Interactive Map

"The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is a man who'll get me a book I ain't read." said Abraham Lincoln when he was about ten years old.  Lincoln, who was known to be awkward around the gentler sex, found he was comfortable discussing books with Mary Todd, a woman also interested in the "unfeminine" world of politics...

Lincoln met a kindred soul in Clinton's first resident lawyer, C. H. Moore, a great lover of books who owned the largest private library in downstate Illinois during the nineteenth century.  Before his death, Moore commissioned an architect to draw up plans for a public library.  His son-in-law and law partner, Congressman Vespasian Warner, donated funds and land to make Moore's dream come true.  The Vespasian Warner Public Library, including the C. H. Moore Rate Book Collection, opened in 1908, and today remains the repository for more than 5,000 volumes of Moore's collection.  Among its highlights is a book bearing Lincoln's handwriting, presented to his friend C. H. Moore shortly before Lincoln left Illinois to assume the office of President...

Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits tell the stories of Lincoln’s life and times in Illinois.  Each wayside exhibit tells a unique Lincoln story and a local story.  Many of the waysides share little known stories about Lincoln and the individuals he interacted with.  There are over 260 Looking for Lincoln waysides in the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.    

View over 40 outdoor interpretive exhibits placed throughout the downtown area to experience Springfield as Abraham Lincoln knew it. Each exhibit is intended to capture a moment in time for Lincoln and how he was affected by the people, places and events he encountered in his hometown. Each story is accompanied by graphics or photographs and a medallion that is symbolic of that particular story. Visitors are encouraged to collect rubbings of each medallion.

In 1856, Lincoln was the only politician invited to attend the Anti-Nebraska Editors Convention at the Cassell House in Decatur.  The other attendees were all newspaper editors who were opposed to the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act.  This Act repealed the 1820 Missouri Compromise.  A few months later, another convention was held in Bloomington, adopted the principles set forth at the Decatur convention and the Republican Party was born.

Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits tell the stories of Lincoln’s life and times in Illinois.  Each wayside exhibit tells a unique Lincoln story and a local story.  Many of the waysides share little known stories about Lincoln and the individuals he interacted with.  There are over 260 Looking for Lincoln waysides in the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.    

Visitors can pick up the Lincoln & Civil War Legacy Trail guide at the Alton Visitor's Center, located at 200 Piasa Street (across from Argosy Casino) in Downtown Alton. While some of the sites are within walking distance of each other, most will require some mode of transportation. The trail is self-guided, and visitors can explore the sites in any order they wish.

Lincoln's first visits to Alton can be traced back to the early 1840s. Experience the life of young Lincoln as a lawyer, duelist and orator. It was here that the final Lincoln-Douglas Debate took place, with the issue of slavery on the minds spectators. It was here that Confederate soldiers were held captive, died and were buried. It was here that Alton resident and U.S. Senator Lyman Trumbull authored the 13th Amendment, putting an end to slavery in the United States. 

 Walk in the footsteps of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Civil War soldiers from both North and South, as you explore the lasting legacies of Lincoln in Alton.

The new trail connects ten historic sites in Alton relating to Lincoln's time spent here and the city's connections to the Civil War. The journey begins with Lincoln & Douglas in Lincoln-Douglas Square. Subsequent sites include: Ryder Building, Smallpox Island and Lincoln-Shields Duel sites, Lovejoy Monument, National Cemetery, Lyman Trumbull House, Confederate Cemetery, Alton Prison and Franklin House. At each of the sites, visitors will find interpretive panels that further tell the story of each site and Alton's connections to American history.

The final senatorial debate between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln took place in front of Alton's city hall at the corner of Broadway and Market Streets in 1858.

The debate itself drew national attention and more than 6,000 people gathered in downtown Alton for the event.

That moment in time is forever frozen in time at the Lincoln-Douglas Square. Lifesize bronze statues depict the two men intensely debating the issues of the time. 

Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits tell the stories of Lincoln’s life and times in Illinois.  Each wayside exhibit tells a unique Lincoln story and a local story.  Many of the waysides share little known stories about Lincoln and the individuals he interacted with.  There are over 260 Looking for Lincoln waysides in the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.    

Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits tell the stories of Lincoln’s life and times in Illinois.  Each wayside exhibit tells a unique Lincoln story and a local story.  Many of the waysides share little known stories about Lincoln and the individuals he interacted with.  There are over 260 Looking for Lincoln waysides in the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.    

Fell's home was often the gathering place for Lincoln's friends and political allies as they planned election strategies.

Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits tell the stories of Lincoln’s life and times in Illinois.  Each wayside exhibit tells a unique Lincoln story and a local story.  Many of the waysides share little known stories about Lincoln and the individuals he interacted with.  There are over 260 Looking for Lincoln waysides in the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.    

Civil War hero General Benjamin Grierson once called this large brick house home. In the mid-1850s, while living in Meredosia, Grierson joined the new Republican Party and became friends with one of its leaders, Abraham Lincoln. In 1860 Grierson, an accomplished musician, wrote campaign music for Lincoln’s first presidential campaign. The following year found Grierson answering President Lincoln’s call to service in the Civil War

James Jaquess, the first president of the Illinois Conference Female Academy, now MacMurray College, once lived in this house. Jaquess, a Methodist minister, first met Lincoln when he was preaching and Lincoln was practicing law in central Illinois. During the Civil War Lincoln entrusted Jaquess with important missions. In 1863 Jaquess met with Confederate officials to discuss ending the war. The following year, Jaquess met with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who declared that the South would accept peace only if it could remain independent.