Champaign County, Illinois

Champaign County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Urbana
Year Organized: 1833
Square Miles: 997

Court House:

101 E. Main
County Courthouse
Urbana, IL 61801-2703

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The County was named for Champaign County in Ohio through the influence of emigrants from that county.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Champaign County was created on February 20, 1833 (Laws, 1833, p. 28) and was formed from Vermilion County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Vermilion County (1826–1833), Edgar County (1823–1826), Clark County (1819–1823), Crawford County (1816–1819), Edwards County (1815–1816), Madison County (1812–1813), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801). The County was named for Champaign County in Ohio through the influence of emigrants from that county. The County Seat is Urbana (1833-Present).

Champaign County, Illinois is located in the heart of East Central Illinois, at Latitude 40.14030 North, Longitude 88.19610 West. US Interstates 57, 72 & 74 intersect in the County which puts Champaign County approximately 2 hours south of Chicago Illinois; 3 hours north-northeast of St. Louis, Missouri; and 2 hours west of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 998 square miles (2,584 km²), of which 997 square miles (2,582 km²) is land and 1 square mile (2 km²) (0.07%) is water.

The physical conformation is flat, and the soil rich. The county lies in the heart of what was once called the "Grand Prairie". Workable seams of bituminous coal underlie the surface, but overlying quicksands interfere with their operation. The Sangamon and Kaskaskia Rivers have their sources in this region, and several railroads cross the county. The soil is a black muck underlaid by a yellow clay. Urbana (with a population of 5,708 in 1900) is the county seat. Other important points in the county are Champaign (9,000), Tolono (1,000), and Rantoul (1,200). Champaign and Urbana adjoin each other, and the grounds of the Illinois State University extend into each corporation, being largely situated in Champaign. Large drifted masses of Niagara limestone are found, interspersed with coal measure limestone and sandstone. Alternating beds of clay, gravel and quicksand of the drift formation are found beneath the subsoil to the depth of 150 to 300 feet.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Ford County
East: Vermilion County
Southeast: Edgar County
South: Douglas County
Southwest: Piatt County
Northwest: McLean County

Cities and Towns:

- Bondville	village	Incorporated Area
- Broadlands	village	Incorporated Area
- Brown	township
- Champaign	city	Incorporated Area
- Champaign City	township
- Compromise	township
- Condit	township
- Crittenden	township
- Cunningham	township
- East Bend	township
- Fisher	village	Incorporated Area
- Foosland	village	Incorporated Area
- Gifford	village	Incorporated Area
- Harwood	township
- Hensley	township
- Homer	village	Incorporated Area
- Ivesdale	village	Incorporated Area
- Kerr	township
- Longview	village	Incorporated Area
- Ludlow	village	Incorporated Area
- Mahomet	village	Incorporated Area
- Newcomb	township
- Ogden	village	Incorporated Area
- Pesotum	village	Incorporated Area
- Philo	village	Incorporated Area
- Rantoul	village	Incorporated Area
- Royal	village	Incorporated Area
- Sadorus	village	Incorporated Area
- Savoy	village	Incorporated Area
- Scott	township
- Sidney	village	Incorporated Area
- Somer	township
- South Homer	township
- St. Joseph	village	Incorporated Area
- Stanton	township
- Thomasboro	village	Incorporated Area
- Tolono	village	Incorporated Area
- Urbana (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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