22 minute read
The Land of Lincoln... Springfield, Illinois
Story and photos by KRIS GRANT
Abraham Lincoln lived in Springfield, Illinois for 24 years, from 1837 through 1861, when he became president of the United States and moved with his family to Washington.
On a trip last summer to Springfield, which is also Illinois’s state capital, it was easy for me to step back in time and follow in the footsteps of our nation’s sixteenth president, generally considered the best president this country has ever had.
Springfield lies in the heart of the Land of Lincoln, which spreads from Kentucky, where Lincoln was born, to Indiana, where he spent his boyhood years on the frontier, and to the rural community of New Salem just to the north, where he first struck out on his own.
I toured the Lincoln Home, preserved as it was when Abe and Mary Lincoln lived there with their three boys. I imagined Lincoln walking the two blocks from Eighth to Sixth Street, then up a few blocks to Springfield’s downtown. There, on the second floor of a prominent corner building, just across from the Old State Capitol, he practiced law at his firm, Lincoln & Herndon.
Today that building houses the Springfield Visitors Center, and on its first floor you’ll find a re-creation of Lincoln’s law office, along with a U.S. Post Office of the same day.
But the crème de la crème of all things Lincoln is the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Just a block up the street from the Old State Capitol, the museum not only chronicles Lincoln’s life, but it also presents a complete and comprehensible history of the Civil War.
I’ve toured many presidential museums, and I must say that this is the first I would recommend you visit. Better yet, if you are the parent or grandparent of a child nine years old or older, take them with you.
So let’s begin our tour of Springfield and the Land of Lincoln inside this remarkable museum!
Presidential Museum ... Journey One: Lincoln’s Pre-Presidential Years
As you enter a giant atrium at the Library, you’ll behold waxed figures of the Lincolns – Abraham, Mary and their sons, Robert, Willie and Tad, at the ages they were when the family moved into the White House. Visitors are encouraged to pose with the Lincolns, which I did. On the White House porch you might spot abolitionists Stephen Douglas and Sojourner Truth on one side, and Civil War Generals Ulysses S. Grant and George McClelland on the left. Lincoln came to revere and elevate Grant and he fired McClelland for his hesitancy in battle planning and execution.
I began my tour in the Union Theatre, also just off the atrium, with a 17-minute video entitled “Lincoln’s Eyes.”
Artist Richard Doyle was commissioned to create a portrait of Lincoln, which hangs just outside the theatre and he walks out before the red velvet curtains to introduce and narrate the film. But wait – we come to realize he’s not really there – it’s a hologram of the artist, just one of the many visual and digital effects employed throughout this film and the entire museum. The film depicts how Doyle struggled to capture all that he saw in Lincoln’s eyes – sorrow, resolve, hope, vision, and forgiveness, and is an overview of all that will be unveiled in the museum’s dioramas that document the life of this remarkable president.
From the museum atrium, I headed to the left, into a pioneer log cabin, indicative of the one Lincoln lived in during his early years. As a teenager, he’s shown reading a book in front of the cabin’s fireplace. As I moved from one diorama to the next, I began to learn about Lincoln’s life experiences – his years as a shopkeeper (I didn’t know that before!), to one of a slave auction. Lincoln recounted seeing such an auction when he traveled by flatboat to New Orleans.
During his years in Springfield, Lincoln was also elected in 1846 to the U.S. House of Representatives as a representative of the Whig party, but he vowed to serve only one term. The Whig party became split over the issue of expanding slavery, giving rise to the Republican party, which opposed slavery, and Lincoln became a Republican.
Another diorama captures one of his seven debates over slavery with Stephen Douglas; both were vying for a Senate seat, which Douglas won. And there’s another showing him on a “courting couch” with his future wife, Mary Todd, who unlike Lincoln, came from a rich and prominent family hailing from Lexington, Kentucky. In fact, Lincoln first practiced law in Springfield under Mary Todd’s cousin, John Stuart. I also learned that before Abe came calling, Mary had previously been courted by Douglas!
Lincoln was named the Republican nominee on the third ballot, beating out Samuel Chase and William Seward, both of whom he eventually named to his cabinet. Lincoln competed for the Presidency against Southern Democrat John Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen Douglas and Constitutional Union candidate Edward Everett. He won, capturing just 39.8 percent of the vote although his Electoral College victory was much more decisive, 180 to 123. He won only two of the 996 Southern state counties. In response to his election, many southern states vowed to secede before Lincoln took the oath of office the following March.
