Oakwood Country Club, located in Coal Valley, was host of the Hardee's Golf Classic from 1986 through 1994. The tournament was later renamed to "John Deere Classic" once sponsorship was taken over by Deere & Company. Now the tournament is hosted at the TPC at Deere Run course in Silvis, Illinois.
In the 1800s, Coal Valley originated as a small village. The purpose of the town was to mine coal, hence the name Coal Valley. Also, they mined here because the ground is abundant with coal. Eventually when coal mining halted, Coal Valley became what it is known today.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.4 km²), all of it land.
There were 1,373 households out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.6% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.8% were non-families. 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the village the population was spread out with 24.8% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.7 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $49,228, and the median income for a family was $56,114. Males had a median income of $40,801 versus $23,529 for females. The per capita income for the village was $20,996. About 6.7% of families and 7.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.6% of those under age 18 and 15.0% of those age 65 or over.