102 East University Avenue

Italianate architectural style

The Cattle Bank is the oldest documented commercial building in Champaign.  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 1975 for significance in Commerce (#75000642). Also known as Heimlicher’s Drug Store.

The Cattle Bank building was built in the spring of 1858 by Messrs. Coler and Hubbard.  Only one block from the new Illinois Central Railroad, it was formed to meet the anticipated needs of the Texas cattle barons as they shipped to Chicago.  The bank failed in 1861; by 1865 it had become a grocery store and remained one until the 1930s when it became a drug store.  Abandoned in 1971, the building was theatened with demolition before being restored in 1983.  The adjacent building to the east, now internally connected to the Cattle Bank, was built in 1869.  The building now houses the Champaign County Historical Museum.