- February 1, 1861: Abraham Lincoln, departs from the home of Augustus Chapman, located on
Jackson avenue between 4th and 5th streets in Charleston, to return to Springfield. This was his
last visit to Coles County.
- September, 1899: Classes begin at Eastern Illinois University's Old Main.
- July 21, 1912: The Church of the United Brethren in Christ in Charleston is organized with 29
members. Although the church history indicates the name of the church as United Brethren, note the
post card below shows the early spelling of the church name as "United Brethern". If you look
closely at the cornerstone, you can see the spelling was changed from "Brethern" to "Brethren".
- May 12, 1919: Mother's Day is observed at the 10:45 a.m. service with Pastor W.O. Stonebraker.
Sunday School meets at 9:30 a.m., Senior Endeavor is held at 7 p.m. followed by the Evangelistic
worship at 8 p.m.
- October, 1921: Dedication of the church which is now the McGrady Inn. Over $11,000 in funds
were raised to erect the building and a $4,000 mortgage was obtained by the congregation which
had grown to 146 members. The maple floors were obtained from the Fuller Brothers Lumber and
Coal Yard on 6th Street in Charleston.
- July, 1945: Mortgage burning ceremony in the sanctuary.
- July, 1968: The United Brethren in Christ Church becomes the Otterbein United Methodist Church
after the merger of the Methodist and United Brethren conferences.
- August 20, 1978: the Otterbein United Methodist Church relocates to a new building at 2175
East Harrison Avenue in Charleston.
- April, 2005: Renovation of the McGrady Inn begins.
- September, 2008: McGrady Inn opens.
- January 2009: Artist Paul Henry Ramirez spends the week during an exhibition of his work at the Tarble Arts Center on the Eastern Illinois University campus.
- February 2009: Grammy Award winning composer Libby Larsen works on her commissioned opera “Picnic” during her visit.
- February 2009: An enjoyable discussion with Bob Mintzer of the jazz rock band The Yellowjackets during his stay.
- February 2009: the Teicher family comes to Charleston to watch a performance by Susan Teicher in honor of her father, Louis Teicher, at Dvorak concert hall at Eastern Illinois University. The elder Teicher was one-half of the piano duo, Ferrante and Teicher, which enjoyed a recording career spanning forty years.
- October 2009: Eastern Illinois University career tackle leader Tim Carver joins teammate quarterback Pete Mauch for Homecoming 2009. Also visiting that weekend, another former EIU quarterback, Tony Romo.
- February 2010: a visit from painter Maria Tomasula.
- February 2010: Eastern Illinois University basketball hall of fame member Brad Worble joins other members of the 1976 NCAA Division II basketball final form team at the inn.
- September 2010: Super Bowl winning coach Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints visits with teammates from Eastern Illinois University’s 1986 playoff team.