Urbana, Illinois

== History == The Urbana area was first settled by Europeans in 1822, when it was called "Big Grove".

When the county of Champaign was organized in 1833, the county seat was located on 40 acres of land, 20 acres donated by William T.

Stores began opening in 1834.

The town's first church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the parsonage, was built in 1840 by the Rev.

The city's first school was built in 1854.

Bradshaw, with the Baptist Church following in 1855.

The Presbyterian Church was founded in 1856.

Illinois Industrial University, which would evolve into the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, opened in 1868 with 77 students.

On October 9, 1871, a fire burned much of downtown Urbana.

=== Urbana Free Library === The Urbana Free Library, one of the first public libraries in Illinois, was founded in 1874 and is located in the downtown area.

—PDFs of 1,286 issues, dating from 1887 through 1916.

The Champaign-Urbana Velvets played in the Illinois–Missouri League from 1911 until the league disbanded after 1914.

== Education == === Primary and secondary === Urbana High School's current building was built in 1914.

The historic building which houses the library was built in 1918.

It was founded in 1921.

The hotel was designed by famed Urbana architect Joseph Royer in 1923 and opened several rooms on November 1, 1923, to accommodate guests for the university's Homecoming game.

Urbana Middle School was first known as Urbana Junior High School in 1953.

Established in 1956, the Champaign County Historical Archives is a department of the Urbana Free Library that maintains a research-level collection on the history and genealogy ...

Gordon's 1957 science fiction film, Beginning of the End.

The 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot also mentions Urbana.

The tradition began in 1961 (maybe 1960) as a house-decorating contest sponsored by the Illinois Power Company.

== In popular culture == In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Urbana was named as the location where the HAL 9000 computer of the ill-fated Discovery Mission to Jupiter was p...

It was first held in August 1975 in the Busey Bank parking lot in downtown Urbana.

=== Market at the Square === The Market at the Square, also known as the Farmers' Market, has been a community event in Urbana since 1979.

In 1987 it was designated the official repository for non-current Champaign County records.

While being forced to close twice between 1990 and 2009, the hotel was purchased by a private developer in 2010 and underwent major rehabilitation.

The city's most recent minor league team was the Champaign-Urbana Bandits who played during the single 1994 season of the Great Central League.

Louis Railway), New York Central, Penn Central, and Conrail systems, being sold by Conrail to Norfolk Southern in 1996.

In 2003, the school was renovated for space.

A major new addition was opened in 2005.

It was closed after the summer 2008 season due to deteriorating conditions and concomitant safety issues, it was rebuilt and reopened in 2013.

The hotel opened under new management and with a new name, Urbana Landmark Hotel, on December 1, 2012, but it closed in July 2015 and sold January 2020 for redevelopment as a Hi...

It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents in 2020.

As of 2024, the school serves 897 students from grades 6 to 8.