In a most intriguing vignette, you can witness the 1860 presidential election as if it was happening today with editorial commentary by several recognizable news celebrities. My favorite was the late Tim Russert, arguably the best host of Meet the Press in the history of that long-running American broadcast. “What a mess,” quips Russert of the four-man race. “We’ll be right back.”
Presidential Museum … Journey Two: The Presidential Years
The second wing picks up the story with Lincoln and his family moving into the White House. You’ll enter the White House as it looked in 1861 through the Blue Room where you will find Mary Todd Lincoln being fitted for her inaugural gown by Elizabeth Keckley, her dressmaker. The gowns worn to the inauguration by the wives of several political leaders of the time are also recreated here.
But after the inauguration party, things went from bad to worse.
The nation’s thundering voices and newspaper opinion pieces line the entrance hallway. As we turn a corner, a more personal tragedy confronts the Lincolns: the death of their second oldest surviving son, Willie, who succumbed to typhoid fever. Both parents were inconsolable; Lincoln turned inward but also spent more time with his youngest son, Tad; Mary couldn’t even bring herself to go to the funeral and stayed in bed for three weeks.
One of the dioramas that particularly intrigued me was a cabinet session in which the members laboriously discuss
and debate the Emancipation Proclamation. Next, we proceed through a tunnel, with high tech holograms and screaming voices denouncing the proclamation: the Civil War is in full swing.
One of the most elucidating exhibits is “The Civil War in Four Minutes,” which employs a large animated map of the states. It displays the changing battle lines between the northern and southern states, with explosions marking the various battles; meanwhile a legend in the lower corner displays a count of war dead for Union and Confederate Armies. If you can’t make it to Springfield soon, you might consider a visit to The Lincoln Shrine in Redlands, California, which has a copy of this animated map.
Uniforms of officers and enlisted members of both armies are displayed in this same room. The next exhibit is “The War Gallery” where framed photographs of actual soldiers, nurses, relief workers, abolitionists and prominent figures of the Civil War line the walls up to the ceiling. On a touch screen below, visitors can click on each photo and read their personal stories.
One display that I found particularly moving was a painting depicting Lincoln and a military band on April 8, 1865. After his visit to Richmond, Virginia, Lincoln was returning to Washington, but paused at the boat dock. He requested that the band play the “Marseilliase” in honor of his guest, the Marquis de Chambrun. Then, in a surprise move, Lincoln requested that the band also play “Dixie,” saying “(It’s) good to show the rebels that, with us in power, they will be free to hear it again.”
The most ominous diorama depicts Mary and Abraham watching a play, “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre; just outside the door to their balcony booth a sinister John Wilkes Booth stands with gun in hand.
Displays show Lincoln’s funeral train’s 1,645-mile route, which ended in Springfield. The train passed through 400 cities, where mourners lined the tracks and in ten cities, the top half of the casket was opened, showing Lincoln’s face and chest. But by the time the casket reached its final destination, it remained closed. A diorama features a nearly fullscale recreation of Representatives Hall in the Old State Capitol, conveying what people who paid their respects back in 1865 may have felt as they filed past the closed casket of their fallen president.
I went into the Museum’s second theatre, to watch the “Ghosts of the Library” presentation. It was another technological marvel that explains the purpose of archiving historical documents and accessing them for continuing research. The library is across the street from the museum. It contains a gallery with some historical documents on view for the general public, but most of its holdings can be accessed by appointment only and visitors must first fill out a request form, supplying a government ID.
The Lincoln Home
Abraham Lincoln arrived in Springfield in 1837 by horse, with all his belongings confined to two saddlebags. Mary Todd arrived two years later, coming from a prominent, welleducated and wealthy Kentucky family. The couple married on Nov. 4, 1842.
The house was about five years old when Lincoln bought it and moved in with Mary and the couple’s first-born, son Robert. Eddie, Willie and Thomas (Tad) were born in the house; Eddie died here at age three.
Today the Lincoln home is managed and maintained by the National Park Service, which has also restored all the old houses in Lincoln’s neighborhood. Park rangers are enthusiastic and knowledgeable in their storytelling.
