Downtown! Things'll be great when you're downtown!

Since long, long ago at "West Urbana's" conception, Champaign and Urbana have always stood in deep rivalry. Though Urbana was largely the original hub of the area, with the routing of the railroad and subsequent creation of the city of Champaign, much of Urbana's draw and prestige have siphoned off into Champaign, and though it seems we won't have much reason to tour Urbana's downtown area this semester, their downtowns show it very strongly.

But, Champaign's story begins with the railroad. When citizens of Urbana were opposed to the railroad traveling through their town, speculators jumped on the opportunity to keep the railroad in the area while simultaneously developing new opportunities for their own ends, just west of town. Over time and heartache, this new development would eventually become what we now know as Champaign, but it all starts with the trains.

The current train station sits just at the edge of downtown proper.

At the eastern edge of what has become Champaign's downtown, both the second and third train stations sit, framing University Avenue on its way towards Urbana's downtown region. The second train station has become more of a shopping area (there's a tea shop, among other things) today, in keeping with the theme of Champaign's ongoing development, while the current train station doubles as the bus depot for the CUMTD, keeping its purpose on transporting the people of the area where they need to go.

The second train station now houses some shops and things.

Similarly, the traction station, which used to be where omnibuses connecting Champaign to the other cities of the area (such as Danville) would come, houses a few shops. Notice that, just like the two train stations frame University Avenue, the traction station also sits directly upon it. As we put more and more important buildings on this one street, we begin to see the underlying importance of it.

Similar story for the old traction station, where streetcar-like trains previously connected Champaign to other area cities.

No building can show us this importance quite like the Champaign City Building can. Why would the fledgling city of Champaign choose to put its headquarters on this particular street? Most of the business of downtown (as it stands right now) occurs north of University, and so a more centralized location like, well, on Main Street, might seem more appropriate! However, what we are seeing is the great importance of University Avenue, particularly in Champaign-Urbana's origins. It in fact sits along the continental grid that originally divvied up the "West" into parcels of land for people to buy from the government to farm/develop. In a way, the City Building being on University is symbolic of a connection between Champaign and the larger superstructure of our nation. Whether Urbana has anything quite on this scale is questionable.

The Champaign City Building sits along University Avenue, (theoretically) connecting it all the way back to D.C. 

But, I talked briefly earlier about the way Champaign's and Urbana's downtowns embody the way Champaign wrested influence and prestige away from Urbana, at least as they stand today. Why is that? In the era of suburbanization, both downtowns were in serious decline. People had cars, and were willing to live in more residentially oriented spaces (read, suburbs) in exchange for being further away from what was going on. And, what was going on wasn't downtown, at least anymore. Market Place Mall opened fairly late for all this, in 1975, but still shows some of why the two downtowns were still faltering even then. People had options that weren't so difficult to navigate by car on the outskirts of town.

So, what turned it around for Champaign that didn't in Urbana? Like the history of the two cities prior, enterprising businesspeople (along with thoughtful adjustments of city policy). What we see today in Champaign's downtown is a thriving area of boutiques, restaurants, bakeries, bars, apartments, and now even a hotel! And, what guaranteed the city the ongoing success of the area was the steady stream of people provided by apartments and hotels. However, to get to the point where people wanted to live there in the first place, the city decided to issue more liquor licenses for use in a set of bars in the downtown area (which were required to, at very least, be nominally restaurant-like as well, so as not to be too great dens of debauchery).

Champaign's downtown has thrived recently, in no small part thanks to bars like The Blind Pig.

With the success brought in by the bars, other, older pieces of the area were able to thrive as well. The historic Virginia Theatre sits near the western edge of downtown. It plays host to local events such as theatrical productions and battle of the bands competitions, as well as to larger events like Ebertfest (a film festival originally created by Urbana native Roger Ebert, who is now commemorated by a bronze statue just in front of the theater). From 1999 through 2011, the building was in various ways remodeled, bringing the 1921 original building up to code as well as more aesthetic changes to the building's lobby and storefront areas.

The remodeled Virginia Theatre houses local events like plays, battle of the bands competitions, and larger events like Ebertfest, whose namesake was born in Urbana.

Downtown ends on its west side in the aptly named West Side Park. Though probably originally set aside in hopes of housing the courthouse and public buildings, the park is now devoted to being a open area for gathering people together. As such, it hosts the Taste of Champaign (annually plagued by mystically bad luck, almost always being held on a weekend with significant rains) as well as other community events.

In the very early days of Champaign-Urbana, there was speculation that the entire city of Urbana might move west, taking with it the courthouse and other official buildings that, it is thought, were expected to go in what is now West Side Park.

The original library of Champaign sits on West Side Park.

Particularly interesting is the park's relation to several churches placed strategically on the edge of downtown. The park's great power, especially in the days of blue laws, was in being able to bring together people of separate denominations into one grand space as sermons let out. As such, there are several churches ringing the park, and enough that one of the streets flanking the park is now named Church Street.

Coming back through downtown, now more northernly set, we see what used to be Robeson's Department Store. Though the store has now become office space and more shops/restaurants, it was originally a sizable department store for both Champaign and Urbana. There are still Robesons about the cities, and the building still bears their name today.

Champaign has, in large part, supplanted Urbana in notoriety. Though the University of Illinois is still housed in "Urbana-Champaign," in common parlance Urbana has not come first for quite some time. Both Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall State Farm Center are in Champaign, which is what most people not directly involved with the University care about. And Champaign now is home to a greater number of people than Urbana. Its unfortunate we won't get to see much of Urbana's downtown officially, because while it has great features and grand architecture itself, it would be very illustrative of the contemporary difference between the two cities simply in noticing who and how many walk the streets of the two downtowns on any given day.