MATTOON

mattoon, a city of coles county, illinois, u.s.a., in the east central part of the state, about 12 m. south-east of peoria. pop. (1890), 6833; (1900), 9622, of whom 430 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 11,456. it is served by the illinois central and cleveland, cincinnati, chicago & st louis railways, which have repair shops here, and by inter-urban electric lines. the city has a public library, a methodist episcopal hospital, and an old folks' home, the last supported by the independent order of odd fellows. mattoon is an important shipping point for indian corn and broom corn, extensively grown in the vicinity, and for fruit and livestock. among its manufactures are foundry and machine shop products, stoves and bricks; in 1905 the factory product was valued at $1,308,781, an increase of 71.2% over that in 1900. the municipality owns the waterworks and an electric lighting plant. mattoon was first settled about 1855, was named in honour of william mattoon, an early landowner, was first chartered as a city in 1857, and was reorganized under a general state law in 1879. mattress (o.fr. _materas_, mod. _matelas_; the origin is the arab. _al-materah_, cushion, whence span. and port. _almadraque_, ital. _materasso_), the padded foundation of a bed, formed of canvas or other stout material stuffed with wool, hair, flock or straw; in the last case it is properly known as a "palliasse" (fr. _paille_, straw; lat. _palea_); but this term is often applied to an under-mattress stuffed with substances other than straw. the padded mattress on which lay the feather-bed has been replaced by the "wire-mattress," a network of wire stretched on a light wooden or iron frame, which is either a separate structure or a component part of the bedstead itself. the "wire-mattress" has taken the place of the "spring mattress," in which spiral springs support the stuffing. the term "mattress" is used in engineering for a mat of brushwood, faggots, &c., corded together and used as a foundation or as surface in the construction of dams, jetties, dikes, &c.