The Urbana Post Office, which serves zip codes 61801, 61802, and 61803, has three locations: one main office, and two satellite locations. The Urbana Post Office as a whole is an institution with strong ties to the Champaign-Urbana community.

The Urbana Post Office was incorporated in 1836, with the original building standing at the corner of Race Street and Main Street, a lot near The Courier newspaper office. This building survived the 1871 Urbana fire and the post office remained at this location through the turn of the century. This location served the entire area of the current combined metro area of Urbana-Champaign, until Champaign incorporated its own post office (then known as West Urbana) at the downtown train depot in 1854.

In 1906, a new building was constructed in downtown Urbana, and from 1907 to 1914 the post office was located at 106 N. Race Street, now the Rose Bowl Tavern. In 1914, another structure was built and the Urbana Post Office moved into its location at Elm Street and Broadway Avenue, where it still maintains a branch. Additions to this structure were made in 1935 and 1958, and a massive ADA renovation was completed in 1982.

By the 1990s, the Postal Service was looking to move the main functions of the Urbana Post Office to a new location, and in 1996 selected a new site in east Urbana. In 2000, the location at Tatman Court opened, and remains the main Urbana office to this day. The current location serves all Urbana zip codes (61801, 61802, and 61803), while maintaining satellite offices in downtown Urbana and on the university campus.

When the Urbana Post Office’s main activities were moved to Tatman Court in 2000, the office in downtown Urbana remained open as a station. In 2001, the Postal Service put the downtown Urbana building up for sale, with the requirement that the purchaser would leave space open for rent by the Postal Service to maintain P.O. boxes and windows in the location. The Independent Media Center bought the building, and now shares the space with the post office, Books to Prisoners, and a legal services office. Located adjacent to the downtown Urbana bus terminals, the downtown station serves residents of the main part of Urbana, as well as some of the student population.

The Urbana Post Office also maintains a station in Altgeld Hall, first erected as the Library Building in 1897. Originally the responsibility of the librarian, this location was for the distribution of student mail at what was then a small agricultural university. By the mid-20^th century, the main library had moved out of Altgeld, and responsibility for the post office was transferred to the Postal Service. The office had also moved to its current location at the southwest corner of the building, which had previously served as a loading dock for the library. Located on the main quadrangle of the University of Illinois campus, the University Station primarily serves the student population at the university.

Currently, the University Station is under threat of closure by the U.S. Postal Service. Determinations for continued service at this location should be made in the next few months. The main Urbana Post Office, however, has no immediate plans of closure or relocation of services, though it may have to take on extra distribution and customer service operations, should one of its satellite locations close.

This CU wiki entry began as a UIUC research project.  For more on that see Study of UC2B Anchor Institutions' Technology Use.

See Also

• Post Offices
• Mailboxes