remained only a few years. The first land entry in what is now Champaign County was made by Jesse Williams on eighty acres in present Section 12, Sidney Township. Later that year, the other half of the quarter was taken by John Hendricks.
1828	The first settler in Condit Townshi p was Ethan Newcomb, who settled at Newcomb's Ford between present Fisher and Dewey. Nicholas Yount was the first settler in St. Joseph Township, followed the next year by his son-in-law, Jonathon Cazard. Both moved away in 1831. Joseph S. Stayton, who arrived October 10, 1830, was the first permanent settler in the area.
1829	The first school in Homer was taught by Abrams Johnson. There were fifteen pupils; tuition was $2.50 a term.
1830	The first settler in Buck Grove (Penfield) was Isaac Moore. In 1834, Robert Wyatt entered the first land. February 5 - William Tompkins entered eighty acres in what is now Urbana's downtown business district.
c.1831	Cyrus Strong was the first tavern keeper in St. Joseph Township. His business eventually passed into the possession of Joseph Kelly. Kelly was appointed the first postmaster of St. Joseph c. 1850, and the village adopted the same name as the post office.
1832	Thomas L. Butler, known familiarly as Uncle Tommy" Butler served in the cavalry during the Blackhawk War. Later he settled near Homer where he lived for many years. The first land entry in the Mahomet area was made by Isaac Busey. Included were parts of the present village of Mahomet.
c.1833	The first school in St. Joseph Township was taught by John Lard in the kitchen of William Peters' home.
1833	February 20 -Champaign County was established by an act of the Illinois State Legislature. The first school in the Mahomet area was established. The teacher was George Cooper. The first school in Sidney was taught by Andrew Stevenson at the home of William Nox. Other early teachers in the neighborhood were George Akers and George Nox.
1834	December 11 -Henry Sadorus made the first land entry in Sadorus Township. Thomas Richards was the first settler in Burr Oak Grove (Ogden).
1835	Fielding Scott settled on the Sangamon River and plowed a furrow to establish a straight line between Middletown (Mahomet) and Urbana. This became part of the Bloomington Road (later Route 150). The first land entry in Brown Township was made by William Brown. M. D. Coffeen built the first store in Old Homer.
1837	The first land entry in Philo Township was made by Philo Hale. William Pancake and Jesse W. Pancake settled at Pancake Point in Newcomb Township. Franklin Dobson and Lot King settled in East Bend Township. William Nox, Jr., was appointed the first postmaster in Sidney (Nox Point). He served until 1842. The first bridge in the county was across the Salt Fork at Strong's Ford, near old St. Joseph. It was built in 1837-38 by William Peters and was washed away a year later.
1838	Levi Asher taught the first school in Kerr Township on the farm of Otis Skinner.

1839	The earliest settler on the site of the village of St. Joseph was Catherine Hoss, a widow with three children; she entered forty acres. Mrs. Hoss taught school and was known for her ministry to the sick. In 1849, she married John Hoyt. Dr. John S. Sadler was the first physician to locate in Urbana.
1840	Dr. W~ A. Conkey located in Old Homer and began practicing there, retiring in 1850. In 1851, Dr. C. P. Mosier opened his office and continued his practice until 1859. In 1853, Dr. James Core began his practice in Homer, continuing until his death in 1888.
1842	A school house was erected in Sadorus Township. Margaret Patterson was hired as the teacher.
1843	The first church of the "Urbana Mission" of the Methodist Episcopal Church was completed on the south side of Elm between present Broadway and Race Streets. It was also used as a school and for occasional housing. It wasreplaced in 1856 by a new building, and the old building was used as a livery barn. The new building was dedicated in 1859, with Peter Cartwright officiating. Peter Cartwright preached at the B. F. Harris property near Middletown (Mahomet).
c.1846	The Lindsey house was erected in Middletown (Mahomet). The front two rooms were used as a school.
1846	William D. Somers, the first resident lawyer in Champaign County, began his practice.
1849	Archa Campbell and his wife, who settled the previous year in Mink Grove (on the west side of present Rantoul), broke and planted a nearby tract of prairie.
1850	Urbana's population was 210. Mahomet and Homer were comparable in size.
1851	The first school in Newcomb Township was taught by Martha Newell.
1852	The county's first newspaper, The Urbana Union, began. William H. Jaques established a stove store and tin shop in Urbana and made the first tin ware in the county. Courthouse Square was the site of the first county fair.

1853	William Prentice entered land in Compromise Township.
1854	Monday, July 24 -The first Illinois Central passenger train arrived at the Urbana Station" two miles west of the courthouse in Urbana. A group of local residents boarded the train at the new station and made the first trip from there to Chicago. The area surrounding the depot soon became known as West Urbana. Mark Carley built one of the earliest residences in what was to become West Urbana. The following year he built a grain elevator there and introduced a steam engine to operate his shiller. The first physicians to locate in West Urbana were Dr. R. W. Shoemaker, in 1854; Drs. Hartwell C. Howard and Samuel W. Kincaid, in 1855; and Dr. C. H. Mills, in 1856. October 24 -Abraham Lincoln delivered his· third speech against slavery at the Champaign County Courthouse.
1854/55	Most of Old Homer was moved 1% miles south during the winter by placing the buildings on skids and sliding them over the snow.
1855	A steam mill was built in West Urbana by Dr. H. C. Howard. The Little Brick School" was built in West Urbana. It was the first school west of the I.C.R.R. and was the first public school in the district. Many important early meetings were held there. February 14 -The City of Urbana was chartered by an act of the Illinois General Assembly. Archa Campbell was elected the first mayor on June 2. March 29 -John Baddeley was appointed the first postmaster in West Urbana. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of West Urbana was organized.
1855/56	The first school in Homer was taught by Mr. Crosby.
1856	A herd of sixty deer was counted in a single line near the Sangamon timber. Rantoul's Illinois Central station was moved three miles north from its original site. A post office was established. March 6 -the Grand Prairie Bank opened in Urbana. This was the first bank in Champaign County. An emergency meeting was called to provide the salary for the pastor of the Goose Pond Church in West Urbana; a yoke of oxen and $350 were raised from the membership.

1856	Dr. A. Catron was the first doctor to locate in Sadorus. He was followed in 1869 by Dr. J. G. Chambers. June 1 -The Christian Church of Homer was organized. July 22 -Vol. 1, No.1, of the newspaper, Our Constitution, was issued. Dr. Herman Chaffee was the first physician in Tolono. Other early doctors there included: Drs. B. D. Keator, S. S. Salisbury, A. T. Darrah, and C. B. Johnson. The First Presbyterian Church of Urbana was organized.
1857	March 10 -The Central Illinois Gazette printed its first issue. April 26 -The village of West Urbana was organized. E. T. McCann became the first president. In 1860, he was elected the first mayor of the newly named city of Champaign. May -First services of the Methodist Episcopal Church were held in the Illinois Central Railroad depot. This was the beginning of the M. E. Church of Champaign; it was formally established in 1858. The first Sunday School in Rantoul was conducted in the Penfield home. Father William Lambert was appointed first resident priest for St. Mary's parish in West Urbana. The first teacher's institute in Champaign County met. July 9 -The first post office in Tolono was established. William Redhed opened a lumber yard in Tolono. Yankee Ridge School, the first school in Philo Township, opened. September -The Presbyterian Church in Tolono was organized. F. B. Sale was appointed the first postmaster in Condit Township. Roads were laid out from Rantoul south to Urbana, west to Newcomb's Ford, northwest to Dobbin's Ford, north to Pera (Ludlow), and east to the county line. Mr. William Freeman became the station agent for the Great Western Railroad at Sidney. December 24 -The first two recorded marriages in St. Mary's parish in West Urbana were performed: W. C. Crowell wed Mary E. Lynard and Patrick McCarty wed Mary Graham.
1857/58	The first teacher in Rantoul was J. A. Benedict. In 1881, his son, John L. Benedict, was issued Rantoul's first school diploma.

