- Urbana
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/err ban"euh/, n.1. a city in E Illinois, adjoining Champaign. 35,978.2. a city in W Ohio. 10,762.
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city, seat (1833) of Champaign county, east-central Illinois, U.S. Urbana is contiguous with Champaign (west), about 135 miles (220 km) southwest of Chicago. The two cities are often called Champaign-Urbana. The area was first settled in 1822, and in 1833 the city was founded as the county seat and named for Urbana, Ohio. It shares with Champaign the main campus of the University of Illinois (Illinois, University of) (established in 1867 as Illinois Industrial University). On October 9, 1871, much of the city was destroyed by fire—one day after the huge fires in Chicago and in Peshtigo, Wisconsin.The university is the primary factor in Urbana's economy. The city lies in a rich agricultural area (corn [maize] and soybeans), and services (including health care and finance), high-technology industries, distribution, and manufacturing (including paper and plastic products and automotive parts) are also important. A tablet in the Champaign County Court House commemorates the occasion when Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln, Abraham) spoke there against the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854). Lorado Taft (Taft, Lorado)'s statue depicting Lincoln as a young lawyer is in Carle Park. Several museums, including those devoted to art, science, and natural history, are in the area. Inc. 1855. Pop. (1990) city, 36,344; Champaign-Urbana MSA, 173,025; (2000) city, 36,395; Champaign-Urbana MSA, 179,669.city, Champaign county, west-central Ohio, U.S., in a stock-raising and farming area, 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Dayton. Laid out in 1805 by Col. William Ward of Virginia, it became the county seat in the same year and grew after a training camp was established there by Gen. William Hull during the War of 1812. It was called Urbana, meaning “refinement,” or “politeness.” The coming after 1848 of the Pennsylvania, New York Central, and Erie railroads fostered industrial development. Manufactures now include plastic products, polishes, transportation lighting equipment, and farm machinery. Urbana College, based on the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg, was founded in 1850. Frontiersman Simon Kenton is buried in Oakdale Cemetery, and Richard Stanhope, George Washington's valet (who is believed to have been 114 years old at the time of his death in 1862), is buried in a cemetery at nearby Heathtown. The Indian Hunter of sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward, born in Urbana, marks Ward's grave in Oakdale Cemetery. The home of the late 19th- and early 20th-century writer and politician Brand Whitlock stands on Main Street. Inc. village, 1816; city, 1868. Pop. (2000) 11,613; (2005 est.) 11,561.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
