Rameen: Coming up on City Spotlight.

Our focus is on Charleston.

We will talk with Angela Griffin of Coles Together and Paul McCann of Eastern Illinois University about the EIU Economic Impact Study that was recently conducted.

And what the results of the study means for EIU and Coles County moving forward.

We will also talk about the 100th anniversary of the 1917 tornado that struck Charleston.

We will talk with Dr. William Lovekamp and Cameron Craig of Eastern Illinois University and Gary Brinkmeyer of Charleston about all the events have taken place to commemorate the anniversary of this historic tragedy.

Stay tuned.

That's all next, here on City Spotlight.

[music plays] City Spotlight is supported by Consolidated Communications.

CCI is honored to salute the cities and their leaders in the area, as well as providing TV, Internet, and phone service for the local homes and businesses.

We live where we work, and are proud to support the communities we serve.

More information available at consolidated.com.

And welcome to another edition of City Spotlight.

Today we are talking Charleston, and we're going to talk specifically here at the beginning of the program about an economic impact study done on Eastern Illinois University.

Joining us in this first segment is the CEO of Coles Together, Angela Griffin.

Welcome to the program.

Angela Griffin: Thank you for having me.

Rameen: Appreciate it.

And we're going to talk a little bit about the study that was conducted by Coles Together, and what maybe some of the numbers mean moving forward.

First off Angela, tell us about yourself.

How long have you been with Coles Together?

Angela Griffin: I've been with Coles Together since 2004.

I used to live in Springfield, Illinois and did economic development for the state of Illinois.

Coles County was part of my territory, so it was kind of a natural progression in my career to move over and practice economic development at a local level and a community that really, in my opinion, is kind of a microcosm of the larger communities.

A lot of that is attributed to the fact that Eastern's here.

I've been here since 2004 in the same role in economic development.

Rameen: Very good.

We've heard of Coles Together and the different engines and economic development areas in the county.

What does Coles Together do?

Angela Griffin: We're the economic development agency for the county, charged with retention and recruitment in the industrial sector, so industrial and manufacturing.

We don't work with retail or commercial enterprises.

All of our energy is focused on promoting an environment that allows the industry that is here to be successful, and to try to attract new industry to the county.

And a lot of that involves workforce development and skills development for the manufacturing sector.

Rameen: We're going to talk about this impact study that you guys conducted and talk with many community leaders with a variety of towns we've had on the program about what things are selling points to their communities.

And obviously, one thing you have when you're going out to bring big business to Coles County is you have a university.

So how is EIU a selling point when you're going out to big business to try and come here?

Angela Griffin: Well it's a terrific selling point really on a lot of levels.

Broadly speaking, it really helps create kind of a culture here that you might not find in counties that are similarly sized.

You know a county of 50-52 thousand people generally don't have a university and a community college.

So we have that nice hand in glove fit where a lot of the programming that Lakeland is working with is programming that Eastern can help a student maybe finish up their academic career.

A lot of that serves the industry in the sector that I work with.

So it's terrific to have an institution like this from a workforce development and career programming kind of perspective.

But also, just the cultural advantages that it brings.

When I'm talking with recruiters or executives, oftentimes they're looking at moving their families here.

And you know it's usually a spouse that's asking, "What's there for me and the kids in the community."

And to be able to say that we have a university with the athletics, with the arts, the culture, just the cultural vibe that you get from an institution like this helps sell the community in a broad sense.

Interviewer: All right so this impact study was conducted.

First of all, why was it needed to be conducted?

Angela Griffin: Well, we actually started talking about doing this long before the budget impasse.

We thought Eastern is such an integral part of this community, and I think sometimes people who live here tend to forget how Eastern, and the economic activity associated with Eastern, probably impacts their life on a daily basis.

So we thought, you know we need to just share with the community in a technical sense if you will, or a more by the numbers method, what impact Eastern has here.

Maybe we aren't all so far removed from it.

Maybe our own successes in our lives aren't so far removed from it.

So we talked about it and said let's think about this and share it with the community.

