A relatively new blog by Champaign City Planner TJ Blakeman looks to provide a historical background on buildings in Champaign. TJ’s blog utilizes the Champaign County Historical Archives and a number of amazing photos of “old-time” Champaign.
http://champaignhistory.blogspot.com/
TJ has access to a ton of info on the history of Champaign. Here are links to a few of the posts that were most interesting to me.
Walker Opera House and Hamilton Hotel – Very interesting to see the size and scope of buildings that existed in Champaign. I also learned that the recent Chicago Title site, a location I visited frequently for real estate closings, was the former site of the Opera House.
1 E. Main – Current site of the One Main Development. I never realized the street numbers were off on this property until reading this post! Usually odd numbers are on the South side of the street and even on the north. Apparently this was an exception made for the first brick structure in Champaign
Search for Condos in Downtown Champaign
Champaign City Building – This is a great art-deco style building with an interesting history.
The first city building was started in 1889 and razed in 1935. The current city building began construction in 1935 with a major addition in mid 80’s.
These photos are all from TJ’s Blog. Take a look and learn something about Champaign’s history!
Champaign County Real Estate 
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