1870-1879

     1870s – George Curyea builds French Second Empire brick residence.  (now 5 Lafayette, still standing)

 

                         1870 – Mattoon Gas Company built at 1321 Richmond Ave.

 

                         1870 – Joseph H. Clark plats an additional 40 acres to add to the city.

 

                         1870 – Second Missionary (Colored) Baptist Church organized.  (now 2001 Shelby.

 

                         1870 – Calvary Baptist Church built.

 

                         1870 – German Evangelical Assoc. built church in southwest part of city.

 

                         1871 – The Radical Republican changed name to Mattoon Commercial newspaper.

 

                         1871 – Northern Coal & Mining Co. given permit to mine on land south of city (now area of Marshall & 21st ).

 

                         1871 – Mattoon House opens on southeast corner of Broadway and First Street (now 17th St.).  The name was changed to Dole House in honor of the Dole brothers that built it.

 

                         1871 – Third Story added to West Side School.

 

                         1871 – Congregationalist Church buys New-School Presbyterian building after Old-School & New-School Presbyterians combine. (now 1520 Charleston)

 

                         1871 – Methodist Episcopal Church erected. (Now NW corner 17th & Charleston)

 

                         1872 –  Church of the Immaculate Conception frame school building erected.

 

                         1872 – Christian Church congregation divided and another church built.  (now 2412 Western)

 

                         1872 – Unitarian Church built.   (now Trinity Episcopal at 2200 Western)

 

                         1872 – C. D. Bostwick and  George B. McDougall reorganized the Gazette newspaper.

 

             Oct. 3, 1872 – Mattoon Commercial newspaper purchased by Rufus Sumerlin & Sons.

 

                         1873 – Unity Church of Liberal Christians built.  (2000 Western)

 

                         1874 – Book bindery established by U. T. S. Rice.

 

                         1874 – John Kirchgraber builds greenhouse on East Broadway and establishes nursery on ten acres of land.  (now Lafayette Heights)

 

                         1875 – The Chuse Manufacturing Co. opens.

 

          May 20, 1874 – Mattoon National Bank chartered.

 

                 July 1874 – Central Park established on land purchased by the city for $1,800.  (now City Hall)

 

                         1875 – A jail is built and trees are planted in Central Park.

 

                         1875 – Mattoon Gas Company named changes to Mattoon Gas Light & Coke Company.

 

                         1876 – Carrie Johnson Kingman erects Opera House to replace Dole’s Hall which was destroyed by fire.  (now SW corner 16th & Broadway)

 

                         1876 – Adolf Sumerlin  purchased Mattoon Commercial newspaper from father.  Adolf is editor , & his wife Lucy T. (Townley) Sumerlin is Assoc Editor.

 

                         1876 – J. W. Hogue establishes Tile factory south of town.  (now S. 13th St. between Marshall & Marion)

 

                 Jan. 1876 – Calvary Baptist Church organized meeting in hall over Hasbrouck’s hardware store

 

                         1877 – Telephone installed between Indianapolis & St. Louis railroad shops and dispatcher’s office are the first in the city.

 

                         1877 – Davis Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church built on land deeded by Ebenezer Noyes.  (now 2321 Dewitt)   

 

                         1877 – Great railroad strike, businesses temporarily paralyzed.

 

                         1877 – Mattoon City Council passed ordinance creating a volunteer fire department.

 

                         1877 – The Grayville and Mattoon Railroad reaches Mattoon.

 

                         1878 – It was reported that there were five serious fires in the city.

 

                         1878 – William B. Mattoon, namesake for the city, dies.

 

                         1878 – South School is built.  (now 1217 Lafayette)

 

                         1878 – Peoria, Decatur, & Evansville Railroad builds its roundhouse and shops at 27th Street & Broadway.  They also build a passenger depot at 21st Street.  (core of this depot stands today used by A. J. Walker Construction)

 

                         1878 – Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church organized.  Purchased abandoned Missionary Baptist Church (now 216 21st St.)

 

                         1878 – Everett House Hotel built.  (now S. 17th St. south of Broadway) 

 

             July 4, 1878 – Grayville & Mattoon Railroad completed in Mattoon.

 

                         1879 – History of Coles County, Illinois published.

 

                         1879 – Coles County leads the Nation in broomcorn production with over four million pounds.

 

            Oct.  9, 1879 – First electric light is seen in Mattoon at a circus exhibit.

 

          Nov. 17, 1879 – The Peoria, Lincoln and Decatur Railway and the Decatur, Mattoon and Southern Railroad were consolidated as the Peoria, Decatur and Evansville Railway.

 

                 

Curyea Home

Dole House

Unitarian Church

South Side School

 

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