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History · Champ

Champ dates to 1959

Below: maps from 1933 on and the census since 1960.

1959founded
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Guerreroast · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Champ began

When was Champ founded?

1959

Champ dates its founding to 1959 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1960.

First census: 50 in 19602020 census: 1067 years
Founding year: Wikipedia.The full story ↓

What stands out about Champ’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Champ are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Champ’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Champ’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Champ came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Champ.

Read it all →

Champ was founded in 1959 by Bill Bangert, a former track and field athlete who was once mayor of Berkeley. Bangert purchased the land from local businessman Norman Champ, although he later said that the community is not named after the former landowner but after the abbreviation of the word "champion". The village was founded with the intention of building the world's largest domed stadium, seating 115,000 and potentially hosting a future Olympic Games, alongside a large indoor shopping center and other tourist attractions. The U.S. Olympic Committee gave some support to the idea, nominating Champ as its candidate to host the 1971 Pan American Games. Bangert believed that incorporating a small village whose only permanent residents were his close relatives and business partners would allow him to issue municipal bonds for his own project. However, these efforts were blocked by the stat…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Champ on the map, 1933 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Champ. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Champ on the 1933 USGS mapChamp on the 1940 USGS mapChamp on the 1954 USGS mapChamp on the 1968 USGS mapChamp on the 1974 USGS mapChamp on the 1993 USGS map1933Creve Coeur sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Champ.

People over time

Champ, census by census

01960198020002020Peak: 50

Between 10 and 50 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Champ’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Maryland HeightsIts storyDBridgeton1 historic placeB−

Questions about Champ’s history

What year was Champ founded?

In 1959, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1960 counted 50 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.