Christopher Oberheim’s family members say he was the ultimate girl dad, a loving husband, a respected coach and a public servant who gave his life serving the city of Champaign.
An honorary street sign on Grove Street in Champaign — from Sixth to Wright — marks the legacy of Bishop King James Underwood, a recognition given to a man who built community, both spiritually and physically.
Rabbi Benjamin Frankel founded the Hillel at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in 1923. Hillel has since grown into an international movement reaching more than 800 campuses across the globe.
Nestled between North Street and Columbia Avenue, the 600 block of Walnut Street is known as Honorary Patricia Avery-Neal Way. The street recognizes a woman who left a legacy of breaking barriers and advocating for social justice in the Champaign community.
Honorary Chris Decker Drive is located in Champaign on Main Street between Walnut and Chestnut Street. For more than two decades, Chris Decker worked in downtown Champaign as a security professional.
The City of Champaign honored the life of Daniyjah Staple, a 2024 Centennial High School graduate with Honorary Daniyjah D. Staple way. The designated road runs along Kenwood Road between John and William streets in Champaign.
Honorary Dean Clarence Shelley Way, unveiled Sept. 14, memorializes a man who spent 50 years working to foster a learning community where everyone, regardless of background, could strive for excellence.
The 400 block of Clark Street, between Prairie and Elm, is designated Honorary Harry Breen Way. Breen was a noted painter, an art professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a liturgical designer.
The Chabad Center for Jewish Life was founded in 2003. Now, an honorary street sign stands across the street, marking over 20 years of the organization’s service to Champaign-Urbana’s Jewish community.
Taylor Street between Market Street and Walnut Street in downtown Champaign is named in honor of Mark Rubel, the late music legend who devoted his life to pursuing arts and music.
Walter Smith studied kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the late-1960s. Smith dedicated his life to the Douglass Community Center.
When a stretch of Fourth Street from Tremont Street to Grove Street was designated as WBCP Radio Way in 2018, the sign marked the legacy of central Illinois’ first Black-owned radio station — a cultural home for music, community and conversation that lasted nearly three decades.
At the corner of John St. and Fifth in Champaign, an Honorary Street is designated to Abram Sachar, who established a Hillel movement at universities across the country.
Alison Krauss, the 27-time Grammy-Award-winning vocalist and fiddle player who grew up in Champaign, played the hallowed Grand Ole Opry at the age of 17.
Brandon Hardway, a beloved community member and manager of Pour Bros. Taproom, was fatally shot on February 8, 2024. Last August, the segment of North Chestnut Street in downtown Champaign was designated Brandon Hardway Drive.