It'll be something that we can talk about on programs like this.

We can go to service organizations and talk about it.

Maybe just gently remind people what Eastern brings to the community from an economic sense.

And then it wasn't long after we had that discussion that the budget impasse and the budget stalemate began to take center stage in Illinois.

And we thought, now for a lot of reasons, we need to do this study.

I think it became very clear right away to everyone in the community how impactful Eastern is.

So maybe that first objective was somewhat mitigated by the budget impasse, and the very real sense about what happens when Eastern has to contract or when employment at Easter is contracted.

So there's still a reason to help put the numbers to paper for people.

But then it became an ambition to also provide the institution with something that they can present to their supporters and in Springfield, in higher ed.

committee, and to the governor and his staff.

This is a job creator.

This is an institution that may receive a state appropriation, but the return on that appropriation is substantial.

Not just in our community or in our region but across the state.

So it really kind of had a dual purpose at that point.

Rameen: My last question for you is kind of a two-part question.

What did we learn from this, and how do we use this information moving forward?

Angela Griffin: I think we learned in a very real sense, exactly what it means to have this institution here.

And you can look at that from two vantage points.

This is what Eastern is contributing today.

This is what Eastern, if you want to extrapolate from those numbers, could be contributing if it were fully funded, and we had all of the support that we've historically had for this institution.

Then as we look toward the future, trying to grow the enrollment numbers back.

And probably, Paul McCann talked about the fact that enrollment was increasing.

They were already projecting I think, a small increase in that first year before the budget impasse started.

So they were on a track and had a plan to start generating higher enrollment numbers.

So this plan or this study can show us, once we get back to what the university sees as full enrollment, now we can project what the impact will be for every 1000 students at a full enrollment scenario.

Rameen: All right.

Very good.

Thank you for the insight, and thank you for being a part of the conducting of this study.

A lot of great information, and we'll hear more from Paul McCann here in a second here on City Spotlight.

Angela Griffin, the CEO of Coles Together, thank you for being on City Spotlight.

Angela Griffin: It's my pleasure.

Thank you.

Rameen: Thank you.

And coming up next here on City Spotlight, we'll talk with Paul McCann of Eastern Illinois University.

A little more about this EIU Economic Impact Study, but first let's take a look at some of the upcoming activities going on in Charleston.

[music plays] And we're back here on City Spotlight.

We continue this episode on Charleston.

We're going to talk more about the EIU Economic Impact Study that was done by Coles Together.

And we welcome to the program Paul McCann.

He is the Interim Vice-President for Business Services and Treasurer here at Eastern Illinois University.

Welcome to the program Paul.

Paul McCann: Thank you.

Thank you.

It's nice to be here.

Rameen: And we're going to talk more about the Economic Impact Study on EIU here in just a second, but Paul tell us about yourself.

How long have you been at Eastern?

Paul McCann: I've been here about 11 years.

Came from public accounting and from the insurance industry.

Knew some of the folks here and was offered the opportunity.

Rameen: All right.

Very good.

Glad to have you on.

Before we talk about this economic study that was done on Eastern, I want to ask you about higher education in the state of Illinois.

A lot of folks out there wondering where things are going, and how they're impacting higher education.

Eastern has obviously been impacted for a couple of years now.

And your responsibilities working with the business services here at Eastern, how challenging is it for you in your day to day job here at Eastern with what's going on in Springfield?

Paul McCann: Well the last few years it's really been a challenge.

We continue to work with Springfield trying to get them to a point where they can provide us with a budget to go forward with.

I think at this point we'd be happy with a budget, regardless of what the number is, as long as we knew what it was.

It gives us some certainty going forward.

We continue to try to talk to the legislators and to the governor about what Eastern means.

Rameen: Folks are seeing this episode here in the middle of June, so hopefully by the time people are seeing this, hopefully we have some kind of a budget passed.

That would be great news.

Paul McCann: Yes.

Rameen: All right Paul, we have you on here talking about this economic study that was done.

