Built at a Railroad Crossing, Not a Riverbank
Tolono exists because two railroads crossed here: the Illinois Central laid track south from Champaign in the 1850s, and the east-west Great Western Railway intersected it in 1856, creating a junction town that incorporated in 1865. Its name was reportedly invented outright by a railroad land commissioner rather than tied to any natural landmark.
A Junction Town's Foundation Considerations
A settlement platted around a rail junction rather than a river or ridge sits on unmodified county prairie soil -- the same black topsoil over yellow clay subsoil found across Champaign County -- without the added variable of river-adjacent grading. That makes seasonal clay movement, not proximity to water, the leading foundation consideration for Tolono's older housing stock.