When the Lincolns moved in, the house was a one-and-a-half story cottage built in 1839; it grew over time as the Lincoln family grew; with Mary serving unofficially as the general contractor, as her husband was often traveling, sometimes up to three months at a time, in connection with his work as a lawyer and legislator.
Two parlors and a sitting room were on the ground floor; the front parlor was the most formal room in the house. The southwest-facing sitting room was where Lincoln would play games and wrestle with his boys, while Mary would often sit by the window at her sewing desk, constantly replacing buttons and mending clothing for her rough-andtumbling brood. They had a family dog, too. His name? Fido!
Park rangers point out several original pieces of furniture throughout the tour, most notably a tiny desk with eight cubbyholes where Lincoln wrote some of his most famous speeches; it is located in a corner of the Lincoln’s bedroom. Most rooms are adorned with imported wallpaper from France and China, as was the fashion of the day; only one pattern in the house is based upon an original design from a scrap found during reconstruction. (And, sorry, Abe and Mary, but I thinkit’s pretty hideous.) Doorway transoms provided the “air conditioning” of the times. On the tour, you travel through the rooms on a blue carpet; beware, if you step off the carpet, an alarm sounds! (No, it wasn’t me!)
The last room on the tour is the kitchen, where Mary did a lot of the cooking on her beloved Royal Oak 600-pound cast iron stove, Model #9. “It was a working beast,” said the Park Ranger, and Mary wanted to take it with them to the White House, but Abe overruled her, saying it would be there when his term was up. Sadly, the Lincolns were never to return to Springfield.
Lincoln’s Law Practice and the Old State Capitol
Lincoln’s home was just a few blocks from his law office, Lincoln & Herndon, and it’s a safe bet that the 6-foot, 4-inch lawyer often walked the distance.
Lincoln had earlier worked for two other law firms. He worked with John Todd Stuart from 1837 through 1941 as a junior partner, and then started a new practice as a junior partner with Stephen Logan in the nearly new Tinsley Building. It was the ideal location for a law practice, as the federal government rented the first floor for a post office and the second floor for a district courtroom, judge’s chamber and clerk’s office. And the State Capitol (now the Old State Capitol) was directly across the street.
When Logan decided to bring his son into the firm, the partnership was amicably dissolved and Lincoln took on William Herndon, 11 years his junior, as a new partner, and they continued to occupy space in the same building.
Today, the Visit Springfield Visitor Center occupies the first floor of the building and pays homage to the former president by recreating his former law office on the first floor. The old post office has also been recreated.
The Old State Capitol, which functioned as Illinois’ capitol from 1840 through 1876, is undergoing reconstruction. The Greek Revival building is scheduled to reopen in 2025 with more than 5,000 artifacts intact. Here, Lincoln tried 175 cases before the Illinois Supreme Court, borrowed books from the state library and delivered his famous “House Divided” speech in 1858. And it was there, in the Representatives Hall, that Lincoln’s body lay in state for the final time.
During the summer months of June, July and August, Visit Springfield Illinois sponsors “History Comes Alive” where historic reenactors, including Abraham and Mary Lincoln, roam the Downtown and other historic parts of the city. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, reenactors will perform on the lawn outside the Old Capitol; a noted Lincoln reenactor will deliver the “House Divided” speech. Area students who won in the Springfield school district’s Gettysburg address speech contest will deliver their winning oratories.
The summer event will also feature a flag-lowering ceremony at the Lincoln Tomb conducted by the 114th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry Reactivated.
And on Friday afternoons, “History Cooks: Food of Lincoln’s Springfield” will hold cooking demonstrations of dishes from President Lincoln’s time at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. The program is conducted in conjunction with Lincoln Land Community College Community Education.
Good eats, authentic shopping abound!
Several shops and restaurants surround the Old State Capitol, and the Presidential Library and Museum is just a block north. So it’s good to know of a few places to grab a bite.
You’ll most likely be hungry after touring the presidential museum or Lincoln home. Springfield’s got you covered!
On the plaza, you might want to stop for breakfast or lunch at Café Moxo, a casual-style eatery best known for its chicken pot pies and novel toasted sandwiches.
Or, you might enjoy one of 11 varieties of Neapolitan-style pizza, baked in a traditional brick oven imported from Naples, Italy. You’ll find them plus pastas, salads and antipasto at La Piazza, served in a casual order-at-the-counter setting.
