Everything about Champaign Illinois totally explained
Champaign is a city in
Champaign County,
Illinois, in the
United States. The city is located 135 miles south of
Chicago and 124 miles west of
Indianapolis,
Indiana. Though in many respects Champaign is still a farm community, it is notable for sharing the campus of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with its sibling city of
Urbana. Thanks to the university and a number of well known technology startups (see below), Champaign is often referred to as the hub of, or at least a significant landmark of, the
Silicon Prairie.
As reported in the
2000 U.S. Census, the city was home to 67,518 people. The city held a special census in
2007 that showed that its population had grown to 75,254. The mayor is Gerald Schweighart, whose term will expire in 2011.
History of Champaign
Champaign was founded in
1855, when the
Illinois Central Railroad laid its rail track two miles west of downtown Urbana. Originally called "West Urbana," it was renamed Champaign when it acquired a city charter in
1860. Both the city and county name were derived from
Champaign County, Ohio.
On
September 22,
1985, Champaign hosted the first
Farm Aid concert at the University of Illinois'
Memorial Stadium. The concert drew a crowd of 80,000 people and raised over $7 million for American family farmers.
In 2005, Champaign-Urbana (specifically the University of Illinois) was the location of the National
Science Olympiad Tournament, attracting young scientists from all 50 states. The city also hosts the state Science Olympiad competition every year. The University of Illinois is next expected to host the National competition in 2010.
Geography
Champaign is located at (40.112981, -88.261227).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.0
square miles (44.1
km²), of which, 17.0 square miles (44.0 km²) of it's land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.12%) is water.
Champaign shares a border with the neighboring city of
Urbana; together they're home to the
University of Illinois. Champaign, Urbana, and the bordering village of
Savoy form the
Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area also known as
Urbana-Champaign or
Champaign-Urbana. It may also be colloquially known as the "Twin Cities" or
Chambana.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 67,518 people, 27,071 households, and 12,452 families residing in the city. The
population density was 3,974.6 people per square mile (1,534.4/km²). There were 28,556 housing units at an average density of 1,681.0/sq mi (648.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 73.16%
White, 15.62%
African American, 0.24%
Native American, 6.83%
Asian, 0.03%
Pacific Islander, 1.94% from
other races, and 2.19% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 4.03% of the population.
There were 27,071 households out of which 22.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.4% were
married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 54.0% were non-families. 36.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city the population was spread out with 17.8% under the age of 18, 31.7% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 15.4% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females there were 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,795, and the median income for a family was $52,628. Males had a median income of $36,574 versus $27,186 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $18,664. About 8.1% of families and 22.1% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 13.0% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.
The 2005 median home value was $131,000, a 6.8% increase from 2004, according to Money Magazine.
Economy
In addition to the University of Illinois, Champaign is also home to
Parkland College. A
Kraft Foods plant (and adjacent
AC Humko plant), the world's largest steam factory, a Fed-Ex Ground hub, and
Herff-Jones (formerly the Collegiate Cap and Gown) form part of the city's industrial base.
The city also features a large technology and software industry mostly focusing around research and development of new technologies. The Research Park, located in southern Champaign and backed by
the University of Illinois, is home to many companies including
iCyt (a biotechnology company), the
Illinois Natural History Survey, the
Illinois State Geological Survey, the
Illinois State Water Survey,
Yahoo!, the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications,
Science Applications International Corporation, State Farm Research Center, and
Tekion (a fuel cell company). Numerous other software and technology companies also have offices in Champaign including
Wolfram Research,
AMD,
Intel,
IBM,
Amdocs, Instarecon,
Phonak,
Power World,
Caterpillar Simulation Center, and
Volition, Inc.. The
United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains the
Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in Champaign.
Partial list of mayors
Landmarks and districts
Champaign City Building
The Champaign City Building serves as the City Hall and is a recognizable landmark. As one of the most visible buildings in the downtown district, it serves as a city symbol, with its likeness featured on the city seal. The ornate decoration,
art deco architecture, and copper roof distinguish the building. The building was originally used by the city as the headquarters for the fire department. It later became the headquarters for the police department, complete with indoor shooting range, before becoming the current city offices.
The Tower at 3rd
The newly-renamed Tower at 3rd (formerly Champaign Hilton, Century 21, Quality Inn, University Inn, Presidential Tower) is located in the Campustown district and is over twenty stories high. A hotel until
2001, it currently houses student apartments and several
University of Illinois offices, including the Office of Continuing Education. The Tower and a massive art-deco apartment complex a few blocks away form a scenic duo in the center of Campustown, giving it a city feel.