We had Angela Griffin from Coles Together on in the first segment.

And it's been quite a while since one of these studies has been done.

When was the last time this took place?

Paul McCann: My records show that the last formal study was done in the early 80s.

So we're looking at 20-25 years since these numbers were generated.

Rameen: And the level of interest for Eastern and something like this provides you with a wealth of information.

Paul McCann: Yes.

One of the things that we are constantly asked, particularly in Springfield, is what do we mean to the community.

Other than that old study and saying anecdotally that, hey we mean a lot to the community, we just didn't have a lot to say.

So this was something that we'd been looking at for a number of years and finally were able to work it out with Coles Together to put something together.

Rameen: A lot of numbers, 16-page packet here of information.

A lot of numbers.

We'll keep it very broad here on a few questions showing the impact of Eastern in the state, regionally and here in Coles County.

What did we learn from this study?

Paul McCann: Well in general, we learned that we had an economic impact in Coles County of somewhere around $400 million.

That number is expanded when you get to the state because of state income tax and some of our employees living elsewhere.

So overall we've got an impact to the state, somewhere around a half a billion dollars, which is a big number for the university and goes to show how significant we are both to the community and to the state.

Rameen: Some of the numbers like you just kind of mentioned there, Springfield wants to know what our regional impact is here within East Central Illinois.

Are there certain numbers that are more meaningful to what you guys are looking at, or are they kind of all on the same level?

Paul McCann: Well I think from the standpoint of employment, we generate somewhere around a quarter of a million dollars, $250 million a year in annual payroll and labor costs in this community.

When you expand that out, and you look at the total economic effect, the dollars that we spend and that those vendors then spend, we are talking about $500 million to the whole state and about say $80 million of that is additional income taxes paid to Springfield.

So both from the standpoint of what we do for the community, and what we do for the state, there still is a significant advantage.

To look at it another way, the state has provided us with about $40 million a year.

Now we're looking at turning around about $80 million in taxes.

And from that standpoint, we're a great investment for the state of Illinois.

Rameen: So how do you use these numbers?

How does Eastern use this information moving forward?

Paul McCann: Certainly it's part of what we want to show to the families and to the future students of Eastern.

That we are a significant part of the community.

That we are here, and we are going to be here.

The other side of that is to use in Springfield for that discussion that we have with the legislators, when they say, "What are you doing for Illinois?"

And we have significant dollars that we can put forward there.

Rameen: All right.

Very good.

Any other thoughts here Paul, as we wrap up with you?

Any other things that when you look at the study.

Is there anything that impressed you, that you weren't surprised to see how Eastern is an economic engine here in East Central Illinois?

Paul McCann: First, we were very happy with Coles Together getting together with us on that project.

It's been a neat cooperative effort.

We ended up putting a lot of information into that.

Had some questions about how we all fit together.

And this really takes care of a lot of those answers.

Rameen: Well thank you for your insights on the Economic Impact Study done on Eastern Illinois.

Paul McCann of Eastern Illinois University, the Interim Vice President for Business Services and Treasurer.

Thank you for taking the time to be on City Spotlight.

Paul McCann: Thank you.

Rameen: And coming up next here on City Spotlight, we're going to talk about the 100th anniversary of the 1917 tornado.

We're going to talk with a trio of people coming up here on City Spotlight.

Stay tuned.

[music plays] City Spotlight is on youtube.

Past episodes can be viewed on East Central Illinois towns, that have been featured on City Spotlight.

Just search on youtube, City Spotlight with the show number, and the name of the town.

Listed on your screen are the recent episodes of City Spotlight.

[music plays] And we continue this episode of City Spotlight on Charleston.

Now we're going to talk about the anniversary of the 1917 tornado that hit Charleston on May 26, 1917.

Joining me in the studio is a trio of gentlemen.

They're going to help us talk about this commemoration of this event that took place in 1917.

We have Dr. William Lovekamp of the EIU Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

Welcome.

William Lovekamp: Thank you.

Rameen: Cameron Craig of the EIU Department of Geography and Geology.

