Illinois Pioneers

Champaign Business and Industry

 

Illinois Pioneers: Champaign Business and Industry from Illinois Public Media on Vimeo.

WILL-TV’s Illinois Pioneers looks at the history of business and industry in Champaign with the help of former Champaign mayor Dan McCollum and developer and businessman George Shapland.

Looking at photos of businesses like the Cunningham Brothers Drug Store, Eisner grocery stores, First National Bank, Frank Miller Livery and Boarding Stable, Burnham Hospital and Kraft, the two men tell stories about the people that made the businesses thrive and buildings that housed them.

Included are a photo of the interior of the Cunningham’s drug store showing rounded glass display cases full of items for sale; a photo of Eisner delivery trucks from 1957; and a photo of the Coca-Cola bottling plant. The guests talk with host Rick Atterberry about fires that decimated whole blocks of town, resulting in a changing landscape. But McCollum said fires weren’t the primary source of change. “I think more happened because they were mowing down buildings to build parking lots,” he said.