1858	February 18 -Construction was completed on the Cattle Bank in West Urbana. June 1 -The Urbana Woolen Factory opened. Mrs. Fletcher opened a Young Ladies Institute in West Urbana. December 1 -Daniel Rugg came to West Urbana. He opened the first shoe store there.
1859	The Homer Journal was begun. The First Presbyterian Church of Rantoul was organized. May 17 -The Universalist Church in Urbana was founded. In 1871, a brick church was erected on Green Street.
1860	The grist mills of Peter Meyers and Frank Sackett in Rantoul were destroyed by fire. April 1 -The Swannell Drug Store opened in West Urbana.
1861	March 4 -A ball in honor of President Lincoln's inaugural was held at the Doane House in Champaign. Tickets were $1.25.
1862	Stanton Township separated from St. Joseph Township and was named for Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton.
1863	August -An early frost killed most of the corn crop. Prices rose from twelve cents to one dollar a bushel. John G. Thrasher of Rantoul lost his life at Nick Grove, Georgia, while serving in the Union Army.
1864	Morris Lowenstern began his dry goods business in Urbana. John W. Butler of Sidney was honorably discharged from the Union Army after serving two enlistments. John Van Arnom from Rantoul served in the 49th Regiment of the U.S. Colored Infantry in the Civil War.
c.1865	Following the Civil War, five black families settled in Sidney Township. All five families attended the Methodist Church there.
1865	Col. J. S. Wolfe mustered out of the army after four years and two months of service. An elementary school was later named for Col. Wolfe, who practiced law in Champaign for many years. The village of Tolono was incorporated.

1865	Edwin Justin Udell was appointed manager of the Illinois Central Telegraph Office at Rantoul, a position he held for twenty years.
1866	The Champaign County Herald began publication in Urbana. In 1867, the paper moved to Champaign under the name, Illinois Democrat. The first Shiloh Methodist Church building, north of Mahomet, was dedicated. The present church building was dedicated in 1917. The Methodist Church was founded in Gifford. The Baptist Church was established in 1868, .and St. Paul's Lutheran Church in 1892. November 21 Champaign's Public Library was organized.
1867	The Mahomet B~ptist Church was built. It is still in use today. The Busey Brothers Bank was organized in Urbana.
1868	July 4 -Fire destroyed the entire block between Main, Taylor, Market, and Walnut streets in Champaign. A volunteer fire company had been organized the previous year. August 4 -Fire destroyed a large area of downtown Urbana. All students at the Illinois Industrial University, founded in 1867, were paid eight cents an hour to perform compulsory manual labor at the new campus. This soon became voluntary.
1869	The first doctor in Pesotum was Dr. E. I. Birdsell. May 9 -The Homer Presbyterian Church was founded with Rev. J. L. McNain as the first pastor. The Village of Sidney was incorporated. A local ordinance decreed that all men between the ages of twenty-one and fifty were required to work four days a year on the streets and alleys. In 1891, this number was reduced to two days per year.
1869/70	The first mayor of Rantoul was Sheldon Tomlinson. He served a second term in 1870-71. The Hon. Abel Harwood was a member of the convention to draft a new constitution for the state of Illinois.
c.1870	The first doctors in new St. Joseph were Dr. David Jennings and Dr. W. B. Sims. They were preceded in old St. Joseph by Dr. James Gillespie, Dr. Anthony Doyle, Dr. George Doyle and Dr. William Goodwin.

1870	May 16 -An Old Settlers Society" was organized in Urbana. A general store in Ogden was opened by T. J. Carpenter. The first women students were admitted to the Illinois Industrial University. Twenty-two co-eds were enrolled the first year. Mumford House, on Taft Drive near 6th Street, was built by the University of Illinois as a model farmhouse. It is the oldest building on the campus. The first house was erected in Ogden by Theodore A. Haworth. Patrick Brennan built a residence shortly after. The first postmaster was Theodore E. Haworth. He served nine months; in January, 1871, he was succeeded by Thomas J. Carpenter, who held the office for many years. One year after founding the National Women's Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony spoke at Barrett Hall in Champaign. Her topic was Work Wages and the Ballot. Early settlers near the site of the future village of Gifford included C. H. Willard, Alexander Craigmile, George A. Jackson, J. L. Buxton, F. J. L. Newburn, T. P. Barnes, H. M. Spencer, and two Swedes by the name of Lindeleaf. Dr. Stephens, the first recorded doctor in Foosland, was succeeded by Dr. H. L. Harris. November 4 -J. W. Langley was elected as the first state senator from Champaign County.
1871	Dr. Job S. Coggshall began his practice in Ogden; he continued for over thirty years, until his death in 1902. Thomas Edward Franks had the first greenhouse in Champaign, at the corner of Randolph and Vine. The Big Four Railroad shops opened east of Urbana. The Methodist Church and the Christian Church in Ogden were both erected.
1872	Col. George Scroggs became the sole proprietor of the Champaign County Gazette. St. Malachy's Church was built in Rantoul.
1873	A new brick two-story school was built in Tolono. It served until 1917 when it was replaced by a new building. June 5 -The Alumni Association of the University of Illinois organized with fifteen charter members.

1874	C. W. Gulick erected the first brick business building in Rantoul. Rantoul's first city building was built. It was destroyed by fire in 1901; when rebuilt, it contained fire walls eight inches thick. David B. Stayton was appointed Township Supervisor of the St. Joseph Township, a post he was to hold for twenty-three years. Louisa Allen became the head of the new School of Domestic Art and Science at the Illinois Industrial University. Although the experimental program lasted only six years, and was terminated upon the marriage of Miss Allen to University Regent John M. Gregory, it was the precursor of the School of Home Economics. The fourth township high school in the state was built in Tolono. July 31 -The Urbana Free Library was organized as a part of the city government. This was an outgrowth of a Library Association formed in 1872. Area libraries contained the following: Rantoul, 1070 bound volumes, 11 magazines, 29 newspapers; Champaign, 800 volumes; Urbana, 1000 volumes, and over 30 magazines and newspapers.
1875	The parent firm of Cogdal and Hobbs Real Estate was founded in Urbana by H. M. Russell. Tandy Pritchard erected the first dwelling at Fisher. Wilke Emkes broke a section of nearby prairie south of Dillsburg, using two horses and a one-bottom plow. April 16 -Notice was given of a Ku Klux Klan parade at the grove in Rantoul.
1876	The Champaign Art Club was formed. The Illinois State Medical Society met in Champaign-Urbana. A move was initiated to enact a state medical practices act. Dr. E. C. Bartholow of Mahomet was elected to the state legislature. He and his colleague, the Hon. R. A. Bower of Tolono, were instrumental in having the Illinois Medical Practices Act passed in 1876/77. March 16 -H. D. Corlies opened a drug store in Gifford; West and Collison opened a store, and Henry Flesner was named Gifford's first postmaster. W. B. Marvel opened a store and harness shop in Penfield. A Methodist church was built in Gifford. The Baptist congregation shared the facility until they built their own church in 1888.

1877	The St. Joseph Methodist Church erected its first building; this structure burned in 1893. The building which was erected to replace it the following year served until it in turn was replaced with a new building in 1915/1916. This church served both the Mayview and St. Joseph congregations until 1942. At that time, they were separated by mutual consent. A B'nai Brith chapter was organized in Champaign-Urbana. Morris Lowenstern was one of the founders. June 17 -The First Baptist Church in Penfield was organized.
1878	September 2 -St. Mary's School opened in Champaign.
1879	January 16 -The Illinois State Historical Society was organized. Judge Joseph Cunningham of Urbana was a member of the first board of directors.
1880	The St. Joseph Church of Christ built its first building. The present brick building was dedicated in 1909.
1881	February 25 -The village of St. Joseph was incorporated.
1882	February 3 -Smallpox cases were reported in Champaign. February 12 -St. John's Lutheran Church in Royal was dedicated. August 21 -Formal opening of the Champaign Opera House, formerly the Barrett House, was held.
1882	M. D. Coffeen, nephew of the earlier M. D. Coffeen who helped to establish Homer, opened a flouring mill there. The Champaign National Bank opened. It was founded by Edward Bailey, who had been associated in the private bank of Bailey, Maxwell, and Miller, and by his father, David Bailey, one of the founders of the First National Bank of Champaign.

