Native Americans lived in the Charleston area for thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived.

[citation needed] The early history of settlement in the area was marked by uneasy co-existence between Indians and European settlers.

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.

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, and is now the site of the Coles County fairgrounds and a small museum.

Although Illinois was a solidly pro-Union, anti-slavery state, Coles County was settled by many Southerners with pro-slavery sentiments.

In 1847, the county was divided when prominent local citizens offered refuge to a family of escaped slaves brought from Kentucky by Gen. Robert Matson.

As in the rest of the nation, this long-simmering debate finally broke out into violence during 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.

A Mattoon newspaper printed a special edition announcing the decision with the derisive headline "Catfish Town Gets It."

The Lincoln farm is maintained as a living history museum where historical re-enactors depict life in 1840s Illinois.

[citation needed] On May 26, 1917, a tornado ripped through Charleston, killing 38 people and injuring many more, along with destroying 220 homes.

[17] The establishment of an enterprise zone on the northern edge of Charleston has helped attract some manufacturing and industrial jobs, including Vesuvius USA,[18] ITW Hi-Cone, and Dietzgen Corporation.

[21] Charleston is home to the annual Coles County Fair, which typically runs for a week in the summer.

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.

[31] Charleston does not receive direct passenger rail service, however Amtrak's Illini and Saluki and City of New Orleans routes stop in neighboring Mattoon.