Eastern Illinois University - Warbler Yearbook (Charleston, IL)

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Area Possesses Unique Historical Past

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The past is important to any school in that all knowledge is the accumulation of past experience. Eastern has a unique past: it borders North and South. Long ago, Southerners moved to Central Illinois from Kentucky and Ten- nessee. New Englanders, coming through the Erie Canal, penetrated Illinois this far. Eastem reflects elements of both peoples. Charleston was settled by the Southern element-from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia-organ- ized as a village in 1835, and in- corporated as a city in 1865. The fiery character of these early settlers started a tradition which burns today in the spirit of the people. Lincoln and Douglas kin- dled it with their debate here in 1858. In 1895, the year Eastern was chartered, controversy again flared up when, after much debate, the school was put in Charleston much to the disappointment of Mattoon. One sulking Mattoon newspaper headlined Eastern as The New Reform School and disparagingly called Charleston Catfishville. Another hot controversy raged in 1909 when dances were first held in Pemberton Hall's gymna- sium. Evangelist Billy Sunday had just preached a revival and pricked the community's puritan ire. Resi- dents condemned the dances as sinful and immoral. President Lord, however, defended them as being wholesome entertainment. Easternis newspaper conflicts, in 1959 and 1964, are a continuation of an ebullient tradition of compe- tition, debate, and controversy. -V-. astern S

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