Abraham Lincoln & U.S. Grant Historical Locations in Coles County Illinois

A Resource Page by Howard Taylor

COLES COUNTY & CHARLESTON HISTORICAL SITES WITH & WITHOUT MARKER DESCRIPTIONS
In Chronological or other Order  State Official Historical Markers are indicated by **

14)  The Essex House Hotel & Railroad Intersection point in Mattoon, 1858-- Exact site, but no original structure

Location:  at the location of the current Illinois Central Depot on Broadway Ave., in Mattoon. 

Check Here for a map of Mattoon when the Essex House existed.

Mattoon, Illinois, now perhaps the larger city in Coles County did not exist before 1855.  The railroad was established and the town grew around it rather quickly.  Two railroads would intersect in the middle of the downtown area:  the Illinois Central (north/south line) and the Terre Haute Alton line (east/west through Charleston)  It is said that the two lines would have to take turns crossing through the intersection.  The present underpass was not built until several years later.  The Essex House Hotel was located at the intersection.  This hotel would be the overnight stay place for Abraham Lincoln the night before his great debate at Charleston. 

Mattoon would also be the location of where Colonel U.S. Grant would muster the Illinois Volunteers to send into the Civil War.

First train into Charleston from Mattoon on the Terre Haute-Alton Line

The Essex House in Mattoon, where A. Lincoln would pass through and spend the night before his Charleston Debate in 1858 This picture is part of a mural once in the National Bank of Mattoon