1883	September 8 -The first newspaper in St. Joseph was issued. The St. Joseph Record, which later operated in St. Joseph for many years, was a descendent lof this early' newspaper. The University Place Christian Church was founded. Their first church building was built in 1884 in the 600 block of West White Street, Champaign. Their current building was dedicated in 1936.
1884	St. Mary's convent was erected in Champaign. Benjamin Gifford drained 7,500 acres of swampland In Champaign County by creatin:g a system of thirty miles of drainage ditches. The first pavement in Champaign was laid on Main Street. Attempts to establish a coal mine in Sidney at first appeared successful when a high grade of coal was struck. However, the shaft repeatedly filled with water, and this, coupled with machinery breakdowns, caused the project to be abandoned.
1885	The first bank in Sidney, Winston's Bank, was established by Miller Winston. In 1911, the State Bank was organized. In 1931, the two banks merged. The Exchange Bank was founded in Gifford by James M. Morse. It was later incorporated as the Morse State Bank. In 1950, the name was changed to the Gifford State Bank. The First Christian Church of Urbana was organized. A church building was erected on Main Street in 1889. The name of the Illinois Industrial University was changed to the University of Illinois.
1886	Abe Bowers, one of five persons from the first graduating high school class at St. Joseph, entered the first class of the newly named University of Illinois. The post office at Royal was established.
1887	Isaac Hess graduated from Champaign High School. He became a leading merchant of Philo and an outstanding naturalist and ornithologist. He gathered data on 104 species of birds within a ten mile radius of his home. Dr. C. D. Culver of Mahomet had a telephone line strung between his residence and his office.
1888	Jonas Lester got a contract from the village of Mahomet to gravel Main Street from Ford's corner to Geiger's corner. St. Mary's Church in Champaign was dedicated.

c.1889	Electricity came to Homer.
c.1890	The Penfield Methodist Episcopal Church (now the Penfield United Methodist Church) erected a church building which is still in use today.
1890	The Broadlands Boardinghouse was built to serve hired hands working on nearby farms. The second floor once housed the first school in Broadlands.
1893	A bell wa.s installed in St. John's Lutheran church in Royal. The bell IS stIll rung on .Saturday evenings to prepare parishioners for the Sabbath. Sidney's first concrete walk was built by J. W B koco.
1894	Oil lights were placed in the business district and residential areas of St. Joseph. It was not until 1912 that the village had electric street lights. Gifford's business district burned. In less than three hours twenty businesses were destroyed, including two grain elevators: April 6 -The Twin City Ice and Cold Storage Company commenced the manufacture of ice and distilled water.
1895	A franchise was granted to the Homer Telephone Company. Telephone service began in 1899. The Julia F. Burnham Hospital opened on Springfield Avenue between Third and Fourth Streets in Champaign. In 1920, it became the city hospital.

1896	The Beardsley Hotel opened in Champaign.
1896/97	Mahomet school principal C. A. Pricer was paid $70 for a nine month term. Teachers' salaries ranged from $35 to $45.
1897	The Homer Woman's Club was organized as the Tuesday Club.
1898	The St. Lawrence Church m Penfield was organized as an independent parish. The first maypole dance at the University of Illinois was held. July 12 -Champaign's Doane House was destroyed by fire.
1899	A depot for the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis (Big Four) Railroad was built on Broadway Street in Urbana. It is now the Station Theater. The Grace Methodist Church organized in Urbana. Their first building was the old creamery and cheese factory on East Main. Summer band concerts began in the park in St. Joseph. C. W. Dale of Ogden, a band leader and music instructor, published the Company M Fourth Illinois March dedicated to soldiers of the Spanish-American War. Telephone service was established in Ogden. February 13 -A Rantoul fire destroyed half of the business district. The fire started in the Messenger Hotel; fire fighting was hampered by a temperature of fifteen below zero and frozen hoses. May 1 -The fountain in West Side Park, Champaign, was dedicated. Its bronze statue, Prayer for Rain was designed by Edward Kemeys, who also designed several groups for the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The fountain was donated by B. J. Johnson. June 9 -The Wood Shop at the University of Illinois was destroyed by fire.
1900	The First Presbyterian Church in Urbana was built on West Green Street. The Church was organized in September, 1850. The banking firm of Raynor and Babb was established in Homer by Eugene N. Raynor and Charles D. Babb. A new school in Gifford was completed. It replaced one built in 1898 that burned down before it was ever occupied. It, in turn had been built to replace the original building built in 1896 which burned in 1898. The Pleasant Hill Church, which was incorporated in 1893, built a church with the assistance of the Sidney Methodist Church. Mrs. A. G. Porterfield was the first Sunday School Superintendent. In 1962, the Pleasant Hill Church united with the Sidney Methodist Church.

1901	St. Patrick's Parish in Urbana was established. On May 24, St. Patrick's Church was dedicated. It was designed by George P. Stauduhar, who designed many midwest churches, including the Catholic churches at Penfield, Rantoul, and Ivesdale. The first priest at St. Patrick's was Fr. J. H. Cannon; he served until 1910. The first telephone in Rantoul was installed by the Coon Brothers. A telephone company was organized in Sidney by C. C. McElwee. Thomas Arkle Clark was appointed the University of Illinois' Dean of Men, the first such position in any university. The Christian Church of Sidney erected a house of worship. The Presbyterian Church in Homer, organized by Rev. Enouch Kingsbury and A. P.Flech in 1857, was incorporated as the First Presbyterian Church of Homer. The first church building was erected in 1872. It was remodeled in 1901, the first of several alterations and additions. August 9 -The entire business section of Rantoul was destroyed by fire. August 20 -A dedication was held for the soldiers monument at the GAR cemetery at Homer.
1902	The Dewey State Bank was established. June 19 -The Neal Opera House opened on Sangamon Street in Rantoul to a sellout crowd of several hundred people. Manager A. P. Neal's first production was The King's Rival a popular John Griffith comedy. University of Illinois student R. C. Matthews became the country's first collegiate cheerleader. December 6 -The Illinois Traction System officially opened between Urbana and St. Joseph.
1903	One of the big attractions at the Rantoul Fourth of July celebration was a merry-go-round. The day included speakers, games, and fireworks at Mink Grove. October 7 -The St. Joseph Woman's Club was organized with twenty-seven members. The Methodist Church of Homer was established. The Busboom Grain Company elevator was built in Royal by William Kuhne of Rantoul.

1904

The Citizens Bank was established m Tolono by Lawrence Sandwell. The Champaign Country Club was organized. Early presidents included: B. F. Harris, M. W. Busey, N. M. Harris, W. L. Gray, and R. R. Mattis. April 30 - The Retail Merchants' Association of Champaign was organized; Frank Robeson was elected president. The following year the name was changed to The Chamber of Commerce of Champaign, and J. R. Trevett was elected president. Royal's first doctor, Dr. George Potter, practiced medicine there from 1904 to 1920. Some of the lumber to build his home and office came from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. He delivered 2,600 babies and organized the Christian Church in Royal. Luther Tillotson started a bank in Royal. The first block of concrete sidewalks was laid in St. Joseph. More were laid the following year. The first train through Royal was on May 18; the first passenger train was on June 13. The first automobile in Rantoul was a Rambler owned by J. B. Meneley; it was soon joined by Dr. F. S. Diller's Oldsmobile:

1905

Homer Park opened. It drew as many as 3,000 visitors on Sundays with attractions such as a steam-powered excursion boat, skating and dancing facilities, and swimming with a toboggan water slide and a diving tower. Evangelist Billy Sunday spoke in Rantoul and claimed 550 converts to Christianity. The week long revival brought him $2,481. His thirty-nine year preaching career included three hundred revivals where he reportedly received more than $1 million in "free-will" offerings. As a result of his strong prohibition stance in Rantoul, the townspeople forced the closing of all six Rantoul saloons and at the next election voted the town dry. The bank in Royal was robbed. The robbers escaped with an unknown amount of money after blowing up the safe. The explosion threw the door of the safe through the roof of the building. Water consumption in the twin cities rose to 1,000,000 gallons' per day. By 1917, it became 2,000,000 gallons per day. The Rantoul Press published 1,550 papers per week. Its competitor, The Rantoul News, also had recovered from the major fire of 1901. The two papers merged in the 1920's.

