Champaign County, Illinois U.S. Census TIGER/Line map

Champaign County, Illinois, one of the largest counties in the state, lies 130 miles (205 km) directly south of Chicago in the fertile corn belt of the Midwest. With the exception of a few industries and the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and a military base at Rantoul, in 1950 the county was devoted largely to agricultural pursuits.

A settlement of over 500 Mennonites (Mennonite Church (MC)) was located in and near the northwest corner of the county near Fisher in the mid-1950s. The first Mennonite settlers arrived in this county around 1883 from Tazewell County, Illinois The greater part of the settlement is in the county, but about 100 members live in McLean County to the west and in Ford County to the north.

The East Bend Church (Mennonite Church), the only Mennonite church in the county, is located in East Bend Township, two miles (three km) north and one mile (1.5 km) east of Fisher. The East Bend Church together with its mission station at Dewey serves all of the Mennonites in this settlement.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 548. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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