50-476: The Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site is an 86-acre (0.3 km) history park located eight miles (13 km) south of Charleston, Illinois , U.S., near the town of Lerna . The centerpiece is a replica of the log cabin built and occupied by Thomas Lincoln , father of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln . Abraham Lincoln never lived here and only occasionally visited, but he provided financial help to
100-578: A farm of the period. The crops and livestock are all of historic heirloom varieties . A great many additional activities occur during the annual Fall Harvest Frolic . In response to budget cuts, the state of Illinois temporarily closed the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site from December 2008 until April 2009. On January 22, 2014, part of the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The former location of
150-739: A ladder. By 1845, the cabin was home to as many as 18 members of the Lincoln and Johnston families, living together in an extended-family arrangement common in Appalachian Southern culture. Abraham Lincoln, now a rising state legislator and lawyer , provided financial help to his parents but did not visit them as often as he could. As a lawyer, he was in Charleston, site of the Coles County courthouse, quite frequently, but only visited "every year or two." Though he remembered his stepmother fondly, Lincoln
200-732: A new board of trustees. Her greatest single gift was $ 10,000,000 in 1907 to establish and endow the Russell Sage Foundation . It commissions studies of social issues and recommends solutions. In 1908 Slocum Sage donated $ 650,000 to Yale University , enabling the purchase of the Hillhouse property for what was developed as the university's Science Hill . In 1909, Sage donated Holder Hall to Princeton University , named after her Quaker ancestor Christopher Holder . He had been persecuted in colonial Massachusetts for his religion. Two years later, Sage gave $ 300,000 to Cornell University for
250-748: A part. They make policy decisions based on recommendations and information from the City Manager. Brandon Combs was appointed mayor of Charleston June 30, 2015 and continues to hold the office. Charleston is served by Charleston Community Unit School District 1 , one of three school districts located in the county of Coles. The district itself is composed of six schools: Ashmore Elementary School (PreK-4), Mark Twain Elementary School (PreK and K), Carl Sandburg Elementary School (1-3), Jefferson Elementary School (4-6), Charleston Middle School (7-8), and Charleston High School (9-12). Eastern Illinois University
300-446: A teachers' college. This independent project demonstrated her attachment to Syracuse, her identification as a teacher, and her commitment to women's education. In 1909, she donated $ 50,000 to Syracuse on her birthday. Sage became a patron of E. Lilian Todd (the first woman in the world to design airplanes) after seeing Todd's first airplane design at an exhibition at Madison Square Gardens in 1906. In 1915, Mrs. Russell Sage (as she
350-495: Is a public university in Charleston and has served the community since 1895; and Lakeview College of Nursing has a campus located in Charleston. Charleston is served by the JG-TC (Journal Gazette & Times Courier) local newspaper and Eastern Illinois University's daily newspaper The Daily Eastern News Charleston is located approximately 7 miles (11 km) east of Interstate 57 's Mattoon exit. Illinois Route 16 serves as
400-574: Is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon . Both are principal cities of the Charleston–Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area . Native Americans lived in the Charleston area for thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived. With the great tallgrass prairie to the west, beech-maple forests to the east, and the Embarras River and Wabash Rivers between,
450-475: Is not part of Lake Charleston (the Lincoln Prairie Grass Trail). Lake Charleston lies approximately two miles (3 km) southeast of the city center. It covers 330 acres of surface area, and has a maximum depth of 12 feet (3.7 m) and average depth of 5.7 feet (1.7 m). Fishing and boating are allowed, although there is a no-wake regulation. There are five trails in the park area around
500-542: Is referred to in records) purchased the National Training School in Durham, North Carolina from Thomas A. Gorman. Gorman had previously acquired the school for $ 25,100. The institution, which is now known as North Carolina Central University, had originally belonged to Dr. James E. Shepard, who lost ownership due to debt. After buying the school from Gorman, Mrs. Sage returned control of the institution to Dr. Shepard and
550-610: The American Civil War . 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
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#1733094057496600-669: The Civil War , Olivia Slocum moved to Philadelphia, where she worked as a governess for a wealthy family. She also volunteered in a military hospital . In 1869, at age 41, Olivia Slocum married 53-year old Russell Sage , a widower, financier and railroad executive. He was a cousin of Colonel Ira Yale Sage of the Yale family . They had no children. She became involved in activities defined by her role as his wife. In 1906, Sage died and left his entire fortune of about $ 70 million to Olivia, with no stipulations on how she may use it. Her philosophy
