Campustown

               Today we took a tour of one of the most popular streets on campus. In fact, when I moved in this past fall, Green Street was the only street I was familiar with. My math team coach in high school always took us to Green Street to experience “college life in Urbana-Champaign.” But to think that Green Street hasn't always been this bustling corridor of restaurants, bars, and shops kind of blows my mind.

                The Campustown we know today started being shaped up when a few students and a faculty member took it upon themselves to fix the flooding problem. Now this wasn't just a minor flooding problem, the floods were so high and common, that students would take kayaks down to Green Street to row around. What this group of researchers found in this area was a potential place to be a destination for students to relax and have a good time just a block away from campus, not just a place for vehicular transportation to rule.

                What happened in the many years to follow this project by the students and single faculty member shaped Green Street into what we see today. From the awnings shrinking to the sidewalks expanding to the roads narrowing, everything has changed to open up the area for student and campus life. The first block between Wright and Sixth Street has a form of symmetry in that all of the buildings rise only two stories. As you go farther West however, you see the buildings have no real order. Apartment buildings have been erected to take advantage of students’ desire to live near such a bustling neighborhood. These companies can charge more in exchange for less space, but the location and proximity to the area keeps bringing the students back to sign their leases.

                One of the most interesting things I have seen in this class exists in Campustown. Certain bars and shops are actually running out of a house. These stores have planted an open store front in place of the front porch of a home and are otherwise using the home as their place of business. You don’t notice it when you are just walking by, unless you have been notified of it before. In that case, you will never be able to unsee it.