Downtown
In the 1980s part of the downtown Champaign area (Neil St.) was closed to vehicular traffic to create a pedestrian mall, but this short-lived experiment was scrapped when business declined. Initiated by Jon "Cody" Sokolski of One Main Development, the downtown area of Champaign was recently the target of a largely successful revitalization effort designed to bring more businesses into the area and return the downtown district to the center of city life. In addition to efforts which restored the facades on many of the historic buildings, additional construction projects including restaurants, bars, shops, office space, and condominiums, have recently increased the size of the downtown area, while still maintaining the distinct turn-of-the-century architecture associated with the city. The new growth in downtown Champaign has coincided with the larger growth of the "north Prospect" shopping district on the city's northern boundary. The growth in the north Prospect area relies, in part, on leapfrogging, moving out to the countryside and developing more remote farm land that eventually connects to the main development. Given the overwhelming success of such suburban shopping areas nationally, new development within any city center represents an alternative to the dominant movement out and away from the cities. In April 2007 One Main Development broke ground on a nine story $30 million dollar mixed use project, the largest ever for downtown Champaign, to be located at the corner of Neil and Church Street. M2 on Neil will feature ground floor retail, office and 50 condominiums. The project is expected to be complete in late 2008. The City of Champaign is also constructing a six story parking structure on Hill Street. Construction on this project is expected to begin in January and be completed by Fall 2008.
Boardman's Art Theatre
Boardman's Art Theatre, which shows critically-acclaimed independent and foreign films, was built in
1913 as the Park Theatre. It has since undergone several changes in name and repertoire, including a phase from 1969 to 1986, in which it showed adult films. The theatre is the only single-screen
movie theater still in existence operating daily as a movie theatre in Champaign-Urbana.
Historic Virginia Theatre
The Historic Virginia Theatre is a recently-restored 1525-seat movie theater, dating back to the 1920s. It has an ornate, Spanish Renaissance-influenced interior, full stage and dressing rooms, and an elaborate Wurlitzer pipe organ. It hosts
Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival (External Link
) and has a single 56' x 23' screen. The theater doesn't have a daily show schedule, but schedules special screenings and live performances several times each month.
Campustown
Located along Green Street, this commercial district serves as the entertainment and retail center for students at the University of Illinois. This area has been undergoing great change since 2002 with the completion of a new $7 million streetscape project. Campustown is now attracting new retail and entertainment stores as well as serving as the center for new construction projects. Several new projects will be opening in 2008 including the 18 story Burnham high-rise and grocery store at 4th and Springfield, and a new 24 story apartment building at 309 East Green Street.
Transportation
Champaign is served by
I-57,
I-72,
I-74, two
railroad lines, and the University of Illinois operated
Willard Airport (CMI). The local bus system, which is supported by the taxpayers of the
Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) and the University of Illinois, serves Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and surrounding areas.
The former
Illinois Central Railroad line — now part of the
Canadian National system — runs north to south through the city. A spur line from the Canadian National line provides service to several large industries, including two large food processing plants, on the west edge of Champaign and two grain elevators in outlying communities to the west. The
Norfolk Southern operates an east to west line through Champaign. The NS line connects industries in eastern Urbana to the Norfolk Southern main line at
Mansfield, Illinois, west of Champaign. The line now operated by Norfolk Southern is the former
Peoria & Eastern Railway, later operated as part of the Big Four (
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway),
New York Central,
Penn Central, and
Conrail systems, being sold by Conrail to Norfolk Southern in
1996. Construction of the line was begun by the
Danville, Urbana, Bloomington and Pekin Railroad. This short-lived entity became part of the
Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railway before the railroad was completed.
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Champaign-Urbana. Amtrak Train 59, the southbound
City of New Orleans, is scheduled to depart Champaign at 10:34 p.m. daily with service to Mattoon, Effingham, Centralia,
Carbondale, Fulton, Newbern-Dyersburg,
Memphis, Greenwood, Yazoo City,
Jackson, Hazlehurst, Brookhaven, McComb, Hammond, and
New Orleans. Amtrak Train 58, the northbound City of New Orleans, is scheduled to depart Champaign at 6:10am daily with service to Kankakee, Homewood, and
Chicago. Champaign-Urbana is also served by Amtrak Train 390/391, the
Saluki, daily in the morning, and Amtrak Train 392/393, the
Illini, daily in the afternoon/evening. Both the Saluki and the Illini operate between Chicago and Carbondale.