Welcome Cameron.

Cameron Craig: Thank you.

Rameen: And Gary Brinkmeyer.

He's a local historian from Charleston.

Welcome Gary.

Gary Brinkmeyer: Thank you.

Rameen: Glad to have you guys all on, You guys have all contributed to several events that have already taken place, and a memorial that's going to happen the day after the physical anniversary, which is May 26th.

Bill, let's talk about the path of this tornado.

It did hit Charleston, but it hit a lot of other communities.

So where did it start, and where did it go?

William Lovekamp: Sure.

It actually started in other states, but we focused on Coles County.

It began just west of Mattoon, and basically followed DeWitt Avenue.

Then ended up impacting Charleston on the west side of town out by the fairgrounds, and followed the hiking trail, the bike path that we have now, that was the former railroad tracks.

Rameen: Very good.

Cameron, this was a very impressive tornado that went through the area.

Can you tell us what type of tornado it was, and how fast it was moving?

Cameron Craig: Based on today's standards of classifying tornadoes, it would be considered an EF-4 out of EF-5 system, okay?

So at one point the damage was 600 yards wide and had gone for a mile and a half, a little bit more, within this area.

So that's impressive, then it dropped down to an EF-3 afterwards, after it passed through Charleston, the north side of Charleston.

So the damage is ...

The images.

The images that were provided by Gary, it's amazing that there were that few deaths, considered.

Rameen: Very good.

And Gary, the destruction that it caused in Charleston.

It crushed a lot of local business that didn't recover, so tell us about the destruction that it caused, and what kind of an impact did it have for Charleston moving forward?

Gary Brinkmeyer: The destruction pretty much started out on the west side of town at the fairgrounds, which it pretty much destroyed totally, all of the buildings and most of the trees in a rather pristine area.

Then it traveled along the railroad tracks, came into the city, and into the industrial, I guess if you want to call it that, part of the city where a lot of business were located.

And pretty much spared the whole southern part of the city, where Eastern and further north of that were located.

But a lot of businesses, 93 businesses actually were damaged or destroyed in that area north of town.

Elevators, ice cream factories, bottling works, and lots of others, and almost every business located around the square was damaged in some capacity.

The courthouse had to have a whole new roof on it within a month, and a lot of businesses took a hit.

Rameen: There's a railroad depot that still stands, but there were two at the time.

Gary Brinkmeyer: There were two depots.

One was the Cloverleaf, which is the one that's been rebuilt and still stands.

The other one was The Big Four Depot, which was further east of that, and it was totally destroyed.

It was pretty much a frame construction building, and it was totally destroyed.

Never was rebuilt, and some other businesses up in that area also were destroyed and never rebuilt.

Rameen: So the size that Cameron described of this tornado, really the destruction is parallel with that.

There's been presentations that have already taken place with this anniversary of this tornado, and one of them is a display at Booth Library.

What are some of the things that have already taken place involving this?

William Lovekamp: Back in 2015, in the summer, I gave a talk out at the Five Mile House, which I think is where Gary and I first met.

And then in the fall of 2015, I had a sabbatical to study this because I study disasters.

And I wanted to do something to preserve the history of the community and to be able to celebrate and commemorate.

So then in 2016, in the summer, I followed up and did another presentation out at Five Mile House.

Then this spring, we have had presentations at the Coles County Genealogical Society.

We, Cameron and I, have the display that we have put up in Booth Library.

And many of the materials that are on display are compliments of Gary, with a lot of his photographs and postcards and newspapers.

And we have a display at the Coles County Historical Society Museum as well.

Rameen: Very good.

We are taping this the day before the physical anniversary, and the day after the physical anniversary there's going to be a memorial held at the Coles County Fairgrounds.

We'll have some video to show over what you guys are saying next here.

What will be taking place at this memorial?

William Lovekamp: That is sponsored by the Coles County Genealogical Society, and the mayors from both communities will be speaking.

Some other folks will be speaking as well.

The names of everyone who lost their lives will be read, and there will be just a brief memorial service.

