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Tuesday 10am - 4pm Wednesday 10am - 4pm Thursday 10am - 4pm Friday 10am - 4pm Saturday 10am - 2pm

Champaign County Historical Museum - Urbana, OH

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Champaign County Historical Museum - Urbana, OH

Whether you're visiting your old hometown or have been in the area your entire life, stop in to see u

The Champaign County Historical Society collects, preserves, and interprets relevant artifacts, documents, and other resources from Champaign County to educate current and future generations about our history.

06/19/2026

Thank you to all who attended the CCHS Picnic and Concert on the Lawn last Saturday. It was a beautiful evening. Special thanks to Bill Purk for sharing his music and In Good Taste Market for their catering.

06/16/2026

Noted 19th century Black vocalists who toured the country – like John Chavers and Jenny Gatewood-Chavers (recognized as the "Queen of Colored Sopranos") – made Champaign County their home base. Kimberly Gordon Brooks, a descendant of Mr. Chavers, will share their stories in a free presentation at the Champaign County Historical Society Museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana, at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 11.

Please join us to learn about their lives and careers, including their involvement with the Fisk University Jubilee Singers Group 2, an African-American a ca****la ensemble, which grew out of the famous Fisk Jubilee Singers, organized in 1871 to raise funds for the historically Black university in Nashville.

06/11/2026

Historical Society members, sustaining supporters, and business sponsors are key to helping us live out our mission to collect, preserve, and interpret local history—and share it with you, our community.

With this post we thank our current business sponsors: our Steward sponsors, The Peoples Savings Bank and Edward Jones Financial Advisor Ben Headlee, CFP®, and our Basic sponsor, Ohio Caverns.

As a nonprofit organization, we are grateful for support like this.

To learn how to become a business sponsor, Historical Society member, or sustaining supporter, please stop by the CCHS Museum (location and hours on our page) or contact us at 937-653-6721 or [email protected].

06/08/2026

Retired history teacher and bluegrass artist Bill Purk will entertain you with bluegrass music and history, with an ample serving of homespun humor, at the Historical Society’s annual Picnic and Concert on the Lawn, 6 p.m. Saturday, June 13.

Make sure to purchase your tickets now (by noon June 11), for $20 each, online at https://pci.jotform.com/form/261255185271153, or at the museum. When you order your tickets, you’ll choose from several delicious entrees and side dishes prepared by In Good Taste Catering, along with a cupcake for dessert.

Following the picnic, step inside to see the improvements we’ve made to your local history museum and view our new displays. We look forward to seeing you there!

05/29/2026

Buy your tickets today for an entertaining evening, at our annual Picnic and Concert on the Lawn, 6 p.m. Saturday, June 13.

Tickets, for $20 each, can be purchased online at https://pci.jotform.com/form/261255185271153, or at the museum, until noon June 11.

On the beautiful grounds of the Champaign County Historical Society Museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., you’ll be treated to bluegrass music by Bill Purk and a picnic dinner served by In Good Taste Catering – your choice of main dish (salad, sandwich, or wrap) with two sides and a cupcake dessert.

An open house at the CCHS Museum will follow so you can see the improvements we’ve made to your local history museum and view our new displays.

05/26/2026

We’ve made physical improvements to the Champaign County Historical Society Museum—like new display cases that enhance our exhibits. And we’re making improvements in how we carry out our mission to preserve and share local history.

Proof of this: We recently received two certificates from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). They indicate our progress in adopting recognized best practice standards for nonprofit history organizations through the AASLH’s Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations (STEPS).

The certificates acknowledge our completion of the basic levels of two of the six sections of STEPS – the Mission, Vision, and Governance section and the Audience and Community Engagement section.

Currently, we're working toward the basic level of a third section, Interpretation. The other three sections of STEPS are Stewardship of Collections, Stewardship of Historic Structures and Landscapes, and Management.

After completing the basic level of all six sections, we will advance to the second and third tiers of each section.

STEPS is a self-study process to assess operations, take actions to improve them, and attain best practice standards to better serve our community and more fully fulfill our mission.

CCHS Director Cheryl Ogden explains, “Our primary goal in the STEPS process is to drive forward our mission to preserve Champaign County history, provide an accurate interpretation of our history, in all its facets, to educate current and future generations about our past, and to be good stewards of our resources.”

05/21/2026

Buy your tickets now, at https://pci.jotform.com/form/261255185271153, for the Champaign County Historical Society’s annual Picnic and Concert on the Lawn, scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, June 13, on the CCHS Museum grounds, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana. An open house will follow the picnic so you can see recent improvements and new displays in the museum.

At the picnic, Bill Purk, founder of the Muleskinner Band, will play bluegrass music and provide highlights from bluegrass history.

Tickets, for $20, may also be purchased at the museum, until noon June 11. When you buy your tickets, choose from a selection of entrees and side dishes prepared by In Good Taste Catering.

05/15/2026

Calling all arts and crafts and food vendors!

It’s time to reserve your space for the Historical Society’s most popular event of the year: Oktoberfest, Sunday, Oct. 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the front lawn of the CCHS Museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana.

Please visit https://www.champaigncountyhistoricalmuseum.org/oktoberfest.html for more information and to fill out and submit your vendor application.

05/08/2026

Learn how to care for your family’s treasured heirloom textiles – like quilts, linens, blankets, baptismal and wedding gowns, and military service uniforms – at the next free program at the Champaign County Historical Society Museum, 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16.

The program will be presented by Carol Miller, a CCHS volunteer who offers her years of expertise to help preserve historical textiles in the museum’s collection.

Carol, who served for 30 years as a family and consumer sciences educator with The Ohio State University Extension Service in Clark and Champaign counties, will share how to properly display, store, and clean cherished textiles.

She earned BS and MS degrees from OSU in human ecology, with emphasis in clothing and textiles, a certificate in Collections Care and Conservation from the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies, and completed textile history and conservation training from the University of Rhode Island, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the American Quilt Study Guild, the Costume Society of America, and the Indiana State Museum.

This program will not be recorded.

05/06/2026

Were you unable to attend one of our recent history programs at the CCHS Museum? Not to worry.

You can watch them on our website, including recent programs on Richard Stanhope, The Hall Company and Celesta Dunn's recounting of the Kent State University shootings, when she was a student there. https://www.champaigncountyhistoricalmuseum.org/past-programs.html

Address

809 E Lawn Avenue
Urbana, OH
43078

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 4pm
Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 2pm

Telephone

(937) 653-6721

Website

https://www.champaigncountyhistoricalmuseum.org/

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