Chebanse was founded in 1854 as a stop along the Illinois Central Railroad. Its borders go between  Kankakee and Iroquois County. With the county line splitting the town almost in half.

It has an exit off of Interstate 57. While Chebanse can’t say the interstate exit has helped it grown. Like many small towns across rural America, a highway exit after the 1960s can be as crucial to stopping a town from dying, as having a railroad stop was in the 1800s.

The town is just over one-square mile in area and has practically maintained the same sized population  since 1880. Fluctuating between 700 & 1,100 people.

The former school is a nice looking red-brick building in the village center. Most likely built around the 1920s. It is now used as a civic center that hosts everything from family parties to haunted houses and professional wrestling matches. 

A newer elementary school a few blocks away, looks to be from about the 1960s. It is still used today for grades K-4. Local teens go to Clifton Central High School.    

While Chebanse’s most well known resident may have been gone by the time the old school was built. Harold Gray, the creator of the Little Orphan Annie comic strip, no doubt would have spent some time in and around town, as he grew up on a farm just outside of town.