650-516: The Illinois High School Association's Girls Badminton, Journalism, and Girls and Boys Track and Field State Finals. The establishment of an enterprise zone on the northern edge of Charleston has helped attract some manufacturing and industrial jobs, including Vesuvius USA , ITW Hi-Cone , and Dietzgen Corporation. Jimmy John Liautaud founded the first Jimmy John's restaurant in Charleston in 1983, occupying premises near
700-568: The Russell Sage Foundation in 1907 and founded Russell Sage College in 1916, as well as endowing programs for women. Margaret Olivia Slocum, called Olivia, was born in Syracuse , New York , to Margaret Pierson ( née Jermain) and Joseph Slocum. After the Panic of 1837 and the decline of canal traffic following construction of railroads across the state, her father's businesses and warehouses began to fail. Despite her father's financial struggles, Olivia
750-455: The CCC's "Camp Shiloh", it qualified as a historical archaeological site , not because of the current buildings or because of any connection to Lincoln. As a result, all the buildings on the site are non-contributing . Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a city in, and the county seat of, Coles County, Illinois , United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city
800-452: The Charleston area provided semi-nomadic Indians access to a variety of resources. Indians may have deliberately set the " wildfires " which maintained the local mosaic of prairie and oak–hickory forest . Streams with names such as 'Indian Creek' and 'Kickapoo Creek' mark the sites of former Indian settlements. One village is said to have been located south of Fox Ridge State Park near a deposit of flint . The early history of settlement in
850-501: The City Council. The City Manager is an appointed position. As of September 18, 2003, R. Scott Smith, a former Parks & Recreation director, officially became Charleston's City Manager after serving as interim manager since August 9, 2003 and continues to hold that position as of January 2022. The City Council is an elected legislative body of the City of Charleston, of which the mayor is
900-559: The Embarrass," near the entrance to Lake Charleston park. These conflicts did not slow American settlement, and Indian history in Coles County effectively ended when all natives were expelled by law from Illinois after the 1832 Black Hawk War . With the grudging exception of Indian wives, the last natives were driven out by the 1840s. First settled by Benjamin Parker in 1826, Charleston was named for Charles Morton, its first postmaster. The city
950-510: 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. Two pitched battles (complete with cannon on one side) took place just south of Charleston along "the hills of
1000-415: The average family size was 2.13. The city's age distribution consisted of 12.7% under the age of 18, 32.5% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 41,436, and
1050-466: The cabin for $ 25,000 ($ 740,000 in 2021) and intended to place it in a glass case to be preserved forever. The current Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site includes three houses on two sites: The Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site is interpreted to the mid-1840s, the time of its occupation by many members of the extended Lincoln family. The main site also includes the cornfields, gardens, small orchards, livestock, and outbuildings that would be found on
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#17330940574961100-594: 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." Thomas Lincoln 's log cabin has been restored and is open to the public as the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site , 8 mi. south of Charleston. The Lincoln farm is maintained as a living history museum where historical re-enactors depict life in 1840s Illinois. Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln are buried in
1150-572: The city's main east-west road, titled Lincoln Ave. within city limits. Charleston is served by the Coles County Memorial Airport (MTO), which is approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Charleston. Established in 1953, the airport received commercial service until 2000, and now serves as a public general aviation facility. Charleston is serviced by two transit providers: the Charleston Zipline run by Dial-A-Ride which serves
1200-509: The construction of a women's dormitory, Risley Hall , named after her mother-in-law. Her promotion of women's education also included funding the construction of the Olivia Josselyn House in 1912, named for her grandmother, at Vassar College , a women's college. In 1912, Sage acquired Marsh Island in the Gulf of Mexico , dedicating it as a refuge for birds and other wildlife. She gifted
1250-406: The corner of Fourth Street and Lincoln Avenue. Charleston is home to the annual Coles County Fair, which typically runs for a week in the summer. The fair includes animal showings, carnival rides and attractions, a demolition derby, and more. The fair is held at the fairgrounds located at 603 W Madison Ave. Charleston has seven parks (one of which is a state park) and six trails, only one of which