If you prefer to take things up to the fine dining arena, consider Maldaner’s It’s been here since 1884 and is relatively expensive with an old-world clubby feel and a full bar just inside the entrance. At lunchtime, expect to see state legislators
and lobbyists. Two specialties are the Beef Wellington (finished with a truffle sauce) and its hearty minestrone soup.
There’s more than a handful of genuinely unique shops in the Old State Capitol vicinity. A few to get you started are Abe’s Old Hat Antiques (111 North Sixth Street) for antiques, many relating to the times of Lincoln, folk art, and antique toys; Daisy Jane’s Gifts (9 West Old State Capitol Plaza) features women’s and kids’ clothes, art and many handcrafted items; and Prairie Archives, which stocks approximately 250,000 used and rare books, documents, manuscript material, posters, prints, comics, collectibles, magazines, political buttons and postcards.
If you’re hungry after visiting the Lincoln home, you might opt for Obed & Isaac’s Microbrewery and Eatery, a block west. Obed & Isaac’s, like many of the area’s pubs, features a Springfield original, Horseshoes, on its menu. Billed as one of the most filling sandwiches in the Midwest, this unique open-faced sandwich is guaranteed to blow your diet. It starts off with two thick slices of Texas Toast, topped with your choice of meat, then covered with a heaping pile of crispy French fries and homemade cheese sauce.
I stayed at Springhill Suites in Southwest Springfield. This turned out to be one of my favorite “chain” hotels. The daily complimentary breakfast was not some warmed-over flat tasteless omelet, but fluffy eggs with local salsas for topping. Instead of those tiny packets of unrefrigerated half ‘n half (what’s that all about, anyway?) they had the real thing.
Best of all, just across the parking lot was Engrained Microbrewery and Farm-to-Table restaurant. It’s owned by Brent Schwoerer, who grew up on a dairy and grain farm in Illinois. After graduating from the University of Illinois, Champaign with an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and a graduate degree in human resources, Brent joined Caterpillar and traveled the world, introducing new products. His two-year stint in Brazil was eye opening. “The food was much fresher there, as opposed to our supermarkets that are filled with pre-processed and packaged foods,” he said.
Brent got into microbrewing when his wife Melissa gave him a home craftbrewing kit some 20 years ago. Soon he began planning a microbrewery and restaurant offering farm-to-table cuisine. His 320-seat Engrained Microbrewery just celebrated its tenth anniversary. Most of its ingredients are sourced within an 80-mile radius. “We’re well known for our cheese curds, always fresh,” says Brent. “We house-cure our pork and corned-beef and we smoke and cure our own ham.” Engrained beer is distributed throughout the county and I enjoyed a flight at the brewpub. My favorites?
The Lemonpress Shandy, “housemade lemonade (from scratch with real lemons) with our Hefeweizen beer” and the Brazilian Bombshell, a pale ale featuring 100 percent local Illinois hops paired with Brazilian fruits.
Last but not least among Springfield restaurants is Cozy Dog. I’ll write more about Cozy Dog later (in my Route 66 story) but this is the home, the forerunner, the absolute best corn dog you’ll ever consume. It’s run by the Waldmire family of Route 66 fame.
The Lincoln Tomb
Touring the Lincoln Tomb was a surprise to me. I didn’t expect it to be so grand or massive. It holds so many reproductions of Lincoln statues that it can rightly be considered a museum in its own right.
Situated at the center of a 12.5-acre plot, it was constructed over the years 1869 – 1874 by sculptor Larken G. Mead at a cost of $180,000.
The monument is the final resting place of President Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary and three of their four sons (Edward, William and Thomas). Lincoln’s oldest son Robert is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
The tomb went through two reconstructions (1901 and 1930), the first due to uneven settling of the earth, the second due to internal and external deterioration. In the second reconstruction, Lincoln’s son Robert requested that his father’s body be placed in a specially designed steel and concrete vault beneath the floor of the burial chamber.
The exterior is constructed of granite from Biddeford, Maine, and rises to 117 feet in height and features at its center an obelisk, the ancient Egyptian symbol for leadership.
