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 by funeral train from Washington, D.C., to Illinois. Along the route, public ceremonies allowed mourners to pay their respects. The journey ended in the city where he had practiced law, raised his family, and built his political career.
The train reached Springfield on May 3. Lincoln lay in state in the Illinois State Capitol’s Hall of Representatives before the funeral procession carried his coffin to Oak Ridge Cemetery the following day.
On May 4, Lincoln’s coffin was placed inside the cemetery’s public receiving vault. Beside him rested his son William Wallace, known as Willie, who had died in Washington in 1862. Willie’s remains had accompanied his father’s on the journey home.
The vault was an existing cemetery structure, providing a place of interment while plans for a permanent memorial developed. Lincoln and Willie remained here until December 21, 1865, when their coffins were transferred to another temporary vault on the hillside.
The receiving vault therefore tells a different part of the story from the imposing monument that followed. It recalls the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s death: a grieving nation, a family’s losses, and the return of a president to the community he had called home.
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