Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Rantoul, IL

Rantoul is a village in northern Champaign County, laid out in 1854 by John Penfield for the Illinois Central Railroad and chartered in 1869.

Rantoul was named after Robert Rantoul Jr., a U.S. representative from Massachusetts who was also a director of the Illinois Central Railroad.

Rantoul's first post office opened in 1856 under the name Rantoul Station, and the name was shortened to Rantoul in May 1862.

In 1917 the United States Army picked Rantoul as the site of Chanute Field, an aviation training base chosen for its railroad access and its closeness to the University of Illinois' ground school.

Chanute Field grew into Chanute Air Force Base after World War II, and over its 76 years of operation it trained more than one million airmen, including early members of what became the Tuskegee Airmen.

Chanute Air Force Base closed in 1993, and Rantoul's economy took a sharp decline from which it has never fully recovered, a story told in the book 'Eye of the Storm: Chanute Closes.'

Rantoul's population peaked at 25,562 in the 1970 census during the base's heyday, but by the 2020 census it had fallen to 12,371 — less than half its peak.

Census Bureau estimates put Rantoul at about 5,374 households, and only about 55 percent of its homes are owner-occupied, an unusually low share reflecting the former base housing stock.

The old base's runways now operate as the Rantoul National Aviation Center, a public airport, while part of the 2,200-acre Chanute site is set to host a University of Illinois facility for testing self-driving vehicles.

The Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum, which preserved the base's history on the old Chanute grounds, closed permanently on December 30, 2015.