1905/1906	The Fisher Electric Light Plant was built. At first privately operated, it became the village property in 1908.
1906	The Flatiron Building in Urbana was erected at the junction of Springfield Avenue and Main Street. May 10 - The Mahomet school burned. It housed both the grade school and the high school classes. The original plan of the school was closely followed when it was rebuilt in 1908. It is still used as a grade school.
1907	The first Corn Carnival and Fair was held in St. Joseph. It is still held each year in August. Much of Foosland was destroyed by fire.
1908	The Ogden Woman's Club was organized; it was federated in 1910.
c.1909	The St. Joseph Co-operation Creamery opened; in May, 1910, it announced the biggest day of churning - 637 pounds of butter.

1910	. June 28 -The St. Joseph elevator burned. Damage was estimated at $7,000. The first cars in Sidney were purchased by F. B. McElroy and by Albert Hudson. They were driven in the summer months and in the winter were stored on wooden blocks. A third round barn erected by the University of Illinois was completed on St. Mary's Road, Urbana, making this the only place in the world where three round barns can be seen at once. The university's first round barn was built in 1902.
1911	Carrie Busey began work for the Champaign School system. She served as secretary to the Superintendent until her retirement in 1951. Carrie Busey School, 1605 West Kirby Avenue, Champaign, was named for her.
1912	October -Carle Park was donated to Urbana by Mrs. Margaret Burt Carle Morris. The Penfield school burned.
1913	The Fisher News was founded by Pearl Hollingsworth.
1914	Dr. Henry E. Rowan, Champaign's first black physician, began practice on Walnut Street. He was in practice there until his retirement in 1929. The Chief, a newspaper in Pesotum, was founded by A. F. Alblinger and Company. A meeting of several women's organizations in St. Joseph was held for the purpose of receiving voting instructions. Elections required separate ballot boxes for women. October -Champaign's new high school building at State and Green Streets opened. It included an auditorium with seating for 1,000, a swimming pool, gymnasium, cafeteria, and laboratories. Enrollment for 1914 was 585.
1915	January -The Four Nightingales, appearing at the Orpheum Theater in Champaign, took the opportunity to reorganize and rename themselves the Marx Brothers. Two blocks of David Street in Sidney were paved with bricks. November 4 -a new two-story brick school building was dedicated for St. Mary's parish in Champaign. A second building for the St. Joseph Methodist Church was completed.
1916	The Farmers Elevator Company of Royal was organized. The new Urbana High School opened. The three-story building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Joseph W. Royer who also designed the ounty courthouse and many other local buildings. The high school included an auditorium seating 800; laboratories, a model dining room, pantry, and sewing room; a cafeteria; and locker rooms with lockers vented directly into the ventilating system. A vacuum cleaning system for the building was also a modern feature. A gymnasium wing complete with swimming pool and a running track was started in 1917. The university's Ceramics Building was completed on Goodwin Avenue in Urbana.

1917

The St. Lawrence Academy in Penfield opened under the direction of the Dominican Sisters. At first a grade school, it later became a four-year high school. It was discontinued in 1943. September 17 - The Chicago Tribune reported that Walter Elmer Ekblaw of Rantoul, a geologist and explorer, took his University of Illinois football with him on an expedition to Greenland and organized the first Eskimo football team there. Ekblaw, a member of the class of 1910, was a co-founder of the first collegiate homecoming, which was conducted at the University of Illinois that year. While at the university, he was also the editor of the Daily Illini. The Fowler Bank, later the Fowler State Bank, was established in Rantoul. In 1962, the name was changed to the Bank of Rantoul. February -Mary E. Busey donated $35,000 to build a library for Urbana. Ground was broken for the building in the summer.

1918	April 16 -Fire destroyed the Methodist Church and parsonage in Rantoul. Busey Hall, a university dormitory for women, was completed on West Nevada Avenue in Urbana.
1919	The Rantoul school was destroyed by fire. It housed both the grade school and high school classes. Following the fire, construction was started on a new elementary school on the site of the old building and on a high school one block east.
1920	Carle Hospital opened in Urbana. The original building was the home of the Simeon Busey family. The enterprise was funded by a bequest from Margaret Burt Carle Morris. Robeson's moved to their new store on Church and Randolph Streets in Champaign. It was the largest department store in central Illinois at the time. The present Methodist Church building in Ogden was built. It was dedicated January, 9, 1921. Champaign's Mittendorf Funeral Home acquired the first motor ambulance in the area. The university's Smith Memorial Music Hall was completed. The building was the result of a gift of $215,000 from Champaign attorney Captain Thomas Jefferson Smith in memory of his wife, Tina Weedon Smith. Captain Smith was a veteran of the Civil War.
1921	The University High School building was completed at 1212 W. Springfield, Urbana. The purpose of the school was to provide an education laboratory for the university. A concrete bridge spanning the Salt Fork was built to the west of St. Joseph. The bridge was the largest in the county at the time. It was used until 1972 when it was officially closed. The Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District was formed by a favorable vote of the twin cities. Dr. J. C. Dodds, P. W. Wright, and G. H. Radebaugh were appointed as the first Board of Trustees. The University of Illinois started its own radio station. The call letters WILL were assigned to the station in 1928.
1922	September 29 -A hard road connecting Champaign and Danville was opened with a parade starting in Champaign and stopping in each village along the way. University of Illinois professor Joseph T. Tykociner presented the world's first public demonstration of sound-on-film, which revolutionized the motion picture industry. A new building was dedicated by the Christian Church in Ogden. A new parsonage was built in 1931.

1924	June 15 -Fire destroyed the entire south side of the business district of Royal. Street underpasses were completed under the Illinois Central Railroad tracks to provide better access between Champaign and Urbana. The project was begun in 1899. The tracks were originally laid at ground level. The Annabelle Ruling Memorial Home for children was established in Rantoul as a result of a bequest from Madeline E. Ruling.
1925	The Royal Band was organized and gave their first concert. In 1926 the band obtained uniforms. Their first marching practice was in the pasture on Fred Osterbur's farm. Streets were paved in St. Joseph
1926	July 1 -Mahomet's Patton Lumber Company burned. Collegiate Cap and Gown Company was founded in Champaign. Today, this company is the largest of its kind. Graduation gowns have not only supplied schools from kindergarten through college, but also many choirs, honorary degree recipients, and some Supreme Court Justices.
1927	Crystal Lake Park swimming pool opened in Urbana. E. J. Molloy introduced the first combine" in Champaign County on his farm northeast of Rantoul.

1928	May 10 -The relocation and rebuilding of the St. John's Lutheran Church of Royal was completed. The brick building, which had been erected in 1912 and located in the country, was dismantled and reassembled two miles east in the village of Royal.
1929	The world's first mass parachute jump of ten parachutists took place at Chanute Field. Champaign's Christie Clinic was founded by Drs. C. W. and J. M. Christie, sons of an Irish farmer who came to Rantoul in the late nineteenth century and raised draft horses. The Clinic started on the top floor of the Lincoln Building on Main Street. Dr. J. B. Christie joined the clinic in 1934 and Drs. E. C. Albers and William Youngerman in 1935. A surprise party on December 7,1954, at the Champaign Country Club marked the clinic's 50th anniversary. Plaques were presented to the Christies by Dr. Wendell R. Freeman, a member of the Board of Governors.
1930	June 2 -July 3 -The first free public kindergarten in Rantoul was in session. Champaign County had 3,315 farms, with an average acreage of 183112 acres per farm. Modern machinery and industrial development enabled fewer farmers to till more acreage, as indicated by a drop of 315 farms and an increase of 18112 acres per farm during the previous decade.

