diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 03ea749f..a4d3d1c2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,11 +14,14 @@ and this project adheres to
   queries remain available in the `IbcExtension` because for IBC the storage
   layout is standardized. Such queries can still be implemented in CosmJS caller
   code that only needs to support one backend. ([#865])
+- @cosmjs/tendermint-rpc: Remove default URL from `HttpClient` and
+  `WebsocketClient` constructors ([#897]).
 - all: Upgrade cosmjs-types to 0.3. This includes the types of the Cosmos SDK
   0.44 modules x/authz and x/feegrant. It causes a few breaking changes by
   adding fields to interfaces. ([#928])
 
 [#865]: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/865
+[#897]: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/897
 [#928]: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/928
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/rpcclients/httpclient.ts b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/rpcclients/httpclient.ts
index 52beb72a..293842df 100644
--- a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/rpcclients/httpclient.ts
+++ b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/rpcclients/httpclient.ts
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ export async function http(method: "POST", url: string, request?: any): Promise<
 export class HttpClient implements RpcClient {
   protected readonly url: string;
 
-  public constructor(url = "http://localhost:46657") {
+  public constructor(url: string) {
     // accept host.name:port and assume http protocol
     this.url = hasProtocol(url) ? url : "http://" + url;
   }
diff --git a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/rpcclients/websocketclient.ts b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/rpcclients/websocketclient.ts
index 458353fa..d5485b35 100644
--- a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/rpcclients/websocketclient.ts
+++ b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/rpcclients/websocketclient.ts
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ export class WebsocketClient implements RpcStreamingClient {
   // map is never cleared and there is no need to do so. But unsubscribe all the subscriptions!
   private readonly subscriptionStreams = new Map<string, Stream<SubscriptionEvent>>();
 
-  public constructor(baseUrl = "ws://localhost:46657", onError: (err: any) => void = defaultErrorHandler) {
+  public constructor(baseUrl: string, onError: (err: any) => void = defaultErrorHandler) {
     // accept host.name:port and assume ws protocol
     // make sure we don't end up with ...//websocket
     const path = baseUrl.endsWith("/") ? "websocket" : "/websocket";