Interactive Map

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.

On the day Lincoln was nominated as the Illinois Republican candidate for the presidency at the 1860 Illinois State Republican Convention held in Decatur, he was nowhere to be found.  A committee of three was formed to locate him.  Lincoln had taken refuge at a nearby store.

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.    

When Lincoln called for troops to defend the Union, the men and boys of DeWitt County heeded his urgent request.  Some who volunteered were from families who had known and befriended Lincoln during his days as a prairie lawyer and politician, for Lincoln practiced both occupations here.  Others, like German-born twenty-eight-year-old shoemaker Martin Mohrle, were foreign-born DeWitt County residents who answered the call just the same...

Abraham Lincoln first met George B. McClellan in a small, rustic DeWitt County courtroom.  At the time, Lincoln, a prairie lawyer, was representing the Illinois Central Railroad.  McClellan was an Illinois Central Railroad executive called to testify on the company's behalf.  Waiting for McClellan to arrive, someone in the courtroom asked who he was, to which Lincoln replied that he only knew McClellan to be an Illinois Central Railroad officer.  As political upheaval and war clouds loomed on the horizon, Lincoln and McClellan's paths crossed once more...  

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.    

Quincy’s Orville H. Browning was Lincoln’s friend, advisor, and confidant.  Learn what the two men had in common and how they seemed very dissimilar.  Find out how Browning served as Lincoln’s close presidential ally, and learn more about the significant historical importance of Browning’s diary, a primary source for Lincoln scholars.

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 traveled the Eighth Judicial Circuit six months a year, becoming close friends with his fellow lawyers, with whom he shared, not only the courtroom, but also meals, an easy camaraderie, and often a room...

Lincoln, Judge David Davis, and Ward Hill Lamon, a Danville lawyer and a great bear of a man, were visiting one evening on the porch of the Barnett Tavern (a term used then for an inn, not a saloon) while young Vespasian "Pash" Warner listened.  Lamon suggested making  trip across the square to the grocery (then a term for a place that sold liquor, not food) to obtain some whiskey.  Davis objected, reminding Lamon that only the week before in Mr. Pulaski, Davis had found it necessary to postpone court since Lamon had been too indisposed (hungover) to argue a case the next day.  Lincoln pointed out that Davis often allowed a first offender in the courtroom a second chance and asked that he give Lamon the same consideration.  Davis relented.  Lamon returned with a pitcher of whiskey, and the three retired upstairs to Lamon's room to continue their discussions, leaving the boy behind.  Lincoln never drank but often enjoyed the company of others who did.  Lamon became one of Lincolns staunchest supporters and accompanied him as his bodyguard on his journey to Washington, D.C., when Lincoln was elected President.

Vespasian Warner, named after  Roman emperor, was a toddler when his father, Dr. John Warner, moved from Mt. Pleasant (now Farmer City) to Clinton in 1842.  To supplement his budding medical practice, Dr. Warner and his wife, with Harry P. Merriman, ran a hotel on the west side of the square.  There, the Eighth Judicial Circuit lawyers paid $1.50 for a week's food and lodging.  The doctor prospered, gave up the hotel, building the first brick residence in Clinton across the street from the Barnett Tavern, located a block south of the square.  Vespasian Warner said of this time when he was an adolescent, "Being young and curious, I would hang around the tavern in the evenings, as long as my parents would allow me to remain out of ed, to hear the judge and lawyers, great men in my eyes at the time and great later."

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.    

Founded in 1818, Jonesboro was the County Seat.  Several early politicians came from Jonesboro including Representative John Hacker, Secretary of State Alexander Field, State Treasurer Abner Field, U.S. Senator Richard Young, and Lt. Governor John Dougherty. Dougherty’s 1855 brick home still stands west of the square.

 Prosperous businesses, including the Union House Hotel operated with goods shipped along the plank road to and from Willard’s Landing on the Mississippi River. Jonesboro boasted churches, Jonesborough College, a Masonic hall, and a women’s seminary.  Two 1850’s Lutheran churches are still standing south of town.

            The day of the debate, Senator Douglas arrived by train, accompanied by the Jonesboro Band which had traveled to Cairo to meet him the previous evening, and proceeded to Jonesboro. At 2 o’clock the band marched to the fairground followed by the crowd, Douglas in a carriage, a cannon also brought from Cairo, and Lincoln walking alone with his hands behind him, his head bent forward, apparently in deep meditation.  The bandleader inquired who the tall man was-- and was told, “That is Lincoln, who has come to debate Senator Douglas!”

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.    

In 1831 John J. Hardin moved to Jacksonville. Hardin and Lincoln served in the Black Hawk War and they both were lawyers and Whig politicians who became rivals for leadership of the party. It is said that Hardin may have saved Lincoln’s life by rushing to an island near Alton to stop a duel between Lincoln and General James Shields, at whom Lincoln poked fun in a published letter. Hardin persuaded the men to come to a compromise.

Nine women from the Village of Marion (now DeWitt), joined by women from Springfield, plotted against the village saloon frequented by their menfolk.  The ladies banned together and crusaded against the "Demon Whiskey."  They stormed George Tanner's saloon, filled the whiskey barrels into the street, destroyed the kegs, and poured the vile liquid onto the ground.  In May 1854, the ladies found themselves in the DeWitt County Courthouse for "riotously, unlawfully and with force turning out, wasting and destroying ten gallons of whiskey, of the value of five dollars." They had not hired a defense attorney, but it just so happened Abraham Lincoln and John T. Stewart were present in the courtroom and offered their services...  

Lincoln grew to manhood on a frontier where whiskey was a staple and a liquid form of currency.  During his brief time operating a tavern in New Salem, Lincoln sold whiskey, among other things.  In later years, the temperance movement became a volatile political issue.  While he didn't not condemn those who drank in moderation, Lincoln himself was a teetotaler...

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.    

William De Fleurville, an African-American barber, owned this property during Lincoln's time. Lincoln helped de Fleurville, known as "Billy the Barber" obtain a replacement deed for this property, and he also paid the property taxes while de Fleurville was living in Springfield. IN the late 1890's, Robert Loudon, a local businessman who owned a foundry and machine shop, built these apartment flats. They have since been converted into condominium units that now go by the name "The Bloomington".

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.