Champaign

History

Champaign was founded in 1855, when the Illinois Central Railroad laid its rail track two miles (3 km) 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, which took its name from the French word for "open, level country". In February 1969, Carl Perkins joined with Bob Dylan to write the song "Champaign, Illinois", which Perkins released on his album On Top. The band Old 97's took another Bob Dylan song, "Desolation Row", and combined its melody with new lyrics to make a new song "Champaign, Illinois", which they released with Dylan's blessing on their 2010 album The Grand Theatre Volume One. It achieved considerable popularity. The two "Champaign, Illinois" songs are not similar to each other, except that Bob Dylan was involved in both of them. 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, the University of Illinois in Champaign 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 Urbana-Champaign once again hosted the National competition on May 20–22, 2010. Joan Severns was the city's first female mayor, serving between 1979 and 1983. In May 2017, the city's first female-majority city council was sworn in.

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Champaign has a total area of , of which (or 99.37%) is land and (or 0.63%) is water. Champaign is a city in central Illinois and is located on relatively high ground, providing sources to the Kaskaskia River to the west, and the Embarras River to the south. Downtown Champaign drains into Boneyard Creek, which feeds the Saline Branch of the Salt Fork Vermilion River. Champaign shares a border with the neighboring city of Urbana; together they are home to the University of Illinois. Champaign, Urbana, and the bordering village of Savoy form the Champaign–Urbana Metropolitan Area, also known as "Champaign–Urbana". It may also be colloquially known as the "Twin Cities", "Chambana" or "Shampoo–Banana". The city has a humid continental climate, typical of the Midwestern United States, with hot summers and cold, moderately snowy winters. Temperatures exceed 90 °F (32.2 °C) on an average of 24 days per year, and typically fall below 0 °F (−17.8 °C) on six nights annually. The record high temperature in Champaign was 109 °F (42.8 °C) in 1954, and the record low was −25 °F (−31.7 °C), recorded on four separate occasions − in 1899, 1905, 1994 and 1999.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,453
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  16,128
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  14,694
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,875
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  11,260
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,243
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,067
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,946

Largest nearby schools

• Central High School
  High · Champaign · 1,597 students · 14.8:1 ratio
• Centennial High School
  High · Champaign · 1,444 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• Urbana High School
  High · Urbana · 1,220 students · 13.6:1 ratio
• Mahomet-Seymour High School
  High · Mahomet · 997 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• Urbana Middle School
  Middle · Urbana · 903 students · 12.4:1 ratio
• Middletown Prairie Elementary
  Elementary · Mahomet · 825 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• Mahomet-Seymour Jr High School
  Middle · Mahomet · 810 students · 18:1 ratio
• Lincoln Trail Elem School
  Elementary · Mahomet · 791 students · 20.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.26 — 2025-05-13
  7 km SSW of Lerna, Illinois
• M 3.82 — 2021-06-17
  Illinois-Indiana border region