Four flights of granite stairs lead to a terrace where four bronze statuary groups are mounted on each corner. Also sculpted by Mead, the statues represent the fighting forces – infantry, artillery, cavalry and navy – of the Civil War.
A reproduction of the bust of the head of Lincoln by sculptor Gutzon Borglum rests on a pedestal opposite the tomb’s entrance.
The memorial’s interior is constructed of marble from Minnesota, Missouri, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Utah, Italy, Spain, France and Belgium. Inside the receiving rotunda guests encounter the first of many Lincoln sculptures: the bronze prototype casting by Daniel Chester French of his 1920 sculpture in the Lincoln Memorial. Several well known Lincoln sculptures line passageways of the crypt leading to the burial chamber.
To learn more about Lincoln
Here are books recommended by the Library, presented in order corresponding to the stages of Lincoln’s life:
The Young Eagle : The Rise of Abraham Lincoln by Kenneth J. Winkle (Taylor, 2001)
An Honest Calling: The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln by Mark E. Steiner (Northern Illinois University Press, 2006)
Herndon’s Lincoln by William H. Herndon and Jesse E. Weik (Knox College Lincoln Studies Center and the University of Illinois Press, 2006)
Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Michael Burlingame (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008)
A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White, Jr. (Random House, 2009)
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Shuster, 2005)
Lincoln’s Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words by Douglas L. Wilson (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006)
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner (W. W. Norton, 2010)
Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion by Harold Hollzer (Simon & Shuster, 2014)
Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Edward Steers, Jr. (University Press of Kentucky, 2001)
Mourning Lincoln: by Martha Hodes (Yale University Press, 2015)
IF YOU GO…
Visit Springfield Illinois
Visitors Center
Open 9 a.m. – 4:30 pm, Monday – Saturday (closed Sunday) (217) 789-2360
The Visit Springfield website has some wonderful itinerary ideas including “Abe’s Perfect Journey,” “Legendary Route 66,” and “Girl’s Getaway Weekend.”
www.visitspringfieldillinois.com
Hotels
Carpenter Street Hotel
Within walking distance of the Presidential Museum, the hotel also has a complimentary shuttle, free hot breakfast and fitness center.
525 North 6th St.
www.carpenterstreethotel.com
Springhill Suites Springfield Southwest
I stayed at this Marriott property. In addition to its warm and welcoming staff, I found their daily breakfast two cuts above standard fare. The indoor pool and spacious gym are both open 24/7.
3921 MacArthur Blvd.
www.marriott.com
Restaurants
Cozy Dog Drive-In
2935 S. 6th Street
www.cozydogdrivein.com
Café Moxo
411 East Adams, Downtown
www.cafemoxo.com
La Piazza
220 S. 6th Street, Downtown
www.lapiazzaci.com
Maldaner’s
222 S. 6th Street, Downtown
www.maldaners.com
Engrained Brewery & Restaurant
1112 West Lincolnshire Blvd.
www.engrainedbrewery.com
Obed and Isaac’s
500 S. 6th Street
www.connshg.com
Route 66 Motorheads Bar, Grill & Museum
600 Toronto Road
www.66motorheads.com
Route 66 Attractions
Springfield is a mother lode of attractions for Route 66 buffs. I’ll cover these in more detail in an upcoming story on this famous highway, but meanwhile, don’t miss:
The Ace Sign Company Museum (Free admission)
2540 First Street
www.acesignco.com
Route 66 Experience
at Illinois Fairgrounds (Free admission)
801 East Sangamon
Museums and Attractions
Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
212 N. 6th Street
Open daily, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $15; Seniors (62+), $12; Active Military and Students, (ID required), $10; Children, 5 – 15, $6; 4 and younger, free.
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
413 S. Eighth St.
Free Admission
www.nps.com>liho
Lincoln Tomb
Oak Ridge Cemetery
Open daily, 9 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Free admission
1441 Monument Avenue
www.lincolntomb.org
1904 Dana-Thomas House by Frank Lloyd Wright
301 E. Lawrence
www.dana-thomas.org
Illinois State Capitol
Visitors Center is one block west of the Capitol at 425 S. College St.
Open weekdays, 8 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.; closed weekends.
Limited free parking; entrance to parking lot is off Edwards Street. www.ilsos.gov
Illinois State Military Museum
1301 North MacArthur Blvd.
www.visitspringfieldillinois.com
