Champaign, city, Champaign County, eastern Illinois; incorporated 1860. It is the processing and distributing center of a rich farm area where soybeans and corn are grown; manufactures include clothing, bleachers, and processed food. Important to the city's economy is a campus of the University of Illinois, located partly in Champaign but chiefly in adjacent Urbana. Champaign grew around a railroad depot constructed in 1854. The community, originally called West Urbana, was renamed in 1860 for Champaign County, Ohio. Population 58,133 (1980); 63,502 (1990); 67,518 (2000).
