Start Your Engines
Louis Brown circa 1930
Urbana had its own Memorial Day dirt track races at the Crystal Lake Park dirt track, also known as the Champaign County Fair Grounds. Louis Brown, of Speedway Garage, Champaign, was one of the Memorial Day racers in 1930. According to articles found in the Daily Illini, Brown raced at various state fairs and other events all over the county. It was reported that his car had a top speed of around 110 miles per hour.
"More and More, War is Using the Telephone..."
Sometimes, little treasures from the past show up in entirely different places than imagined.
Chanute's Golden Anniversary
This May marks the 100th anniversary of the former Chanute Air Force Base. The Champaign County Historical Archives is celebrating Chanute's history by hosting an exhibit and a Town & Gown event.
In 1967, Chanute observed another anniversary. Chanute’s 50th Anniversary kicked-off a summer of celebrations at the base. The festivities included:
This May marks 100 years for the former Chanute Air Force Base, 1917 - 1993
This year the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois celebrates its 100th anniversary. The base was established May 1917, following the United States’ entry into WWI and trained over 2 million servicemen and women during its 76 years of operation.
Recently Processed: PRC Records and Race Inn Collection
Two collections have recently been processed by Archives staff and are now available for researchers.
RKO Virginia Blueprint
As Ebertfest 2017 wraps up, it seems an appropriate time to share this schematic of the Virginia Theater projection booth from 1967.
A Mother's Obituary
I have been indexing obituaries for the past 5 years from the News-Gazette into Local History Online, the online catalog for the holdings of the Champaign County Historical Archives.
Photographs from Chanute’s Annual Open House
Chanute Air Force Base held Open Houses for the citizens of Champaign County from 1926 until the base closed in 1993. Thousands of people attended the Open House celebrations to watch air shows, see airplane exhibits, and meet the Air Force soldiers.
Sometimes April Showers bring April Flowers…
It is spring wildflower season in east central Illinois. Time to take yourself to the woods to see Jack-in-the-pulpit, dutchman’s breeches, toothwort, trillium, dog tooth violet, blue-eye Mary, and Virginia bluebells.
Researchers at Burnham City Hospital, 1942
I came across this photograph recently while compiling images for our Flickr page. It is of Dr. Max Appel and Elizabeth Chase, Ph.D., at Burnham City Hospital. The photograph was used in a News-Gazette feature photograph about the hospital’s new cancer control center (“Cancer Control Clinic,” 23 August 1942, p. 8).
Chanute Air Force Base Celebrates Women
My name is Liz Wittrig and I joined the Champaign County Historical Archives as an intern in February. I am a graduate student at the University of Illinois’ School of Library and Information Science and will be working in the Archives to process the Chanute Collection.
G.C. Willis Storefront Displays
The G.C. Willis Department store opened its doors in Champaign in 1872. Forty years later, the enterprise moved to an imposing edifice on Main Street.
John W. Vance: The “Father of Champaign County”
Born in 1782, John W. Vance spent his youth in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Ohio. As youngster he and his brother, Joseph Colville Vance, chopped and delivered wood to stoke the fires of the salt works near their home. Later, they bought a team of oxen to haul salt to pioneer families in the Kentucky wilderness. This enterprise grew into a salt distribution company based in Urbana, Ohio.