Protected from prairie fires by the waters of a silvery creek, this site marks the southern boundary of the Big Woods which once covered northern Urbana. Two hundred years ago Indians called this creek Silver Creek. In those days, many Indians camped along the section of the creek which runs near East Main Street. However, by the early 1800s settlers were aggressively claiming the land in Illinois, and in the 1830s the last of the Indians were moved to reservations west of the Mississippi.

By the mid-1800s settlers were referring to Silver Creek as the Boneyard. Stories claim that this name was started because settlers found piles of sun-bleached bones along the banks of the creek. Several popular theories suggest where those bones came from: (1) Indians left behind the bones of animals they hunted and cooked by the creek; (2) Indians established a burial ground along the creek which eventually eroded, exposing the bones; and (3) a terrible snowstorm killed a large number of animals along the streambank.

As Urbana grew and the Illinois Industrial College (now the University of Illinois) was established in 1867, the silvery-clean creek was known by both names-Silver Creek and the Boneyard. The name Boneyard for such a beautiful creek seemed offensive to local citizens, and at the turn of the century U of I president Andrew Sloan Draper presented proposals to make the name Silver Creek official. However, the students, being students, turned the name down soundly every time.

At that time this part of Urbana was the location of several sawmills and lumberyards. On this site there was a mill works which was part of the S. E. Huff Lumber Co. Sometime after 1915 the old wooden structure was replaced by the present-day masonry building, which was first identified on records as the Urbana Planing Mill. It remained a lumber works until 1958 when Urbana Laboratories (an agricultural products laboratory) moved into the building.

Little is known about the specific history of this part of Urbana, and as far as we can tell, nothing of any significance ever happened here, until now! The restoration of Silvercreek was begun in April 1989. Our other restaurant, The Courier Cafe, is located just a block south at 111 N. Race Street.