Urban districts were a form of local government in England and Wales between 1894 and 1974, typically used for smaller and medium sized towns. They were created on 31 December 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894. The vast majority of urban districts formed at that time were created by renaming the pre-existing urban sanitary districts, such as local board districts or improvement commissioners districts. Only a minority of the urban districts created in 1894 were for places that had not previously had urban forms of local government.