Mattoon, Illinois: From Pegtown to a Railroad Builder's Name

Before it was Mattoon, the Illinois town at the crossing of two new railroads was Pegtown, named for the surveyor’s stakes stuck in the prairie. The name that lasted honors one of the men building the tracks.

Pegtown

By 1853 it was clear where the lines would meet. The Mattoon History Center says the southbound Illinois Central and the westbound Terre Haute & Alton were both still miles away, but they would cross in Sections 13 and 14 of a township that didn’t have a name yet. The landowners hired John Meadows, the county surveyor, who finished the plat on December 12, 1854. He “had placed stakes or pegs marking the boundaries of the surveyed lots,” the center writes, “and for a considerable period of time after the fledgling town was called ‘Pegtown’.”

There was nearly a different town. The History of Coles County, published in Chicago in 1879, says the crossing was at one time expected about two miles (3 km) north, and David A. Neal of Massachusetts, who owned the land, laid out a town there to be called Arno, surveyed in March 1855. On the site that won, the 1879 book says, people picked their lots and started building before any sale, and on March 28, 1855, R. H. McFadden raised the first house.

Named for a contractor

The proprietors wanted a name that would honor the railroads that had made the town. The 1879 history explains what they chose:

“The contracting firm for the Terre Haute & Alton road was Phelps, Mattoon & Barnes, of Springfield, Mass.” The firm had already built the Rome & Watertown, the Buffalo & Corning and the Watertown & Potsdam railroads. “The second partner, Mr. William Mattoon, was very actively engaged here when they were building the Terre Haute & Alton Road, and became quite well known along the line. In honor of him, the city of which we are writing received its name.”

The Mattoon History Center fills in the man. William B. Mattoon was born in Vienna, New York, in 1814, settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, by 1843 and became a partner in the firm in 1850. He was the partner on the ground for the Terre Haute & Alton as it was built west from Paris, Illinois. The 1879 history adds that he later worked on the towers of the suspension bridge at Cincinnati, then raised prize Devon cattle on his farm near Westfield, Massachusetts, and had died “a few months ago.” The line he built ran east to Terre Haute, Indiana.

Card games and other legends

You’ll hear other stories in town. The center lists “several competing legends” about the naming, mainly “a back room deal, a winning hand at the card game Seven Up and a track laying contest.” It doesn’t back any of them. Whatever happened, it says, “it is indisputable that the new town was named in honor of William B. Mattoon.”

Two older reference books describe him differently. Henry Gannett’s 1905 bulletin for the Geological Survey says only that the city was “named for William Mattoon, a landowner.” The Illinois guide of 1939, written by the Federal Writers’ Project, calls him “an official of the Illinois Central.” Both the 1879 history and the history center tie him to the other line, the Terre Haute & Alton, and neither Gannett nor the guide gives a source. All of them agree on the man. The two local sources also differ slightly on dates: the center has the formal naming on May 15, 1855, and the lot auction the next day, while the county history speaks of “the sale of lots on May 15.”

Which railroad got there first depends on the source. The center says the Illinois Central crew reached the crossing first, on June 25, 1855. The 1879 history says a construction train came over from Terre Haute on the day of the lot sale, “that railroad being completed this far.” By January 1856 Mattoon had about 500 people. If you look at the 1934 map, the two railroads still cut right through the middle of the grid.

Quick answers

Who is Mattoon, Illinois, named after?

William B. Mattoon, a partner in the Springfield, Massachusetts, firm of Phelps, Mattoon & Barnes, which built the Terre Haute & Alton Railroad through the site (History of Coles County, 1879; Mattoon History Center).

Why was Mattoon called Pegtown?

Because of the stakes, or pegs, that surveyor John Meadows set out to mark the lots in 1854. The nickname stuck “for a considerable period of time,” according to the Mattoon History Center.

Did William Mattoon work for the Illinois Central?

The 1939 WPA guide says so, but the 1879 county history and the Mattoon History Center both say he was a contractor on the Terre Haute & Alton, the other railroad that crosses in Mattoon.

Key dates

1. 1854December 12: County Surveyor John Meadows lays out the town, and his stakes give it the nickname Pegtown.
2. 1855March 28: R. H. McFadden raises the first house on the town site.
3. 1855May 15: the town is formally named Mattoon, and lots go on sale within a day or so.
4. 1855June 25: the Illinois Central crew reaches the crossing, by the Mattoon History Center's account.
5. 1856January: Mattoon has about 500 people and 113 finished homes.

Getting there

Open Mattoon in Google Maps

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Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Mattoon in the USGS place-name record.

The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Mattoon.

Airports

• Decatur (DEC) 36 mi 58 km
• University of Illinois/Willard (CMI) Savoy 39 mi 62 km
• Indianapolis International (IND) 112 mi 180 km

Amtrak trains

• Mattoon station (MAT) under 1 mi 0.3 km
• Effingham station (EFG) 27 mi 43 km

Intercity buses

• Greyhound Effingham W Fayette Ave 27 mi 43 km
• FlixBus Champaign Intermodal Trans Ctr 44 mi 71 km
• Jefferson Lines Champaign 44 mi 71 km

Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.

Historical Sources & References

• History of Coles County, Illinois (W. Le Baron, Jr., & Co., 1879), pp. 353-355. The planned town of Arno, the plat of December 12, 1854, McFadden’s house of March 28, 1855, the construction train from Terre Haute on the day of the sale and the name given “in honor of” William Mattoon of Phelps, Mattoon & Barnes.
• Mattoon History Center, “Mattoon’s Founding”. Pegtown, the naming on May 15, 1855, the competing legends, William B. Mattoon’s life and his role on the Terre Haute & Alton, and the Illinois Central’s arrival on June 25, 1855.
• Henry Gannett, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, 2nd ed. (1905), p. 203. The city “named for William Mattoon, a landowner.”
• Federal Writers’ Project, Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide (1939), p. 426. The contrary version that calls William Mattoon an Illinois Central official.
• GNIS feature 413131 (U.S. Geological Survey). Mattoon’s listing in the national place-name system, with its county and coordinates.