Champaign, Illinois

City: Champaign

County: Champaign

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 40.1000, -88.2333

The city of Champaign is located in east central Illinois, forty-five miles east-northeast of Decatur. Originally part of the adjoining city of Urbana, what became Champaign was platted as West Urbana in 1853. A U.S. Post Office was established as West Urbana in 1855 and renamed Champaign in 1860. Champaign was chartered by the Illinois General Assembly the following year. In 1859 Abraham Lincoln represented Champaign County in Champaign County Circuit Court in an unsuccessful lawsuit against the city of West Urbana over grocery licensing fees.

Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 64; Merriam-Webster’s Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1997), 232; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1845-1855, 20a:15, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; Champaign County, Illinois v. West Urbana, Illinois, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136477; “An Act to Charter the City of Champaign,” 21 February 1861, Private Laws of Illinois (1861), 153-85.