Abe Lincoln concentrates on a law book in his office, while two of his sons play baseball with a broom and wadded paper

Text and Photos
By Rod King
Guest Columnist

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. — He may have been born in Kentucky and grew up in Indiana, but there’s no doubt Abe Lincoln is Springfield’s best-known resident and revered icon.

More than a million people come every year to soak up Lincoln’s history before he went to Washington in 1861 and events occurring during his presidency.

Everywhere people go in Springfield, Ill., they find the name of the 16th president of the United States. There are streets, hotels and apartment complexes named after him.

Downtown, one will find numerous Lincoln historic information panels, large replicas of Lincoln pennies on bicycle racks, murals on buildings featuring his face, and his image in bronze in parks. In addition, there’s the Lincoln Presidential Library and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.

When visiting the Illinois capital, stop first at the Visit Springfield office across the street from the Old State Capitol where Lincoln served in the state legislature. It’s a great place to start because it’s the building in which he and his partner had their law offices. One can see a replica of his office there.

Senator Abe Lincoln gets his tie and lapels straightened by his wife, Mary, before heading into the capital building.

The helpful people at the Visitor’s Center can direct you to the presidential museum, which should be your next stop.

Before tracing Lincoln from his rustic boyhood home to the presidency, take time to snap photos of yourself with the president and his family in front of the White House.

Then go into the two outstanding theaters utilizing amazing state-of-the-art technology featuring holographic techniques combined with ghostly images and live action. This might even turn out to be the highlight of your trip.

Witness the 1860 presidential election as if it were happening today, complete with TV coverage and campaign commercials of the candidates. There’s a room full of editorial cartoons that were as crude and sometimes vicious as those seen during the 2020 election.

The view of Lincoln’s law office shows him concentrating in a law book, while two sons play baseball with a broom and wadded paper. Another room offers a peek into a cabinet meeting, complete with some of the members dozing while Lincoln attempts to make a point.

It covers just about every aspect of Lincoln’s time in Washington and ends at Ford’s Theater April 14, 1865, where he and his wife, Mary, were relaxing and celebrating the end of the Civil War before his assassination. His body was returned to Springfield by train along the same route he took to Washington four years earlier.

The train station where he departed for the nation’s capital is just a few blocks south. Before boarding the train, he’s quoted as saying, “I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested on Washington.”

A few more blocks south is the Lincoln Home National Historic Site featuring the only home he ever owned. The four-block area is full of period homes. During summer months, reenactors add life to the neighborhood.

Lincoln’s tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery houses the body of the president, his wife and three of their four sons and a number of statues in various poses. Lincoln’s nose on a big bronze bust in front of the monument is shiny from rubbing by visitors from around the world.