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About Mattoon
(pronounced Matt – toon) –
Mattoon is a small mid-western city in central Illinois, located equidistant between Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago.
Founded in 1855, Mattoon was named after William Mattoon a railroad tycoon. The railroad played a large role in the city’s history of economic development and growth. As the railroad boom faded, other industries grew to replace it.
Today, Mattoon is the Corporate Headquarters for Consolidated Communications Inc, The home of Lender’s Bagels (we are the “Bagel Capitol” of the world), RR Donnelley Publishing and Mars Petcare (makers of Pedigree and Whiskas dog and cat food). We have also been selected as the future site for FutureGen which will produce environmentally safe “clean coal” (construction to begin in 2010).
Mattoon\Coles County is also rich in Lincoln history. The fourth Douglass-Lincoln debate took place in our sister city of Charleston (approximately 12 miles to the east) in 1858. Lincoln’s father and step mother, Sarah Bush Lincoln (for whom our hospital is named) lived in Coles County. Lincoln would occasionally visit and stay the night with his parents. The small log cabin in which they lived is now a state historical site which is visited by 1000’s per year. He also stopped in Coles County on his way to Washington in 1861 to bid farewell to his stepmother.
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