1300-567: The county was divided when prominent local citizens offered refuge to a family of escaped slaves brought from Kentucky by Gen. Robert Matson. Abe Lincoln, by then a young railroad lawyer, appeared in the Coles County Courthouse to argue for the return of the escaped slaves under the Fugitive Slave Act in a case known as Matson v. Ashmore . As in the rest of the nation, this long-simmering debate finally broke out into violence during
1350-486: The county, Thomas bought a small plot near the Embarras River in 1840, part of what was then called Goosenest Prairie , now within Pleasant Grove Township on the southern edge of Coles County . At some point soon after that purchase, Thomas and Sarah built what was to be their final home, a saddlebag style log cabin with two main rooms and additional sleeping and storage space in a loft or attic accessed by
1400-819: The development of the Russell Sage Foundation Homes in 1919, a suburban community at Forest Hills Gardens , Queens . In addition she gave extensively to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and the Emma Willard School , both in Troy. These contributions included funds donated by Sage that supported major improvements on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's campus: construction of the Russell Sage Dining Hall in 1916, named after Sage's nephew who graduated in 1859; and $ 1,000,000 for
1450-413: 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 museum. 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 1847,
1500-765: The following of $ 1.6 million each: the Emma Willard School, the Woman's Hospital, the Children's Aid Society, the Charity Organization Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the American Museum of Natural History , and Syracuse University. She also provided large donations in her will to a variety of churches, missions, and other religious causes. By her bequest, Sage donated $ 2,750,000 posthumously for
1550-527: The funds. She named the library in honor of her grandfather Major John Jermain , who fought in the American Revolution . The library was designed by Augustus N. Allen ; she presented it in 1910 as a gift to the people of the village. The land cost $ 10,000, and was directly across from Sage's summer home on Main Street. Olivia Sage's summer residence for many years in the village was later adapted for use as
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1600-612: The general city area with a deviated fixed-route and demand-response service , and the Panther Shuttle, which mainly services the Eastern Illinois University campus. Charleston does not receive direct passenger rail service, however Amtrak 's Illini and Saluki and City of New Orleans routes stop in neighboring Mattoon . Freight-wise, Charleston was serviced by the Eastern Illinois Railroad , which
1650-566: The household and, after Thomas died in 1851, Abraham owned and maintained the farm for his stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln . The farmstead is operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency . Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln , died in 1818 while the family lived in a log cabin in the Little Pigeon Creek Community in southern Indiana . In 1819, Lincoln's father Thomas Lincoln married
1700-532: The island to the state of Louisiana in 1920, which continued the preservation of habitats and wildlife. In 1916, Sage founded Russell Sage College in Troy , New York as a comprehensive college for women. The college is located within what has since been designated as the historic district of Troy, an area that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . RSC offers liberal arts and professional degree programs. Financing to build Pierson Middle-High School
1750-424: The lake, with the longest trail looping around the lake with a length of 3.6 miles (5.8 km). Charleston's Parks and Recreation Department offers a variety of services, including before & after school clubs, a day club, dog training classes, and children sports leagues. Charleston is run under a City Manager style of government, where the City Manager is the city's chief administrative officer and oversees
1800-467: The median income for a family was $ 52,521. Males had a median income of $ 24,609 versus $ 16,650 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 23,901. About 16.8% of families and 27.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 24.5% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over. Charleston is home to Eastern Illinois University , which has roughly 8,600 undergraduate and graduate students. Additionally, Eastern Illinois hosts
1850-509: The middle-class frame house of prominent Farmington citizen (Sarah's son-in-law and Abraham's step-brother-in-law) Reuben Moore. They also visited Thomas Lincoln's grave at nearby Shiloh Cemetery. Sarah was fond of her stepson and had always believed he would be successful. This was to be their last visit; Lincoln never returned to Illinois alive. Sarah Bush Lincoln lived in the Goosenest Prairie cabin until her death in 1869. Sarah Lincoln
1900-478: The nearby Shiloh Cemetery. On May 26, 1917, a tornado ripped through Charleston, killing 38 people and injuring many more, along with destroying 220 homes. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Charleston has a total area of 9.59 square miles (24.84 km ), of which 8.88 square miles (23.00 km ) (or 92.68%) is land and 0.70 square miles (1.81 km ) (or 7.32%) is water. The data below were taken from 1893 through January 2020, when this chart
