Urbana is a city and county seat of Champaign County in eastern
Illinois, United States. In 2000 Urbana had 37,362 inhabitants;
by the 2010 estimate, the population had risen to 41,250. By
2020, the population had fallen back to 38,336.
Urbana,
along with the neighboring city of Champaign, is the seat of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mayor Laurel
Prussing was elected in 2004 to replace Tod Satterthwaite for a
four-year term. The city has a strong Democratic majority in
most elections, aided by university influence.
Established in 1909, Carle Park is located at Indiana and Garfield,
just west of Urbana High School in central Urbana. It is 8.3 acres
(34,000 m2) with a statue of "Lincoln the Lawyer" by Lorado Taft and
more than 50 trees that are part of the Hickman Tree Walk. The Lincoln
statue was previously placed in front of the Urbana Lincoln Hotel, but
was relocated after only a few months.
Meadowbrook Park is
located southeast of the intersection of Race Street and Windsor Road.
The park covers 130 acres (0.53 km2), of which 80 acres are a recreated
Illinois tallgrass prairie. Three miles (8.6 km) of wide concrete paths
for walking, running, and biking surround the center of the park's
restored prairie. In addition, there are two miles of dirt trails that
wind through the prairie grasslands. There are a few small hills, which
are not suitable for inexperienced inline skaters. Along the road are
about 20 large sculptures by local artists. There is a playground,
shelter, and parking area near the Windsor Road entrance. Near the Race
Street entrance is a community garden, herb garden, timpone ornamental
arboretum, and shelter. The park also contains many streams, including
one of the first tributaries of the Embarrass River.
The Urbana
Dog Park on East Perkins Road allows dogs to be walked without a leash.
The Anita Purves Nature Center at the north end of Crystal Lake Park
offers nature education programs.
In October 2012, Art in the
Park was completed just north of Urbana City Hall (400 S. Vine St.). The
park's environmental and sculpture artist/curator, John David Mooney,
designed the plantings, walkways, a 12-foot-tall fountain sculpture
(Falling Leaf), and a 33-foot-tall light sculpture (Spirit Tree). The
Spirit Tree gives new meaning to Urbana's designation as a "Tree City"
and to trees as landmarks and beacons. The internationally acclaimed
Mooney is a native of Champaign-Urbana.
The Pool.
The Urbana
Indoor Swim Center is a public indoor swimming pool operated by the
Urbana Park District and the Urbana School District. It is located
between Urbana High School and Urbana Middle School.
Crystal Lake
Pool is a public outdoor pool. Located on Broadway Avenue across from
the Anita Purves Nature Center, it was closed after the 2008 summer
season due to obsolescence and associated safety issues, but was rebuilt
and reopened in 2013.
The Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE)
has an indoor leisure pool with a hot tub; the CRCE is owned by the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In Urbana, the Freer Hall
and Kenny Gym pools, formerly 25-yard and 6-lane lap pools, have closed,
and the former has been redeveloped as research and educational space.
Urbana extends over 30.3 km².
Interstate 74 runs along the
northern edge of the city and is the shortest route from Indianapolis to
the Quad Cities. In the center of the city, the U.S. Highways 45 and 150
and Illinois State Route 130 on top of each other.
In addition to
many buildings from the 19th or 20th century, the first passive house
was built in the United States in 2003, which is used privately as a
single-family home.
A railway line of the Norfolk Southern
Railway runs through Urbana in a west-east direction. Champaign Airport
also makes the region accessible for domestic and regional air travel.
In addition to the immediately adjacent town of Champaign, the
nearest major cities are Danville (54.8 km east), Effingham (122 km
south), Decatur (83.6 km south west) and Bloomington (85 km north west).
In the official census in 2000, a population of 36,395 was
determined. These were spread across 14,327 households in 6,217
families. The population density was 1,201 people per square kilometer.
There were 15,243 residential buildings, which corresponded to a
building density of 503.0 buildings per square kilometer.
The
2000 population was 67.0 percent White, 14.3 percent African American,
0.2 percent Native American, 14.2 percent Asian and 1.8 percent other.
2.4 percent stated that they descended from at least two of these
groups. 3.5 percent of the population consisted of Hispanics, who
belonged to various of the groups mentioned.
14.9 percent were
under the age of 18, 36.2 percent from 18 to 24, 26.4 percent from 25 to
44, 13.2 percent from 45 to 64 and 9.3 percent 65 and older. The median
age was 25 years. Statistically, there were 111.3 men for every 100
women and 111.7 for those over 18 years of age.
The median income
per household was US$27,819 (US$) and the median family income was
US$42,655. The median income for men was $32,827 and for women $26,349.
Per capita income was $15,969. Around 13.3 percent of families and 27.3
percent of the total population had an income below the poverty line.
Around 40,000 students are currently attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Much of the university's campus is in the Urbana area, with the remainder in the Champaign area.
sons and daughters of the town
William Slavens McNutt (1885–1938),
screenwriter and novelist
Robert W. Holley (1922–1993), biochemist
and Nobel laureate
Peter Westergaard (1931–2019), composer and music
theorist
William Mulliken (1939–2014), swimmer
W. Ford Doolittle
(born 1941), biochemist
Cecil Bridgewater (born 1942), jazz trumpeter
and composer
Roger Ebert (1942–2013), film critic and first Pulitzer
Prize winner for film criticism
Dan Graham (1942–2022), sculptor,
conceptual and video artist
Tom Harrell (born 1946), jazz trumpeter
and composer
Ward Churchill (born 1947), anthropologist, writer and
political activist
José Graziano da Silva (born 1949), Brazilian
economist, agronomist and author; Director of the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations
Lars Peter Hansen (born 1952),
economist
John Geanakoplos (born 1955), economist
Brian Lynch
(born 1956), jazz trumpeter
Peggy McCarthy (born 1956), rower
August Zirner (born 1956), actor, lives in Germany
Andrew E. Lange
(1957–2010), astrophysicist
Brady W. Dougan (b. 1959), bank manager
Benny Kim (born 1962), violinist
Karen Kurreck (born 1962), cyclist
Theodore Gray (born 1964), chemist
Eugie Foster (1971–2014), science
fiction and fantasy writer
Gil Shaham (born 1971), internationally
renowned violinist
Jennie Garth (born 1972), actress
Gia
Lewis-Smallwood (born 1979), discus thrower
Ella Masar (born 1986),
soccer player
Ken Bauman (born 1989), actor
Jonathan Kuck (born
1990), speed skater
Taybor Pepper (born 1994), American football
player
personalities related to the city
Richard Powers (born
1957), writer; lives in Urbana
David Foster Wallace (1962–2008),
writer; grew up in Urbana