Greyhound Lines, Illini Shuttle
(External Link), Lex Express, and Suburban Express
(External Link) bus companies also serve Champaign. In 1999, a newly designed
intermodal transportation center, aptly named
Illinois Terminal by historic reference to the defunct
electric interurban rail line that once ran through Champaign, was completed and serves as a central facility for intercity passenger rail and bus services as well as the MTD's local bus network. The terminal has within the last year experienced a 51% increase in passenger traffic.
Media
FM Radio
88.1 W201CK (Translates 90.7 KHRI) "Air 1", Christian CHR
88.7 WPCD, Parkland College College Radio
89.3 WGNJ, Religious
90.1 WEFT, Community radio
90.9 WILL, Classical music (RDS)
91.7 WBGL, Christian AC (RDS)
92.5 WCFF "92.5 The Chief", Adult Hits (RDS - Artist/Title)
93.5 WEBX "93.5 The Rock" Alternative (RDS)
94.5 WLRW "Mix 94.5" Hot AC (RDS - Artist/Title) (HD Radio)
95.3 WLFH "95.3 The Wolf" Country (RDS)
96.1 WQQB "Q 96", CHR/Pop (RDS)
97.5 WHMS "Lite Rock 97.5" Adult Contemporary
99.1 WXTT "Extra 99.1" Rock (RDS - Artist/Title)
100.3 WIXY "WIXY 100.3" Country (RDS - Artist/Title)
101.1 W266AF (Translates 90.9 WILL), Classical music
102.5 WGNN, Religious
103.9 W280DE (Translates 102.5 WGNN), Religious
104.5 WRFU "Radio Free Urbana", Variety
105.5 WCZQ "Hot 105.5" Hip Hop & R&B
105.9 WGKC, Classic Rock (RDS)
107.1 WPGU, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Alternative College Radio
AM Radio
580 WILL, Public Radio
1400 WDWS, News/Talk (AM Stereo)
1460 WJCI, Sports
1580 WBCP, Urban Adult Contemporary
Analog Television
3 WCIA, CBS
7 W07DD, Three Angels Network
12 WILL, PBS
15 WICD "NewsChannel 15", ABC
17 WAND, NBC
23 WBUI, CW
27 WCCU "Fox 55/27"
34 W33AY, Trinity Broadcast Network
44 WBXC-CA, MTV 2
49 WCFN "My WCFN TV" My Network TV
51 WEIU, PBS
Digital Television (DTV)
9 WILL-DT, PBS
18 WAND-DT, NBC
22 WBUI-DT, CW
26 WCCU-DT, Fox
41 WICD-DT, ABC
48 WCIA-DT, CBS
50 WEIU-DT, PBS
Print
The News-Gazette, daily local newspaper
Daily Illini
Buzz Weekly
The Hub Weekly
Famous people from Champaign
Scott Anderson, physicist
Bonnie Blair, olympic gold-medalist speed skater
Bob Richards, olympic gold-medalist pole vaulter
Bill Geist, CBS News correspondent
Matt Herges, major league pitcher
Michael H. Kenyon, nicknamed the "Enema Bandit"
Alison Krauss, bluegrass singer
Ludacris (Christopher Bridges), rapper
Vashti McCollum won a U.S. Supreme Court case against religious teaching in public schools; her son Dannel would later be a mayor for Champaign three terms
Poster Children, rock group
Jerry Sanders Founder and former CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) W. J. (Jerry) Sanders, graduated from the U of I's Electrical Engineering Department (now Electrical and Computer Engineering Department) in 1958.
Lewis Hastings Sarett, inventor of synthetic cortisone
REO Speedwagon, rock group
James Tobin, laureate of the Nobel prize in economics(1981)
George Will, political columnist
Col. Lee Archambault, Astronaut (University of Illinois)
Commander Scott Altman, Astronaut (University of Illinois)
Jimmy John Liautaud (Founder of restaurant Jimmy John's)
Starcastle, rock group
Hum, space rock/alternative rock group
Douglas Wilson, interior designer and television personality.
Points of interest
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois Arboretum
Parkland CollegeFurther Information
Get more info on 'Champaign Illinois'.
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