About Us

Welcome to the Village of Ludlow! We are a small community located in northern Champaign County, 100 miles south of Chicago between Interstate 57 and US Route 45.

Formerly known as Pera Station, a stop on the Illinois Central Railroad in the 1850's, the Village was renamed Ludlow in 1868 in honor of James D. Ludlow and his wife Susan. Mr Ludlow, a land surveyor from Ohio, settled a half mile east of the Village in 1856 and began farming. He donated land in the Village for two churches to be built. Soon the Village grew to include two blacksmith shops, a bank, a grain mill, a hardware store, a dry goods store, a hotel and recital/dance hall as well as a large school.

As with many small towns across America, time has a way of changing things and our town has become smaller. Our community is less defined by boundaries on a map or early history than by the sense of shared values our residents hold dear - friendliness, good citizenship and small town values. 

Baseball on 4th of July