Doane House

Illustration of the Doane House from the 1858 Bowman Map.

Photograph of the Doane House with Illinois Central train and crew in front, and passengers on the platform. The Doane House was certainly in the heart of the town, but one wonders how much rest its visitors got.

Doane House
Corner of Main St. and ICRR, Champaign
Building burned in 1898

The Doane House was a three-story, square building with a wing off the north side. It was built in 1856 thirty-four feet from the ICRR tracks and served as a hotel and ticket office/depot for Illinois Central passengers for forty-two years. The center of West Urbana life a gathering place for residents and visitors alike, the Doane House hosted church services, social events, and political discourses.

Doane House advertisement published in the Central Illinois Gazette, February 1, 1860.

Proof of the building’s status in the community can be seen in local advertisements. Individual street addresses were not used in Champaign until the 1880s; therefore it was the custom of local advertisers to refer to new or smaller businesses in reference to a well-known location, and the Doane House was a common reference point.

Advertisement for Pratt and Brothers Commission, Storage & For’ding Merchants using the Doane House as an address reference point.

Champaign looks on as the Doane House burns, July 12, 1898.

On July 12, 1898, the Doane House was completely destroyed by fire. Residents were saddened by the loss of this historic building, but after forty-two years the building was showing its age and was no longer being used as a hotel since the operator’s lease had recently ended. Once the ashes of the fire had cooled however the population of Champaign was interested in what the railroad company would replace it with.