Mattoon (Illinois)
| Mattoon | |||
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 Mattoon in 1917, after the tornado devastation |
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| Location in Illinois | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| Foundation : | 1853 | ||
| State : | United States | ||
| State : | Illinois | ||
| County : | Coles County | ||
| Coordinates : | 39 ° 29 ′ N , 88 ° 22 ′ W | ||
| Time zone : | Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 ) | ||
| Residents : | 18,291 (as of: 2000) | ||
| Population density : | 762.1 inhabitants per km 2 | ||
| Area : | 24.0 km 2 (approx. 9 mi 2 ) of which 24.0 km 2 (approx. 9 mi 2 ) are land |
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| Height : | 224 m | ||
| Postal code : | 61938 | ||
| Area code : | +1 217 | ||
| FIPS : | 17-47553 | ||
| GNIS ID : | 413131 | ||
| Website : | www.mattoon.illinois.gov | ||
| Mayor : | Tim Gover | ||
 Mattoon in 1917, after the tornado devastation |
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Mattoon is a city with 18,291 inhabitants (2000) in Coles County in Illinois ( USA ). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has an area of 24.1 km², all land area.
geography
Mattoon is located 43 km north of Effingham , 83 km west of Terre Haute , 71 km south of Champaign , 64 km southeast of Decatur and 184 km northeast of St. Louis in their metropolitan area.
To the southwest of the city, the upper reaches of the Little Wabash River was dammed to the lakes Lake Paradise and Lake Mattoon .
Also south of the city is the terminal moraine of a Wisconsin Ice Age glacier . While the moraine is approximately 10,000 years old, the land to the south is approximately 100,000 years old. The small oil field in the south of the moraine is also attributed to Ice Age activity: the weight of the glacier in the north created crevices in the subsurface and oil collected on these crevices.
history
The first settlers from the south lived in the forested areas on the upper reaches of the Little Wabash River in the southwest of today's city. They distrusted the prairie, which they believed to be the source of fevers.
The history of Mattoon is closely related to the history of the railroad in the area. In 1853, surveyors for the Illinois Central Railroad and the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad determined that the two lines would meet in the Mattoon area, causing an explosion in investment and land speculation. The two companies came up with the idea that those who arrived first at the intersection would not have to pay for their entertainment, a race to the meeting point. The local settlers marked the land for sale with stakes (English peg ), and so the place was originally called Pegtown .
In 1861 the town was officially named after William B. Mattoon, the chief engineer of the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad. The reason for this honor is unclear, some say that he won the naming rights because his team won the race. Others say he beat other contenders in a card game, or that Pegtown residents hoped the wealthy Mattoon would invest in town if they named them after him. With the combination of excellent infrastructure and the remarkably fertile prairie soils, Mattoon grew very quickly. At the beginning of the 20th century, the population growth and the connection to the rail network favored the industrialization of the city.
The night before the Lincoln-Douglas Debate on September 18, 1858 at the Coles County Fairground, Lincoln and Douglas stayed at nearby Mattoon. On June 17, 1861, General Ulysses S. Grant received his first post during the American Civil War when he took command of the 21st Illinois Infantry in Mattoon .
In 1865, Amish colonists established a community near Arthur in the north. Amish farms and horse-drawn buggies are not uncommon sights in the northern part of Mattoon today.
In the 1890s, Mattoon ran a successful campaign to locate the proposed eastern Illinois university in Coles County. To the chagrin of the citizens, however, the neighboring Charleston was instead chosen as the location of the future Eastern Illinois University .
On May 26, 1917, the city was devastated by a tornado that claimed 101 lives.
The discovery of petroleum in the immediate vicinity of Mattoon in 1940 led to a small "oil boom" during the 1940s and 1950s and brought economic benefits. Oil production continues to be an important industry. In 1966, Lake Land College was built south of the city . The educational institution offers the acquisition of degrees for immediate employment and pre-college education.
Mattoon was home to several minor league baseball teams in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . The last stadium, with a capacity of about 2,000 seats, was demolished in the late 1950s, but the city maintains a strong baseball tradition, still has a junior league and has hosted many junior league and world Series events.
Economy and Infrastructure
As a traditional manufacturing site, Mattoon faces major challenges with the loss of several large operations over the past two decades. Mattoon is currently one of four cities to apply to host the US Department of Energy's FutureGen zero-emission power plant .
Transportation is still an important part of the local economy. Interstate 57 is on the eastern outskirts of Mattoon . The company's national passenger rail company, Amtrak , operates the downtown Mattoon train station, which provides access to the rail network.
Unity Church from 1872
Starr Hotel from 1888
Mattoon (2007)
Former Illinois Central Railroad Depot (2013)
Railway Express Agency Building (2013)
Personalities
Sons and daughters of the city born in Mattoon
- Joe Knollenberg (1933–2018), American politician
Associated with Mattoon
- Edward Mills Purcell (1912–1997), American physicist, attended a public school in Mattoon