Then following that will be the showing of the documentary that Cameron and I worked on, and that Cameron produced.

Rameen: Good segway there Bill.

Cameron's documentary, Charleston Tornado of 1917: Nature's Fury and the Human Spirit will also be shown on WEIU coming in July.

Cameron what can we expect from this documentary?

Cameron Craig: The big thing is that it's not focusing on the tornado itself.

It's focusing on the human spirit.

A lot of documentaries focus on the science and the aspects of a tornado.

This, I really wanted to focus on the human aspect of the destruction, the lives.

So we have letters and diary entries that are being read by certain people, which are very, very telling and get to the root of the situation.

It almost puts you in that time, which is something we don't hear a lot about.

I was unaware of this particular event until Bill enlightened me.

When he asked me, hey let's do the documentary, I'm like, this is exciting.

But anyway, it focuses on the human spirit.

One of my students does a voiceover for Izora Story, which gets us through the day, back in 1917.

Rameen: Well we look forward to seeing your documentary.

Cameron Craig: Thank you.

Rameen: Gary, with something that Cameron just mentioned, there are a lot of people locally that did not know this even happened.

The importance of being able to share this historical event, albeit all its destruction that it caused, why is it important for us to be learning about this, in the detail that you guys have presented it?

Gary Brinkmeyer: Well there's an old axiom that pretty much paraphrases, it says, "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."

Hopefully that's not the case, but I think it is important for people to know about their history.

We see nowadays in discussions on different formats that kids growing up anymore don't have a good understanding of their past.

I think it's important that they need to know that kind of stuff.

Rameen: Kind of my final question for all three of you as we conclude on this segment.

Your final thoughts on doing this project from the inception, what you've learned, and what you want people to take away.

We'll start with Bill.

William Lovekamp: I want people to just realize that, as Cameron said, it's human.

It's a human story.

There's a human component.

It affected real people that live and work here in the community, and their ancestors lost their lives.

Great-grandparents lost their lives.

And this was a very deadly storm.

It was the third deadliest in Illinois history, and I think it ranks 14th in the United States.

You know, we just wanted to do something to bring it to the attention of young people and to everyone.

And hope that we never forget.

Rameen: Thank you very much.

Cameron Craig: I think that the other aspect is because I talked about this event in my Weather and Climate class here at Eastern, is that students said, "Well why didn't they use radar?"

It wasn't around.

So there is this disconnect between historical events and the old days.

The lack of technological advance in the early part of the 1900s.

So students and the youth need to understand that it was difficult.

Warning times today are much better than they were 100 years ago.

Rameen: Thank you so much.

Gary your final thoughts on kind of what you just said there, but to be able to share this event with the folks in the area that it happened, and it affected many people and the physical destruction that it caused.

Gary Brinkmeyer: Well the physical destruction was considerable.

I mean in current days terms, it was $15-$18 million.

And we don't think about that, because you hear billions and trillions thrown around anymore, but it's still a massive amount of money for a community.

Charleston moved ahead.

Businesses came back.

Some of them came back.

Some of them didn't, but the city was rebuilt.

The population has quadrupled in that time.

The university has come a long way.

So I think Charleston really came back well from the disaster that befell them in 1917.

Rameen: Thank all of you gentlemen for being here.

Bill Lovekamp, Cameron Craig, Gary Brinkmeyer, your work on this project from the start, the stuff that's taken place already, the memorial and Cameron's documentary.

There's been a lot of ways to learn about the 1917 tornado, so thank you so much.

Gary Brinkmeyer: Thank you.

William Lovekamp: Thank you.

Cameron Craig: Thank you.

Rameen: Thank you to all of you for joining us for this latest episode of City Spotlight on Charleston.

We'll see you next time.City Spotlight is supported by Consolidated Communications.

CCI is honored to salute the cities and their leaders in the area, as well as providing TV, Internet, and phone service for the local homes and businesses.

We live where we work, and are proud to support the communities we serve.

More information available at consolidated.com.

[music plays]