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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.    

Located on a bluff near the site of the Ohio Tavern, where Lincoln stayed when passing through, this two sided wayside offers details of Lincoln’s relationship with B.F. Harris and Mahomet (once Middletown’s) early residents

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.    

A Looking for Lincoln Wayside

Lincoln wrote to Quincyan Abraham Jonas that “You are one of my most valued friends.”  Learn about Jonas’ ties to Lincoln and his numerous efforts as a Lincoln supporter, including making arrangements for the Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Quincy and filling Chicago’s Wigwam hall with Lincoln supporters so that Lincoln secured the Republican nomination for President.

Looking for Exhibits Wayside Exhibits related to Quincy in the Lincoln Era are located at 18 sites. The exhibits provide details about Lincoln, events, local people, and environment that contributed to Lincoln's Quincy story. 

Guide to Lincoln's Quincy:  https://seequincy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/lincoln-in-quincy_web_2016.pdf

Quincy was located in the wilderness of western Illinois but became the third largest city in Illinois during the Lincoln era. What role did the Military Tract play in bringing men who became Lincoln friends to Quincy? Learn why the community grew and how it became the Union army’s gateway to the South during the Civil War.

Looking for Exhibits Wayside Exhibits related to Quincy in the Lincoln Era are located at 18 sites. The exhibits provide details about Lincoln, events, local people, and environment that contributed to Lincoln's Quincy story. 

Guide to Lincoln's Quincy:  https://seequincy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/lincoln-in-quincy_web_2016.pdf

Lincoln not only spent a considerable amount of time in Bloomington pursuing legal and political matters, He also owned property here. Lincoln owned two lots on the Northwest corner of McLean and Jefferson streets and they remained vacant while under his name. Not long after he sold them, an upper middle class house was built on the site. That house is gone and today, Lincoln's two Bloomington lots serve as parking for State Farm insurance.

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.    

Newton Bateman, a well-known educator in Illinois in the 1800s and friend of Abraham Lincoln, lived in this Gothic Revival-style house in the 1850s. He was principal of what is believed to be the first free public high school in Illinois -– West Jacksonville District School – in the 1850s. Bateman, while serving as state superintendent of schools, had an office next to President-elect Lincoln in the Illinois Capitol in Springfield, and the two men became friends in the months prior to Lincoln’s departure for Washington, D.C.

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.

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.