1931	The University of Illinois Ice Rink was completed.
1932	Forty-two trunks containing John Philip Sousa's band library arrived at the university, as provided for in his will. The collection of several thousand copies of music included 110 of Sousa's own marches.
1933	Rantoul's Municipal Building was completed at a cost of $25,000. Today it serves as a police station and court. January 1-Knowlton and Bennett started their forty-fifth year as a drugstore in downtown Urbana and had never missed having an ad in an issue of the Champaign County Herald and the Urbana Daily Courier newspapers. January 8 -Fire destroyed the Royal School. January 26 -The University of Illinois College of Agriculture held a short course about new balloon tires for vehicles. Twenty-seven farmers attended. University of Illinois staff salaries were cut 10 percent. No salary was appropriated for the chimes player in Altgeld Hall and the traditional Sunday chimes concerts were suspended -a casualty of the Depression. June 20 -The First National Bank of Rantoul was held up by three gunmen who escaped with about $5,000 in cash. June 28 -The E. R. Peters grain elevator at St. Joseph burned. Roads in the Sidney area were graveled through the Federal Works Program. The Urbana Chamber of Commerce set up a $10,000 fund to back scrip which was accepted as money by Urbana businesses. Lloyd Morey, George Bennett, and Burke Webber were made trustees of the fund. Urbana schools had eight buildings and 2,656 students enrolled, a continuation of stable figures from the previous decade. The Champaign City garage was built on North Market Street with labor paid from federal emergency relief funds. The brickwork reveals the lack of masonry skill by those who erected the building; yet, it remains structurally sound a half-century later.
c.1934	A mechanical corn picker was introduced to the Royal area. A cinch bug plague caused a large crop loss in the county.
1935	The Glover overhead road was completed east of St. Joseph. George Huff retired as Athletic Director of the University of Illinois after thirty-four years of service.

1937	The Champaign County Seed Company was formed. August 2 -Violet Jayne Schmidt died of tuberculosis in Champaign at age seventy. She was the first Dean of Women at the university, serving from 1897 until her marriage to Professor E. C. Schmidt in 1904.
1938	After being accepted at Harvard University, Bob Morrison of Mahomet rode his bicycle all the way to Boston. He later served as a military judge throughout Europe. Fire destroyed a block of the Gifford business district. Four businesses were lost. Damage was estimated at $30,000 -$35,000.
1939	The popcorn concession at the New York World's Fair was operated by Rantoul's Star Popcorn Products Company. It required 150-200 employees to operate the thirty stands; a half-million pounds of popcorn and three tank cars of popcorn seasoning were consumed. St. John's Lutheran Church at Royal was destroyed by fire. The worst flood recorded in Sidney occurred. The Town Hall was flooded, as was the telephone company. Every basement on the east side of David Street was flooded from two to four feet deep.
1940	The betatron was invented by University of Illinois physics professor Donald W. Kerst. Commonly called an atom smasher the betatron was capable of accelerating electrons to energies of hundreds of millions of electron volts. The Champaign County Farm Bureau had 1,785 memberships by the end of the year. The St. Joseph Waterworks was completed at a cost of $66,000 -$33,000 from bonds and $33,000 from W.P.A. funds. The system covered the entire village, with a potential of 260 users.
1941	The 99th Pursuit Squadron, an all-black combat unit, was trained at Chanute Field. January 6 -W. E. Riegel, often credited as the first grower of soybeans in the county, gave a talk to a Farm Institute meeting at Sadorus. The Illinois Bell Telephone Company discontinued the crank-style telephone system, making it no longer necessary to dial county operator 116 and have her dial the number. Robert C. Zuppke resigned as head coach of the University of Illinois after twenty-nine years of service. December -Contracts were awarded to Kuhne-Simmons Construction Company for a $95,700 addition to the Rantoul Grade School. Reliable Plumbing and Heating was awarded $17,000 for their work which used no copper or brass materials due to war regulations. The total cost of the project was $133,000; P.W.A. funds paid all but Rantoul's share of $20,000.

1942	January 29 -Ray Eliot was named head football coach at the University of Illinois to succeed Robert Zuppke. Eliot signed a one-year contract for $6,000. February 8 -Eleanor Roosevelt, the United States' First Lady, cut the cake in celebration of the Illini Union's first birthday. University of Illinois enrollment on the Urbana campus was 7,677 -down by 22% due to the outbreak of war. May 11 -Patrick Nolan of Penfield died in a prison camp in the Philippine Islands. He entered the Army April 18, 1941, before the outbreak of the war.
1943	January -The Champaign County Milk Producers met at their offices, 221 North Race Street, Urbana, and heard a report that the Co-op had a new profit of $3,617.92 for the year 1942. The cheese factory operated in the building basement was a contributing factor to the profit realized.
c.1944	Captain Gayle Laymon, M.D., of the Army Medical Corp, a native of St. Joseph, lost his life in the Aleutians; St. Joseph was represented in World War II by 293 service men and women.
1944	Maurice and Paul Gritten of Penfield, and Charles Reese and Tom Leeper of Sidney lost their lives in the war. January 27 -A United States Women's Army Air Corps school was established at Chanute Field to provide technical training for women. February -The United States Navy Signal School used the University of Illinois Stock pavilion for indoor training. Twenty signal bridges were erected indoors. The Champaign County Board of Review fixed the county's assessed valuation at $55 million. Blackberry School, one of the county's earliest schools, closed; the 1894 building was remodeled and used as a residence. The original school building, built in 1869, was moved across the road to property owned by the University of Illinois. It is adjacent to a two-story log cabin built in 1853 and later covered with clapboard. November 4 -The Champaign County Livestock Marketing Yards were destroyed by a fire which attracted 3,000 spectators. The Sadorus Methodist Church celebrated its 40th Anniversary.

1945	Wayne A. Johnston, a native of Champaign County and a
	graduate of the University of Illinois, was appointed president
	of the Illinois Central Railroad, a position he held until 1965.
	Veterans of the battles of Bataan and Corregidor included the
	following from Champaign County: Charles Schmidt, Penfield;
	Archie Stever, Richard Damm, William Hauser, Richard Beck,
	William Wright, Tony Bilek, Merle Lype and John Miller,
	Rantoul; and Leland Chandler, Fisher.
	September -A cow owned by George W. Johnson of rural
	Gifford was named champion shorthorn milking producer from
	over 1,000 herds in the U. S. and Canada; Abbett's Mary
	produced 19,000 pounds of milk and 851.2 pounds of butterfat
	during her lactation period.
1946	January 10 -Chanute Air Force Base's Separation Center closed
	after discharging thirty thousand men in three months following
	the end of World War II .
	January 31 -Jacklyn H. Lucas, youngest member of the U. S.
	Armed Forces to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor,
	enrolled in University High School. He had left the 8th grade
	at age 14 to join the Marines.
	The Urbana Am Vets Post was organized.
1947	The Illini football team beat U.C.L.A. in the Rose Bowl game
	at Pasadena, California, 43-14.
	The State Highway Department proposed a super highway along
	the route of Bradley Avenue. State Representative Charles
	Clabaugh rejected the proposal and told the Highway
	Department any such plan should be implemented north of
	Champaign so as not to disrupt local residents.
	August -Cole Hospital opened in Champaign.
	Railroad trackage in Champaign County traversed 24,235 miles
	and was valued at $8,047,510. Mileage covered by individual
	railroads was: the Wabash, 71.74, New York Central, 50.81 miles;
	Illinois Central, 45.32 miles; Chicago and Eastern, Illinois, 44.27
	miles; and Illinois Terminal, 30.21 miles.
	Parking meters were installed in Rantoul.
	The soybean crop in Champaign County had an estimated value
	of $8 million. Soybeans were experimented with in the university
	greenhouses in 1903, and were introduced as a crop in Champaign
	County in the 1920's.

