Urbana Township is a township in Champaign County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2010 census, its population was 7,451 and it contained 3,435 housing units.
Geography
Urbana is Township 19 North, Range 9 East of the Third Principal Meridian. According to the 2010 census, the township has a total area of, of which is land and is water. Portions of the township have been removed through annexation with the cities of Champaign and Urbana. The University of Illinois South Farms occupy a large area south of the cities. Yankee Ridge, a glacial moraine, extends through the central part of the township. Glacial rocks and large boulders frequently turn up on farms and construction sites in this area. The Champaign County Poor Farm was in Section 16. The site on East Main Street in Urbana now has county offices, jail and nursing home. The Kickapoo Rail Trail follows the former Big Four—Conrail System railroad right–of–way along U.S. Route 150 from the City of Urbana to the Village of St. Joseph.
The township contains several cemeteries: Eastlawn Burial Park and adjacent Greenwood—Harvey Cemetery, Lincoln and Woodlawn, Mount Hope Cemetery and adjacent Roselawn. All are now in the City of Urbana. Potawatomi burial ground and Old Soldier's Burial Ground. Burials were transferred to Mount Hope in 1902. The site is now Leal Park along University Avenue in Urbana.
Churches
Dunkard Church
Grain Elevators
Myra Station elevator was built along the Wabash—Norfolk Southern railroad spur. The concrete elevator at the intersection of Route 130 and East Windsor Road was demolished in the 1980s. The railroad spur is also gone. Urbana elevator. H.R. Stinespring Coal, Flour and Feed elevator at 202 North Market Street in 1913 was south of both the Big Four and Wabash railroad tracks. The wooden elevator was still standing in 1958, but has since been demolished.
Mills
Runnel Fielder built a mill on the Saline Branch in Section 11 in the 1820s. Charles Heptonstall built a water powered flour and sawmill on the Saline Branch about a mile downstream from the Urbana settlement in 1838. It later disappeared, probably washed away in a flood. Jacob Mootz built a water–powered grist and sawmill on the Saline Branch around the year 1842. It was on land owned by Col. Matthew W. Busey in Section 8. The millpond and environs eventually evolved into Crystal Lake, now a public park in the City of Urbana.
Schools
Rural schools in the township included Blackberry School, Cottonwood School, Perkins School, Silver School, Star School, Union School No. 2, Willard School. The rural schools were all demolished or converted to residences.
