Illinois
Illinois entered the Union on December 3, 1818, becoming the nation’s twenty-first state. Known as the Prairie State and the Land of Lincoln, it has Springfield as its capital and Chicago as its largest city. Its geography stretches from the shores of Lake Michigan through broad prairies and farmland to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers along its western and southern boundaries.
Abraham Lincoln developed his political and legal career in Illinois before becoming president in 1861. During the nineteenth century, canals and railroads connected the state’s farms and communities with national markets, while Chicago grew into a major center of transportation, industry, and immigration. Illinois became an important link between the agricultural regions of the Midwest and the cities and ports of the eastern United States.
Recent Articles
Lincoln’s Tomb
Inside Lincoln’s Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery, a red granite cenotaph bears the inscription “Abraham Lincoln, 1809–1865.” This monument marks his gravesite, but his coffin rests ten feet beneath the burial chamber’s marble floor. That separation reflects an extraordinary history of attempted theft and the determination to protect his remains. On November 7, 1876, a […]
The Receiving Vault
At the base of a hillside in Oak Ridge Cemetery, a stone receiving vault marks the first resting place of Abraham Lincoln after his return to Springfield. Its modest entrance preserves a chapter of national mourning that preceded the construction of the larger Lincoln Tomb nearby. Following his assassination in April 1865, Lincoln’s body traveled […]
A Writing Table in the Lincoln Home
In the furnished interior of Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s Springfield home, a marble-topped octagonal table holds books, papers, and a portable wooden writing desk. Chairs drawn beside it suggest the overlapping uses of a household table: a place to read, write, converse, or attend to correspondence. The portable desk is an especially revealing detail. Such […]
Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices
Across from Springfield’s Old State Capitol, the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices preserve a setting where Abraham Lincoln earned his living before becoming president. The surviving portion of the Tinsley Building is the only remaining building in which he maintained a law office. Lincoln began working here in 1843 with Stephen T. Logan, an experienced attorney whose […]
Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb
When we visited Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, the monument itself was impressive, the 117-foot granite obelisk, the figure of Lincoln, and the great bronze groups representing the infantry, cavalry, artillery and navy of the Civil War. But there is another story here that I find even more fascinating: the extraordinary […]
Standing Lincoln
While exploring Chicago, we came across this larger-than-life figure of Abraham Lincoln standing quietly before an elaborate chair. There is no dramatic gesture and no attempt to portray Lincoln triumphantly. Instead, his head is slightly bowed and his expression contemplative, as though we have encountered him in the private moment just before he rises to […]