1947	September 22 -The Champaign School Board leased the no longer needed USO building to the Illinois Bell Telephone Company.
1948	January -The Champaign County Forest Preserve District was
	established by a unanimous vote of the County Board of
	Supervisors. H. 1. Gelvin, Wayne Winters, and Frank Meers of
	Champaign, C. V. Wilson of Urbana, and Lyle Franks of Tolono
	were named to the first board of directors.
	The East Bend Mennonite Church extensively remodelled their
	building. The church was established about 1889 and held
	services in the Dixon school until 1892.
	Following school consolidation, classes from Seymour's three year
	high school were transferred to Mahomet. In 1961, the 7th and
	8th grade classes were also transferred to Mahomet.
	Attorney Enos Phillips of Urbana was appointed chairman of the
	Community Plan Committee, which engaged Swanson and
	Associates to develop the C-U Comprehensive Development
	Plan, completed in 1950. Ten special advisory committees were
	formed to assist the professional planners. Among the 120
	community advisors were two women: Ruth B. Jones and Mrs.
	George Ekblaw. Taylor Thomas was the only black person
	appointed to the committee.
	The first televised Illini football game was on WGN-TV, Chicago.
	The contract specified that there be no commercials shown of
	beer, wine, or laxatives.
	Tolono, Sidney, Philo, Sadorus, and Pesotum school districts
	consolidated to form the Community Unit 7 District.
	May 5 -Th St. Joseph-Stanton Fire Protection District formed
	a volunteer fire department, which was the third district
	department formed in Illinois.
1949	The Urbana Half Century Club celebrated its 25th anniversary.
	The club is composed of persons who were born in Urbana more
	than fifty years ago, or who have resided in Urbana for fifty
	years.
	The business area of Broadlands was destroyed by fire.
	February -WDWS radio station moved to its new location one
	mile south of Champaign on U.S. Highway 45.
1950	Carl Mosson of Penfield, a veteran of World War II, was killed in the Korean conflict. Rantoul's servicemen who lost their lives in the Korean conflict included Donald L. Oscar Evans aIld Kenneth W. Reich. The Fourth of July Freedom Celebration, Incorporated, of C-U was formed and J. W. O'Neill was named chairman of the first annual celebration. September -A mortgage-burning ceremony was held at the Salem Baptist Church. The church has been serving the needs of Champaign's black community since 1867. December -The Champaign Eagles Club was formed; their clubrooms at 18% Taylor Street were formerly occupied by the Champaign Moose Club.

1951	Residents moved into their new homes in Urbana's Carver Park, a black subdivision north of Bradley Avenue and east of Wright Street. The project was initiated by Charles E. Phillips, a black insurance agent and savings and loan executive: it was financed entirely with capital from black families.
1952	September 10 -Tolono's Lincoln marker was rededicated. The marker, erected in 1932, commemorates a brief address made there February 11, 1861, by President-elect Lincoln on his way to take office in Washington, D. C.
1953	Ross Wiley of Sidney was chosen King for a day" at the University of Illinois's Father's Day. Champaign-Urbana Jaycees sponsored two performances of cowboy movie star Gene Autry and his horse, Champion, at the Champaign Jr. High School. Five thousand people attended. The village of Royal was incorporated.
1954	The village of Gifford was incorporated. January -The St. Joseph Grade School burned~ Damage was estimated at $250,000 to $300,000. December 4 -Sheriff Everett Hedrick began his first term of office. His first case was a bicycle theft report. Hedrick served three more terms as sheriff for a total of sixteen years. Sinai Temple, the first Hebrew congregation in Champaign County, celebrated its Golden Anniversary. Twenty members joined at the first meeting, February 7, 1904. J. M. Kaufman was elected president. In 1918, the congregation erected a temple at the southwest corner of State and Clark Streets in Champaign, which was used until the interior was seriously damaged by fire January, 1971.

1955	April 5 -Urbana voters defeated a proposed forestry tax for the fourth time, 1,284 to 1,167. May 28 -Homer's four-day Centennial celebration began. The gift of a public library for St. Joseph, to be known as the Swearingen Memorial Library, was made by Mrs. Maude Davis.
1955	November -Nancy Turner, Champaign High School junior, was chosen the top livestock show person and her Angus summer yearling, Julius, was named grand champion of the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago. The steer later sold for $16,125. The University of Illinois was named recipient of $1 million in the will of Fred S. Bailey, Sr., of Champaign. Bailey owned a controlling interest in the Champaign National Bank.
1956	The Sidney Christian Church observed the 100th anniversary of its founding. It was the first church in Sidney. The present building, dedicated in 1904, was built on the site of an earlier structure, which was torn down in 1901. Ladies of the church salvaged bricks from the old foundation and cleaned them for reuse in the new structure. A swimming pool was constructed in Rantoul's City Park on Wabash Street. Bevier Hall, the university's new home economics building, was completed. April - United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren participated in the dedication of the new University of Illinois law building. May - Lightning struck the tower of the Champaign County Courthouse and toppled debris onto Main and Broadway Streets. ~ June - Four and one-half tons of books and pamphlets from the personal collection of Carl Sandburg arrived at the University of Illinois Library, a gift of the author/poet. November - Mrs. Ivy Baker Priest, United States Treasurer, spoke at the Champaign Moose Club.

1957

Earl Bantz· assumed the duties of Champaign County Farm Advisor. He retired in 1980 after serving twenty-two years. Champaign County's first Farm Advisor, C. H. Oathout, served from 1915 to 1923. The Champaign Township Park Commission was reorganized as a Park District. D. C. "Pick" Dodds was named as the first president. He had served on the park commission since 1930. Champaign County had the highest rate of polio in Illinois. September - Champaign's University Avenue and Church Street were limited to one-way traffic to connect with the I-57 interchange at the west edge of the city. Training for missile technicians started at Chanute Air Force Base.

