Charleston, Illinois
State Illinois Wikimedia Commons: Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a town/city in Coles County, Illinois, United States and is also the county seat. The populace was 21,838, as of the 2010 census.
The town/city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon, Illinois.
Both are principal metros/cities of the Charleston Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Native Americans lived in the Charleston region for thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
With the great tallgrass prairie to the west, beech-maple forests to the east, and the Embarras River and Wabash Rivers between, the Charleston region provided semi-nomadic Native Americans access to a range of resources.
But in the 1810s and 1820s, after Native Americans allegedly harassed surveying crews, an escalating series of poorly documented skirmishes occurred between Native Americans, settlers, and militias known as the Illinois Rangers.
Two pitched battles (complete with cannon on one side) occurred just south of Charleston along "the hills of the Embarrass," near the entrance to undivided Lake Charleston park.
Native American history in Coles County effectively ended when all natives were expelled by law from Illinois after the 1832 Black Hawk War.
When Abraham Lincoln's father moved to a farm on Goosenest Prairie south of Charleston in 1831, Lincoln helped him move, then left to start his own homestead at New Salem in Sangamon County.
Lincoln was a incessant visitor to the Charleston area, though he likely spent more time at the Coles County courthouse than at the home of his father and stepmother.
One of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates was held in Charleston on September 18, 1858, and is now the site of the Coles County fairgrounds and a small exhibition. Lincoln's last visit was in 1859, when the future President visited his stepmother and his father's grave.
Although Illinois was a solidly pro-Union, anti-slavery state, Coles County was settled by many Southerners with pro-slavery sentiments.
In 1895, the Eastern Illinois State Normal School was established in Charleston, which later became Eastern Illinois University.
Thomas Lincoln's log cabin has been restored and is open to the enhance as the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, 8 mi.
South of Charleston.
The Lincoln farm is maintained as a living history exhibition where historical re-enactors depict life in 1840s Illinois.
According to the 2010 census, Charleston has a total region of 9.63 square miles (24.94 km2), of which 8.92 square miles (23.10 km2) (or 92.63%) is territory and 0.71 square miles (1.84 km2) (or 7.37%) is water. In the city, the populace was spread out with 9.8% under the age of 18, 44.1% from 18 to 24, 18.7% from 25 to 44, 13.7% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who were 65 years of age or older.
These figures may be somewhat skewed as 10,000 inhabitants of Charleston are students at Eastern Illinois University, many of whom have their major place of residence in other metros/cities though they spend nine months of the year in Charleston.
Modern Charleston is home to Eastern Illinois University, which employs almost 2,000 full-time faculty and staff and has roughly 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Additionally, Eastern Illinois hosts the Illinois High School Association's Girls Badminton, Journalism, and Girls and Boys Track and Field State Finals.
The first Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwich Shop was in Charleston.
See also Eastern Illinois University#Notable alumni for a list of citizens who lived in Charleston while attending EIU.
Jim Edgar, governor of Illinois from 1990 to 1998, was raised in Charleston and graduated from Eastern Illinois University Matt Hughes, former UFC Welterweight Champion, wrestled for Eastern Illinois University Charleston - Britannica Online Encyclopedia "Charleston, Coles County, September 18, 1858".
"Fourth Debate: Charleston, Illinois".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charleston, Illinois.
Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclop dia Britannica article about Charleston, Illinois.
Eastern Illinois University Charleston CUSD #1 Brief history of Charleston and Mattoon at Genealogy Trails 1994 reenactment of Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Charleston televised by C-SPAN (Debate preview and Debate review) "Charleston, a town/city of Illinois".
Municipalities and communities of Coles County, Illinois, United States
Categories:
Charleston Mattoon micropolitan region - Charleston, Illinois - Cities in Coles County, Illinois - Cities in Illinois - County seats in Illinois - Populated places established in 1831 - University suburbs in the United States
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