1950-411: The population. There were 7,847 households, out of which 20.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.06% were married couples living together, 12.18% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.94% were non-families. 36.05% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.57% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and
2000-696: The town's Sag Harbor Whaling Museum . In 2017, in honor of the 100th anniversary of women receiving the right to vote in New York State, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation gained approval for installation of a historic roadside marker outside Sage's former Sag Harbor home to acknowledge her contributions to the suffragist movement. The historian Ruth Crocker has studied how Sage provided in her will for distribution of more wealth: her legacy had fifty-two equal parts. Nineteen named educational institutions received one part, or about $ 800,000 each. She made larger bequests to
2050-724: The widowed Sarah Johnston of Elizabethtown, Kentucky . In 1830, Thomas and Sarah followed their daughter and son-in-law and other family members as they migrated west from Indiana into Central Illinois ; Abraham, though now a legal adult, opted to follow his step-mother and father. After a wretched winter in 1830–1831 at a campsite west of Decatur , young Abraham left the family to start his own homestead and seek his fortune in Sangamon County . Wandering generally southeastward, Thomas and Sarah eventually settled in Coles County . After living unsuccessfully on three separate farmsteads within
Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site - Misplaced Pages Continue
2100-565: Was acquired by the Decatur & Eastern Illinois Railroad , which now services businesses in the region. Charleston is serviced by the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, whose main campus is approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Charleston. There is a Walk-In Clinic located within the city itself. Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage , known as Olivia Sage (September 8, 1828 – November 4, 1918),
2150-426: Was an American philanthropist known for her contributions to education and progressive causes. In 1869 she became the second wife of industrialist Russell Sage . At his death in 1906, she inherited a fortune estimated at more than $ 63,000,000, to be used at her discretion. A former teacher, Sage strongly supported education, both with program and building grants to Syracuse and other universities. She established
2200-700: Was buried with Thomas in Shiloh Cemetery. In 1893, the original Thomas Lincoln log cabin was disassembled and shipped northward to serve as an exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois . The original cabin was lost after the Exposition, and may have been used as firewood. However, the cabin had been photographed many times, and an exact replica was built from the photographs and from contemporary descriptions. In 1907, Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage purchased
2250-636: Was educated in private schools and graduated in 1847 from the Troy Female Seminary (later called the Emma Willard School , a preparatory school). Olivia Slocum supported herself by teaching for 20 years in Syracuse, New York , where she lived with her parents, and in Philadelphia . Her father continued to struggle and in 1857, fatally ill with tuberculosis , sold their family home in Syracuse. Olivia and her mother had to move in with relatives. During
2300-491: Was encapsulated in her article, "Opportunities and Responsibilities of Leisured Women", including "helping the unfortunate by providing them with a good environment, opportunity for self-support and individual responsibility, and protection from the unscrupulous." Mrs. Sage donated Constitution Island to the federal government as an addition to West Point . In 1905, Olivia Sage told Syracuse University that she would purchase Yates Castle and its surrounding property to house
2350-427: 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
2400-469: Was gifted by Sage. It was named for her maternal ancestor Abraham Pierson , one of the early European settlers of Long Island. The school was completed in 1908 at the cost of $ 102,000. Olivia Slocum Sage regularly spent her summers at a house in Sag Harbor, New York , a former whaling and fishing village on eastern Long Island. She organized the effort to build a library in the village, and donated most of
2450-689: Was made. They were accessed through the Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC). As of the 2020 census there were 17,286 people, 7,847 households, and 3,850 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,803.25 inhabitants per square mile (696.24/km ). There were 8,319 housing units at an average density of 867.83 per square mile (335.07/km ). 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
2500-460: Was not very close to his father; he did not visit even when Thomas Lincoln was terminally ill in 1851. At the end of January 1861, Abraham Lincoln, the president-elect , traveled by newly laid railroad tracks from Springfield to Farmington, a few miles north of the cabin, to visit his widowed stepmother (Farmington is now the unincorporated hamlet of Campbell, Illinois and not to be confused with Farmington, Illinois ). Their meeting occurred at
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