Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois and it was first settled under the name Big Grove in 1822. In 1833, the county of Champaign was created, and Big Grove was officially named Urbana and recognized for the first time. The new town grew quickly, adding stores, mills and the first church (in 1840). A second and third church would follow in 1855 and 1856. Urbana expected that the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central Railroad would pass through its borders, but the railroad instead bypassed the town two miles to the west, where it built a station that grew into West Urbana and then named itself Champaign. Competition spiked between the two communities, leading Urbana to tear down and rebuild a larger version of the County Courthouse in a bid to retain its status as the county seat.