Driving Around Small Town Charleston, Illinois in 4k Video

Filmed on Friday, June 16 2023, I drive around the village Charleston, IL to see what's going on.

Charleston was named for Charles Morton, its first postmaster.

The early history of settlement in the area was marked by uneasy co-existence between Indians and European settlers. Some settlers lived peacefully with the natives, but conflict arose in the 1810s and 1820s. After Indians allegedly harassed surveying crews, an escalating series of poorly documented skirmishes occurred between Indians, settlers, and the Illinois Rangers.

The city was established in 1831, but not incorporated until 1865. 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 frequent 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.

Although Illinois was a solidly pro-Union, anti-slavery state, Coles County was settled by many Southerners with pro-slavery sentiments. On March 28, 1864 a riot—or perhaps a small battle—erupted in downtown Charleston when armed Confederate sympathizers known as Copperheads arrived in town to attack half-drunk Union soldiers preparing to return to their regiment.

In 1895, the Eastern Illinois State Normal School was established in Charleston, which later became Eastern Illinois University. This led to lasting resentment in nearby Mattoon, which had originally led the campaign to locate the proposed teaching school in Coles County. A Mattoon newspaper printed a special edition announcing the decision with the derisive headline "Catfish Town Gets It."

Jimmy John Liautaud founded the first Jimmy John's restaurant in Charleston in 1983, occupying premises near the corner of Fourth Street and Lincoln Avenue. A Jimmy John's restaurant is still there today, across the street from the first location.

As of the 2020 census there were 17,286 people residing in the city.

The racial makeup of the city was 79.65% White, 8.39% African American, 0.27% Native American, 2.54% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 3.88% from other races, and 5.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.84% of the population.

The median income for a household in the city was $41,436, and the per capita income for the city was $23,901. About 27.3% of the population were below the poverty line.

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