Glen Carbon Map
Glen Carbon is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States, 23 km northeast of St. Louis. The population was 12,934 at the 2010 census.
In 1801, Colonel Samuel Judy received a military grant for 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land near the base of the bluffs, just north of Judy's Creek and became one of the first permanent settlers of Madison County. The land was called Goshen Settlement, after the biblical land of Goshen. It was renamed Glen Carbon to reflect the mining heritage. Glen Carbon was incorporated in 1892. It operated many coal mines until the last one shut down in 1934. Another industry was the St. Louis brick company, which burnt down in the 1930s; then, right after being rebuilt, it burnt down again and was never rebuilt after that. Three railroads once served Glen Carbon: The Illinois Central Railroad (now the Ronald J. Foster Sr. Heritage Bike Trail, was one of the first rails to trails projects in the US, made in 1992), the Norfolk Southern Line, and the CNW Line (which ran parallel with each other the entire way through Glen Carbon), and stopped operating in Glen Carbon in March 2001. Now, the Nickel Plate Bike Trail follows both of those right-of-ways, switching back and forth between the NS and CNW lines the whole way through Glen Carbon.
In 2009, CNNMoney.com ranked Glen Carbon as No. 91 on its "Best Places to Live" list.
Nearby cities include Madison, Fairview Heights, Marine, Bethalto, Venice.