1958	January - Mrs. H. S. Stillwell of Urbana headed over 1,000 Champaign County women in a door-to-door Mothers' Drive for the March of Dimes. The women encouraged the use of Salk vaccine for polio protection and collected funds to be used in the fight against the spreading polio epidemic. The First United Methodist Church of Champaign observed the 100th anniversary of their founding as the Methodist Episcopal Church in West Urbana. Champaign Mayor Virgil F. Lafferty appointed Donald E. Moyer, Sr., the first chairman of the city's Human Relations Committee. Unity High School opened near Tolono.
1959	The Dun and Bradstreet Reference Book reported 1,517 businesses in Champaign County. Champaign had 724; Urbana, 320; Rantoul, 142; Homer, 32; Fisher, 29; Mahomet, 29; and St. Joseph, 21. The remaining 221 businesses were spread among the other towns of the county. April 24 - Television station WCID aired its first program, "Northwest Passage", from 6:30-7:00 p.m. Originally assigned Channel 33, the station was changed in 1967 to Channel 15. Champaign's Centennial Park, featuring a large swimming pool, was opened. Facilities for tennis were added later. The Illinois Bell Telephone Company reported forty-four thousand telephones in use in Champaign-Urbana, an increase of three thousand over 1958. Champaign held its first election of a mayor and city council under its Council-Manager form of government.
1960	The University of Illinois Airport terminal and control tower were dedicated. The airport was renamed University of Illinois-Willard Airport in 1961. Colwell Systems, Inc. moved into its new headquarters. The company was founded in 1927 by John B. and Pauline Groves Colwell. October - John F. Kennedy spoke from a platform in front of the university auditorium. He was the first presidential candidate to be allowed to address the students. Harry Lovering Gill was posthumously voted into the Sporting Goods Hall of Fame. As a competitor, he won the 1900 World's All-around Championship in track and field. In 1904, he began a thirty-year coaching career at the University of Illinois. In 1920, Gill developed the first accepted American-made javelin, later the first commercial starting blocks and the first aluminum vaulting pole. The Harry Gill Company was formed in Urbana in 1937. September - Wayne Broeren, a three-time All-American Wheelchair basketball player, won a gold medal in basketball at the Para-Olympics Games in Rome. He and his partner, Jack Whitman, also won gold medals in darchery. Whitman went on to win two more medals in archery that year, two in 1962, four in 1963, and two in 1964, making a total of eleven Olympic World Wheelchair gold medals. Both men reside in Champaign. A university enrollment of 21,955 resulted in the upper floor of McKinley Hospital being used for coed housing.
1961	January - The Gifford State Bank was robbed during the night. Charles W. Dale celebrated fifty years as the editor of the St. Joseph Record. Guy Clifford Comstock of Champaign made his last trip as an Illinois Central Railroad Engineer after a half century of service on the railroad. He began work in 1910 as a roundhouse helper. On his last run he drove the famed City of New Orleans to Centralia, Illinois. Ground was broken for the Bethany Park Christian Church Sanctuary at the northeast corner of Route 136 and Maplewood Drive on the east edge of Rantoul. Architects were Berger, Kelley, and Unteed of Champaign and the contractor was John Jacobson. As a result of the Dutch elm disease, only ninety-four elms remained on the University of Illinois campus - a decrease of 2,173 from ten years earlier. The Champaign County Urban League office was established.
1962	January - The Illinois Bell Telephone Company changed the dialing system for local calls in the twin cities from five to seven digits. The Alma Mater statue at the University of Illinois was moved from behind the Auditorium to its present site at the southeast corner of Wright and Green Streets in Urbana. The St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church observed its fiftieth anniversary of the dedication of their church building, which was designed by George Stauduhar. The earlier church, a white frame structure, is located nearby on the church property. The Champaign County Farm Bureau celebrated its 50th anniversary. The Meadow Gold Company moved into its new headquarters.
1963	The First Baptist Church of Urbana observed the 125th anniversary of its founding. The present building, erected in 1896, was enlarged with the addition of a wing in 1926. When it was first organized in 1836, it met in the Brumley school. Rantoul's J. W. Eater Junior High School defeated the Chicago Heights Washington Junior High, 47 to 46, in a double overtime to win the Illinois State Junior High School Basketball Championship. Kraft Foods opened a factory on eleven acres adjacent to the Humko Foods plant. WRTL radio station in Rantoul went on the air under the partnership of Dick Williams and William Brown.
1964	January 2 - The "Illini" football team beat the Washington "Huskies", 17 to 7, in the Rose Bowl game at Pasadena, California. The Immanuel Lutheran Church of Flatville observed the 50th anniversary of the erection of their church building, often referred to as the :'cathedral on the prairie." Its tall steeple can be seen for many miles, a vis able symbol of the German immigrants who settled in the area in the 1870's. December 6 - The First United Presbyterian Church of Urbana dedicated its new building at 602 West Green Street. September - Centennial High School opened as an annex to Champaign High School. In the fall of 1967, it became a separate four year high school and the name of Champaign High School was changed to Central High School. Compulsory ROTC ended at the University of Illinois.
1965	The Christian Science Organization on the university campus dedicated a new building designed by Paul Rudolph, former head of the Department of Architecture at Yale University. The campus organization. was formed in 1906. The G. 1: Bill of educational benefits ended after twenty-one years. Forty-five thousand veterans, including fifteen thousand Korean War veterans, had studied at the University of Illinois through the program of financial assistance. June 20 - The Covered Bridge at the Lake of the Woods Park was dedicated. Construction began in 1963. The First National Bank in Champaign celebrated its 100th anniversary. The present building, erected in 1900, replaced an earlier structure of 1872 at the same site. The Dewey and Fisher school districts were consolidated, and a new high school building opened in Fisher. The Dewey school, built in 1928, was discontinued as a school building. It was later remodeled into a residence. Mrs. Theodore Peterson became the first woman named to the Urbana Park Board.

