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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.    

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.    

Why was Quincy a center of commerce in Lincoln’s day, even being made a Federal port by Congress? Quincy had become the leading pork-packer in the nation.  Soon it became a manufacturing powerhouse with foundries producing stoves and farm implements, mills, breweries, distilleries, carriage- and cabinet making, machining, warehouses, and tobacco processing.

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

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.    

Murder, larceny, slander and so many more cases were tried in the Champaign County courthouse. With the current courthouse in the background, enjoy downtown Urbana while visiting. Inside the courthouse is a small exhibit devoted to Lincoln.

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.