Undated graphic illustration of North First Street in the 1970s. Photo by Danny Taborn.

North First Street is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Champaign. Since at least the 1930s, it has served as a primary site for African-American entrepreneurship in the Champaign-Urbana Region. For more information on this history of this neighborhood, see this online exhibit.

First and University in the 1970s and in the nineteenth century (inset).

North First Street, ca. late 1970s or early 1980s.

Undated Photos of North First Street

100 and 200 block of North First Street

North First Street and University Avenue, 1926.
Source: Champaign County Historical Archives at the Urbana Free Library.

North First Street before 1924. 
Source: Illinois Central Railroad.