{"id":639,"date":"2025-04-05T12:06:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T12:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/?page_id=639"},"modified":"2025-05-07T12:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T12:24:23","slug":"charleston-a-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/the-charleston-missouri-landmark-project\/charleston-a-history\/","title":{"rendered":"An Outline History of Charleston"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

– Art Wallhausen<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
Click here for a more detailed history<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Pre-1800<\/center><\/td>
Area occupied by native \u201cMound Builders\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1801<\/center><\/td>
Current location settled by first of many pioneers from Eastern states.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1837<\/center><\/td>
Town of Charleston planned by Joseph Moore, named after his brother.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1845<\/center><\/td>
Charleston named county seat of the new Mississippi County.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1860<\/strong><\/center><\/td>
POPULATION<\/u>: Charleston 273; Mississippi County 5,869<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1861<\/center><\/td>
Civil War \u201cBattle of Charleston\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1865-1899<\/center><\/td>
Town chartered by General Assembly;
\nRailroad service established, including a Mississippi River ferry to Illinois;
\nElegant homes built by pioneer families;
\nNewspapers established;
\nTown now mercantile center for large rural population.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1895<\/center><\/td>
Major earthquake damaged most buildings in town.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1900<\/strong><\/center><\/td>
POPULATION<\/u>: Charleston 1,893, Mississippi Count; 11,837<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1900-1920<\/center><\/td>
Construction of county courthouse and most buildings still lining Main Street;
\nConstruction of landmarks like hotel, schools and churches.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1920<\/strong><\/center><\/td>
POPULATION<\/u>: Charleston 3,410; Mississippi County 12,860<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1920-1935<\/center><\/td>
Difficult time for agriculture. Bank failures and sale of farm land for back taxes;
\nPaving of roads and construction of bridges on Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1937<\/center><\/td>
Opening of Brown Shoe Company factory, employing over 500 men and women.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1940<\/strong><\/center><\/td>
POPULATION<\/u>: Charleston 5,182; Mississippi County 23,149<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1940-1960<\/center><\/td>
WWII and recovery; mechanization of agriculture; out-migration of farm workers.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1960<\/strong><\/center><\/td>
POPULATION<\/u>: Charleston 5,911; Mississippi County 20,695<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1960-1980<\/center><\/td>
School district mergers; end of segregation; new, larger schools built;
\n\u201cUrban Renewal\u201d \u2014 elimination of poor housing and \u201cnew look\u201d Main Street;
\nConstruction of Interstate-57 with two Charleston interchanges & shopping center;
\nCreation of industrial park and airport; acquisition of small factories.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1980<\/strong><\/center><\/td>
POPULATION<\/u>: Charleston 5,230; Mississippi County 15,726<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1980-2000<\/center><\/td>
Closure of Brown Shoe Factory and other small factories;
\nLoss of many retailing and service businesses; reduced school enrollments.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/strong><\/center><\/td>
POPULATION<\/u>: Charleston 4,732; Mississippi County 13,427<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000-2025<\/center><\/td>
Construction of state prison with capacity of 1,650 men;
\nClosure of two newspapers;
\nContinued loss of retailing and reduction in school enrollments.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020<\/strong><\/center><\/td>
POPULATION<\/u>(including prisoners) : Charleston 5,056; Mississippi County 12,577<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
Click here for a more detailed history<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– Art Wallhausen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":783,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-639","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Charleston Landmark Project","author_link":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/author\/ccadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"– Art Wallhausen","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":693,"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/639\/revisions\/693"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charlestonlandmark.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}