CHARLESTON, a city of eastern Illinois, U.S.A., on the Nickel Plate and the Big Four railways, 45m. W. of Terre Haute; the county seat of Coles county. The population in 1920 was 6,615 ; 1930 it was 8,012. It is in the midst of the broom-corn belt, and has broom and shoe factories and railroad shops. The Eastern Illinois State Normal School, established here in 1895, has an enrolment of over 2,000. Charleston was settled about 1835, and was incorporated in 1839. One of the Lincoln-Douglas debates was held here in 1858.