American History Teachers' Collaborative Lesson Plan: The Busey Family

The Busey Family

Contributions made to the Development of the City of Champaign Urbana

Patricia Plaut

Summer Fellowship 2009

To download this lesson in PDF format, click here.

Lesson 7:

A wrap up, another look at the map and photographs viewed in lesson 2 and discuss what they have learned so far. They will write down their thoughts on a worksheet. Other sources that could be looked at and were not covered in lessons 1-7 are appended at the end of this lesson with suggested activities.

Procedures:

· Hand out the photos shown in Lesson 2 and have the students share thoughts about all the Busey contributions they learned from this unit.

· Hand out Worksheet: A Wrap Up. Ask them to individually write down at least one memory under each of the categories listed on the worksheet.

· There is a last question on the sheet that asks about the areas not covered in this unit but are listed as optional below. This question has students explore how they would go about finding more information in order to answer a question they may have about this particular place in Champaign Urbana.

Analysis of primary sources:

· All used in lessons 1-6.

Analysis of secondary sources:

· All used in lessons 1-6.

Ties to a National Primary Source: none

Areas yet to be explored/optional

At this point students will have realized how much the Busey family has contributed to the Champaign Urbana community. They should also realize that much more about them and their contributions could be researched. Students may not realize that Mr. Fox, of Fox Dr. named after him and builder of the industrial park on Fox Dr., may be considered today what the Busey family was in the past. The Robeson’s came after the Busey’s and before Mr. Fox.

People like Carrie Busey named for an elementary school may have a direct tie to the Busey lineage.

The Busey mansions, mostly built in Urbana between Lincoln and Race streets, on Green and Main streets, are an interesting topic. A blue print of a Busey mansion still exists at the Early American Museum and the architecture of that time could make for an interesting topic to research.

Urbana Free library is situated on what was Busey land.

Busey Hall is an all women’s dormitory on the University of campus.

A side topic, but quite interesting, is the growth of the city of Urbana and with it a comparison to the growth of Busey bank. As more people flow into a community, there are more people wanting to save and invest their money.

A courthouse and a jail are buildings needed to regulate law and order in a community.

If genealogy is something the students are very interested in then students can look at the genealogy of the Busey’s as far back as the mid 1700’s

Procedures: groups could do the following topics separately where each group would present their findings to the class. Conversely, this could be done whole class.

· Hand out the newspaper article on the naming of Carrie Busey School, BuseySchool.

· Ask: Have other schools been named after important community people? Take a look at the names of Champaign and Urbana schools in the phone book or locate them on the map found in the phone book /city map and allow the students to research the names of some of these schools.

· Hand out BuseyMansion502Main_0002 and BuseyMansion502Main_0003

· What mansions remain today? How many Busey mansions existed at the say 1900, or 1950?

Looking at the floor plan of the Bowen Busey mansion (see Early American Museum for the floor plans) how are houses today and a century ago different, the same? What were the past and current needs that determine floor plans?

· Hand out UrbanaGrowth and 93yrsofGrowth.

· How have the growth of Urbana and the growth of Busey Bank in the past 90 years correlated? Make a prediction on the future of the city growth. Can the bank continue growing as the population continues growing? What factors must be looked at to make this determination?

· Hand out FirstCourtBusey, title of article First Log Cabin Built by Sadorus In 1824.

· Where would one go to continue the exploration of the history courthouse for Champaign County? The current courthouse is located on Main St. in Urbana. Has it always been there? What questions would one ask in order to direct the research of this topic?

· Urbana Free Library is located on Busey land.

· How can we find out how the Library became situated in this lot?

· Busey Hall also known as Busey-Evans (renamed after the addition) has what connection with the Busey family?

· To look at the past generations of Busey’s in the US from 1700s on look at BuseyGenerations, or each of the four pages individually BuseyGenerations_0001, BuseyGenerations_0002, BuseyGenerations_0003, BuseyGenerations_0004.

· Have students build a much bigger and comprehensive genealogy given the data they worked on in lessons 3 and 5.

List of Materials and Resources

Add 75 Acres to Woodlawn. Champaign-Urbana Courier, September 26, 1947. Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green St. Urbana, Il.

Annual Meeting of the Urbana Half-Century Club, October 22, 1987 (audiotape) [history of Urbana Country Club] Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green St. Urbana, Il.

Census and You. [Most Common Street Names, Second is First Is Third!] 1993, US Census Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Geography Division. February 1993.

Children Need Woods, Reader Tells of Walks in Busey Area. Champaign-Urbana Courier, April 30, 1963. Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green St. Urbana, Il.

Busey, ‘Family of Bankers’, still Active as Urbana Celebrates 90^th Birthday, article in the News-Gazette, September 2, 1045. Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

BuseyMansion502Main. Champaign-Urbana Courier, 1950s(?). Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

BuseyMansion502Main_0002. Champaign-Urbana Courier, 1950s(?). Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

BuseyMansion502Main_0003. Champaign-Urbana Courier, 1950s(?). Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

Busey Pasture Wildlife Haven, Champaign-Urbana Courier, November 11, 1945. Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green St. Urbana, Il.

Busey Woods Map Sketch. [1945-46?] Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green St. Urbana, Il.

Busey Woods to be leased by Urbana Park unit. Champaign-Urbana Courier, March 28, 1974. Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green St. Urbana, Il.

Board to Study Busey Woods, article source, unknown, February 23, 1964. Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

The Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine, Vol XXI, No. 3, Spring 1958. Detroit, Michigan. Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

First Log Cabin Built by Sadorus In 1824, News Gazette, November 23, 1952. Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

Google map of Urbana focusing on the area that lays East of Lincoln Ave., North of University Ave., West of Cunningham Ave., and South of Highway 74.

Hand written family tree of Samuel T. Busey. Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, IL. Page 1 Page 2

List of 183 U of I veterans who died during WWI, The Story of the Stadium. University of Illinois, 19__? Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

Memorial Stadium, True Illini Spirit. (DVD) Board Of Trustees, University of Illinois, 2008. A production of WILL-TV. WILL-TV, 300 N. Goodwin Ave., Urbana Il.

Most common street names,

http://web.archive.org/web/20051027093314/http://www.nlc.org/about_cities/cities_101/184.cfm

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Last updated July 8, 2009. http://www.nps.gov/

New School Is Named for Carrie Busey. Champaign-Urbana Courier, June 28, 1957. Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green St. Urbana, Il.

Plaut, Patricia, July 2009. Photographs: BuseyMainSt., BuseyWoods, ColBuseyMemorial, BuseyTombstones, WoodlawnSign, BuseyHall, UrbanaFreeLibrary, UrbanaCountryClub, BuseyBankMarquee, CarrieBusey, MemorialStadium.

Stadium donation receipt, primary source showing $100 payment/donation towards the building of the Memorial Stadium. Taped onto the first page of The Story of the Stadium. Source available from the Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

Stadium donation thank you note, primary source showing the $100 donation given by Charges Bowen Busey Jr. to the Memorial Stadium fund. Taped onto the first page of The Story of the Stadium. Source available from the Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

The Story of the Stadium. [1920?] University of Illinois. Source available from the Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

U of I Recipient of Busey Woods, article source unknown, date possible 1964 or 1965. Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

Urbana, Dating from 1855, Had Steady Growth, by Dick Bessey, News-Gazette, ___ Progress Edition, November 23, 1952. Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

93 Years of Financial Growth. Champaign-Urbana Courier, November 12, 1961. Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.