Urbana City Seal

In a followup on a City of Champaign roundup that linked to background on their city shield. Well, Tom's Mailbag got the scoop on the history of the Urbana Seal now too:

"The city of Urbana has had three seals that we know of. The Urbana city clerk's office has all three of these. In the first one, the outer circle contained the wording, 'SEAL OF THE CITY OF URBANA Chartered 1855.' The inner circle contained the words organized under General Law 1873. The seal also contains a scroll and what looks like a plow, a hammer and anvil, and a wagon wheel.

"The second seal contains the same items as mentioned above as well as lines that look like a sun burst.

"The current seal has all of the items that are in the second seal but they are much more pronounced and detailed."

Gerdes said the first reference to a city seal that the archives staff was able to find was in an 1880 city ordinance.

"We still do not know when the first seal was made or who designed it but in the city council minutes from February 3, 1908 we found "Ald. Van Wegen moved the clerk be instructed to purchase a new seal at cost of $6.00 on which shall be date of Charter and date of organization under The general Law. Motion carried."

More at the full Mailbag.