1965	Joseph Kuhn and Company, 33 East Main Street, observed its 100th anniversary as Champaign retailers. The Foosland Grain Company acquired the elevator at Bellflower. In 1968, the elevator celebrated its 50th year of operation.
1966	The Commercial Bank of Champaign installed the area's first televised-teller facility in a drive-up at their bank on the northwest corner of University Avenue and First Street. The University of Illinois' Rehabilitation-Education Center at the northwest corner of Stadium Drive and Oak Street was dedicated. William C. Rose, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Illinois, was named the recipient of the National Medal of Science for his discovery of the essential amino acid, threomine. Revitalization of Champaign's "Old Town" was announced by O. F. Bartholow of Vaughn and Bartholow Real Estate. The old Chester and O'Byrne transfer company warehouse at 63 East Chester Street was converted into a restaurant and lounge called "Chances R." June.4 - The Capron Memorial play sculpture by William Fothergill was dedicated in Champaign's West Side Park. The Champaign Park District's Prairie Farm, given in memory of Margaret O. Franklin by her husband, John, opened in Centennial Park with baby animals for children to touch. Tommy Stewart, Champaign High School coach, was named the Illinois Prep Coach of the year. Weller Homes Incorporated offered to sell new houses in Champaign's Holiday Park and Urbana's Scottswood subdivisions for no money down on Veterans Administration loans or less than one hundred dollars down in any other financial arrangement. Under a revised University of Illinois administration, Jack Peltason was named the first chancellor for the ChampaignUrbana campus and Earl Porter was named the first secretary to the Board of Trustees. December - The Lindsey Triplets, Anita, Becky, and Cathy Lincicome of Philo, entertained servicemen at the Thule Air Force Base, Greenland, during a holiday tour sponsored by the U. S. Department of Defense. December - The new Champaign Public Post Office opened at the northeast corner of Columbia and Neil Streets. Beginning January 1, 1967, post offices required the use of zip codes on all mail.
1967	January 25/26 - a severe ice storm struck Champaign County and destroyed 57 percent of the trees in the county. Electric power was cut off in some areas for weeks. The storm caused damage estimated at several million dollars. January - Ezra Levin, a biochemist from Champaign, was notified that fish flour, a food product he had developed twelve years earlier from whole fresh fish, was approved for human consumption by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Levin was president of the Viobin Corporation in Monticello, Illinois. In its centennial year, enrollment at the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois was 30,407. There were 177 physically handicapped students. Men students outnumbered women 20,173 to 10,234. November - The twelve-sided, three-story Park Circle Professional Building, designed by the firm of Doyle and Brotherson, was completed at 507 South Second Street, Champaign. December 20 - Lewis H. Clausen, President of the Champaign National Bank, announced a new drive-up facility would be built at the northeast corner of Springfield Avenue and Randolph Street due to frequent congestion of traffic near the bank's downtown site at Park Avenue and Randolph Street. Assessed valuation of property in the county was estimated at $601 million, an increase of almost $42 million over that of 1966. St. Thomas's Roman Catholic Church in Ivesdale celebrated its 100th anniversary. Their church building was erected in 1893.
1968	January 21 - A train derailment of forty-five cars at Royal caused five hundred thousand dollars damage. The Sidney United Church was formed from the merger of the St. Paul's Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church. The new congregation met in the Presbyterian Church building while plans were made to build a new facility, a gift of Mrs. Mabel Hunter who was a former resident of Sidney. The Champaign County Forest Preserve opened its museum at the Lake of the Woods, Mahomet, with a collection of artifacts given by William S. Redhed of Homer. Plans for a major auto sales and service complex at 2000 South Neil Street, Champaign, were announced. Ground was broken for the Urbana Civic Center.
1969	The Clifford-Jacobs Forging Company observed its 50th anniversary. Originally a two-man partnership, by the 1980's the company grew to employ an average of nearly three hundred people at its site north of Champaign. The company custom manufactures die steel forged parts for heavy equipment used in mining, farming, earth moving, tunnelling, oil field exploration, and the aircraft industry.
1970	The City of Champaign adopted an affirmative action ordinance. The 100th anniversary of Parkville in Sadorus Township was observed. Originally the settlement was called Soonover; it was renamed in 1870. October 21 - Interstate Highway 72 opened from I-57 at Champaign to White Heath, Illinois. The eleven-mile section cost $5.6 million. It linked the previously completed section between White Heath and Monticello.
1971	Chanute Air Force Base ended all flight operations. Richard Davis was the first black person to be elected to the Champaign Park Board. The village of Bondville was incorporated. May 1 - Amtrak took over all passenger service on the Illinois Central Railroad. June - Urbana lost its major manufacturer. The Magnovox plant closed due to reduced government contracts; one thousand workers became unemployed. Heimlicher's Sundry Store, which occupied the historic Cattle Bank building at the northeast corner of University Avenue and First Street in Champaign, was gutted by fire. Knowlton and Bennett drugstore sold their business to photographer Edward H. Dessen. The business was started in 1877. In 1926, the present building at the southeast corner of Race and Main Streets was built.
1972	Barney Grill of Rantoul was elected president of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor. Voters approved the establishment of the Champaign County Mental Health (708) Board. Betty Lazarus was named the first executive director. The first teachers' strike in Champaign's Unit Four School District took place. It lasted one week. Democrat James Burgess, .Jr., retired military officer, was elected County States Attorney. He was the first black person to be elected to an administrative office in the county. Burgess was later appointed a federal judge.
1973	A county zoning ordinance was enacted. Bikeways were established and signs designating routes were posted in the twin cities. The Rantoul Park District opened its Brookfield Golf Course. The Park District was established in 1943. Serving on the first board of directors were: K. T. Frost, Lynn Gibbs, Lee Morris, Lester Ogle, and Russell Waters. September - The Rantoul Plaza Shopping Center opened east of Rantoul on Route 136. The eighty-year old Dewey grain elevator, owned by the Fisher Farmers Coal and Grain Company, was destroyed by fire. One hundred thousand dollars worth of soybeans were lost.
1974	The new Mittendorf Funeral Chapel opened. Organized in 1899 as Mittendorf and Kiler, a combined furniture store and funeral home on Champaign's Main Street, the firm separated in 1914 and Louis Mittendorf moved the funeral services to 134 Park Avenue. From 1925-1974, the Mittendorf Funeral Home was located at the southwest corner of State Street and University Avenue in the former home of Albert Eisner, Sr. An addition to the Urbana Free Library was completed and opened to the public. The $3.1 million addition and extensive remodeling of the 1917 structure was authorized by a three-to-one vote of Urbana citizens in 1971. Work was completed in 1975. Combe Laboratory opened at the Rantoul Industrial Park and provided employment for more than one hundred persons in the manufacture of toiletries. The Sidney Methodist Church and the Philo United Methodist Church merged. A new church building was erected in Section 18 of Sidney Township and the church adopted the name of Countryside United Methodist Church. August 14 - The Mount Vernon United Methodist Church celebrated its 100th anniversary, still using the building dedicated in 1874. The church originally had separate entrances for men and women; the men sat on the north side of the church and the women on the south side.
1975	There were 5,800 non-academic workers employed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. The University of Illinois Large Animal Clinic opened at 1102 West Hazelwood Drive, Urbana, and the Medical Sciences Building opened at 506 South Matthews, Urbana. For $590,000, the Champaign County Forest Preserve District purchased 820 acres of land near Penfield from Kyle Robeson to be used as the Middle Fork Forest Preserve. H. 1. Gelvin, Lyle Franks, and C. V. Wilson retired as board members of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District. All of them had served since the District was formed in 1948. Gelvin had served continuously as the agency's president. The National Academy of A.rts, established in 1971 by Gilbert Wright, obtained the Inman Hotel as a headquarters for their private school for students of ballet, dance, and music. The building was renamed the Pauline G. Colwell Center ' The Illinois Bell Telephone Company's local manager, Harlan James, announced that there were over one hundred thousand telephones in the twin cities The Solo Cup Company, which acquired the former Magnavox plant at 2505 East Main Street, Urbana, employed one hundred and fifty persons in the manufacture of paper cups and other paper and plastic products.
1976	The Chanute Military Credit Union constructed a new $1 million, three-story building at the corner of Garrard Street and Champaign Avenue in Rantoul. March 20 - Tornadoes left fifteen familes homeless in Sadorus and did severe damage at Ogden. Philo and Ivesdale were also hit. Although no one was seriously hurt, dozens of people required medical treatment.
1977	Auctioneer Gordon Hannagan of rural Penfield sold a parcel of land for $4,300 an acre, the highest price which had ever been received for farm land in Champaign County. The Fisher Farmers Grain and Coal Company completed an addition to their grain elevator at Dewey. The company was established in 1906. The Altar Guild of the Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church of Champaign observed its 50th year of selling thousands of decorated Easter eggs to raise funds for the church and altar furnishings. The Champaign- Urbana News Gazette observed its 125th year of operation. It was founded as the Urbana Union in 1852.
1978	December 20 - Cable TV went on the air in the twin cities after eight years of delays caused by franchise negotiations and litigation. The first subscribers to cable TV were Michael and Nancy Kirby of 1304 South Vine Street, Urbana. Construction began on the new county jail.
1979	The Anita Purves Nature Center opened in Crystal Lake Park in Urbana. The Courier newspaper ended publication following 102 years of service to the area. It began as the Champaign County Herald in 1877; in 1934, it was acquired by the Lindsay-Schaub newspapers.

1979	Joan Severns was elected the first woman mayor of Champaign. The Southland Corporation, parent company of 7-Eleven Food. Stores, opened a $10 million food distribution center at the west edge of Champaign.
1980	August - The interior of St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Champaign was extensively damaged by fire. The building was erected in 1957, the third for the congregation. Earlier church buildings were located at 108 East Church Street (1865), and at the southwest corner of Fourth Street and University Avenue (1895). The Foosland Methodist Church observed the 75th anniversary of the 1905 rededication of their church, which was established in the 1870's. Carle Care, a health maintenance organization, was established. by the Carle Medical Center in Urbana.
1981	Albert E. Shelton was selected the Illinois Small-Business Person of the Year. The Shelton Laundry, 1104 North Goodwin, Urbana, was started in 1942 by Shelton's mother. It operated out of their backyard. Sales in 1980 exceeded $1.2 million, making it the largest commercial laundry in Illinois, south of Chicago. January 20 - Marine Sgt. Paul E. Lewis of Homer was released after being held hostage for 444 days in the American Embassy at Teheran, Iran. Several thousand people gathered along Homer's Main Street on January 31 to give Sergeant Lewis a hero's welcome home. Construction began on the University of Illinois' $11.8 million Agriculture Engineering Sciences building at 1208 West Peabody Drive, Urbana. It was funded by a state appropriation to the Food for Century III program.
1982	Chanute Air Force Base received Congressional approval for $23 million in improvements. Rick Schmidt of Royal was elected to the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. The Junior League of Champaign-Urbana celebrated fifty years of community service. The University of Illinois received a $3 million gift from 1932 alumna Helene Foellinger to renovate the 1906 Auditorium building at the south end of the campus quadrangle.
1983	The Universal Bleacher Company in northwest Champaign closed after fifty years of making folding bleachers for gymnasiums. Extreme heat and drought dropped the corn yield in Champaign County to 88.9 bushels per acre. The 1982 yield was 146.8 bushels per acre. The University of Illinois was named the third best public university in the country in a national survey of over six hundred college presidents. The survey was conducted by U. S. News and World Report. The university's Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Building at 2001 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, was dedicated. The facility covered six acres of ground; it contained 158,000 square feet and cost $25 million. Mark Hindsley, director emeritus of the University of Illinois bands, was inducted into the National Band Association Hall of Fame at Troy, Alabama. Congress approved a four-year funding program for $79 million to build a new heating plant at Chanute Air Force Base. Carle Hospital officials determined that their maternity building, opened in 1959, was too energy-inefficient to modernize economically and the building was demolished. Champaign County Farm Bureau Information Director Dennis Riggs reported more than six thousand members. Rodney Morris of rural Champaign was elected as state president of the Future Farmers of America. Sunday, October 23 - Marine Sergeant Joel Livingston of Champaign was one of 241 American servicemen and 58 French paratroopers who were killed by terrorists' bombing of the American Marine Headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon. Staff Sergeant Joe A. Curtis of Champaign, who was stationed at the Beirut Airport instead of the nearby headquarters, escaped the bombing. The Philo Exchange Bank observed its 100th anniversary. December - The Illini Football team won the Big Ten Conference championship with a regular season record of ten wins and one loss. Nine of the victories were over Big Ten Conference teams.

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