Halfway House / University Stop

Somewhere between 1880 and 1890, "the street railway did succeed in securing the cooperation of the Board in the erection of a waiting station on Green Street in front of University Hall". This "waiting station" served the Urbana and Champaign Electric Street Railway [1] and was almost at the midpoint between the two cities, which led to its naming as the "Halfway House". [2] The shelter also served as the stop for the early University, hence it was often known simply as University Stop. While the railroad stopped service in 1908, the structure remained.

The Halfway House originally stood on Green Street, in front of the modern Illini Union and Altgeld (near where the modern bus stop is), but was disassembled and placed into storage in 1961 when Green Street was widened [3] for $105,000. [4] The Daily Illini launched a campaign to have it restored [5] and it was reassembled at its current location in April 1964, with "construction and landscaping improvements" completed by May 1. [6]