Memorial Day, Abraham Lincoln and the Logan County Connection
Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2009
by Nila Smith
Fact and Fiction
I live in the City of Lincoln , in the county of Logan , in the state of Illinois . I work for the Lincoln Daily News, an internet publication for Logan county and surrounding areas. And for those of you who know and love him, yes, Mike Fak is my editor, my mentor, my friend, and on a couple of occasions the one who talked me off the ledge when I was about to blow over a re-write!
Lincoln and Logan County are steeped in history, which is good for me, because I love American History, especially the earliest of years. I thrive on reading about our founding fathers, the Boston Tea Part, the witch hunts of Salem , the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, and the civil war.
My interest kind of stops there though, which again makes me a perfect fit for this community, because in Logan County , it is all about Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln Illinois is the only city on earth that was named for Abe before he became president. One needs to note the distinction of "before". There are many cities called Lincoln , but we were the first one to name a city Lincoln as a tribute to Abe.
Because we cherish our history so much, we do all that we can to preserve our historical landmarks, regardless of when they actually came to be.
Many of the streets in our town are still paved with brick, and it doesn't matter that I can bottom out my extra tall SUV 4-wheel drive just cruising through town, the streets are historical, and they are going to remain brick, no matter how bad a shape they are in.
I'll give you a couple of true examples of just how much of a preservative society this community is then I'll move on.
I cover city council/city government for LDN.
We have a fire chief who has been on the job just a year now, and he is campaigning hard for a new fire house. I understand his desire completely. The fire house in Lincoln is the oldest one still in use in the State of Illinois . It was built to accommodate horse drawn equipment, and horses!
Of course with today's modern pump and ladder trucks, most of what the city has doesn't even fit into the building! Therefore, various items of equipment and vehicles are parked in locations other than the fire station, but heaven forbid; we have to hang on to that fire station because it is historical!
Another example of how we value our history. One of our downtown stop lights is in need of some repairs. At city council one night, the street and alley superintendent was asked about when he could get it fixed, and his reply, I am not kidding you, was "I've located a museum that does have the part we need".
That's right. The stop lights in Lincoln are also the oldest in the state of Illinois , they are genuine antiques!
So how much does Lincoln love Lincoln? Well here are a couple of examples.
Before Lincoln was Lincoln it was Postville. Abe practiced law at the Postville Courthouse for a time. Eventually, that courthouse was abandoned, and a new one built in a different location after the name of the town was changed.
The Henry Ford Museum in Michigan purchased the old Postville Courthouse and moved it to their Greenfield Village . As time progressed, the people of Lincoln regretted selling it, and tried to buy it back, but the Museum refused to sell.
So, Lincoln built a new one; a replica of the original so that they could maintain their Lincoln connection.
A few years back, the street department was doing some renovations across from the Postville Courthouse and they dug in to what turned out to be an old well.
The people of Lincoln surmised that because the well was across the street from the courthouse, there was a possibility that at least once in his life, Abe might have walked over to that well and drew himself a drink of water.
Therefore, they installed an old style pump, and affixed a plaque, and made it an historical Landmark.
Okay so maybe those are a bit funny, but really they are pretty tame accounts of events in this community. I'll give you one more, then move on.
A citizen of the city purchased the world's largest covered wagon, complete with a wood carved replica of Lincoln sitting on the buckboard style seat, reading a book, and of course wearing his familiar black suit and stove pipe hat.
He donated the wagon to the city as a tourist attraction slash landmark.
It was set in place on the city's west side, and for a time everyone was quite proud of their new landmark, until one day someone looked at it and said, it looked like Lincoln is headed out of town.
Well indeed it did. On the west edge of the city, the wagon was facing northwest, and it appeared that ole' Abe was skipping the country.
So, the city went to great lengths to have the wagon turned around, and now everyone is satisfied, although I'm not sure why. The wagon now is facing southwest, and to me at least it still looks like Abe is leaving not coming.
However, I dare not mention this aloud to anyone as it would certainly cause another hullabaloo!
On the other hand, I can't tell for sure where ole Abe thinks he might be going, because although there is a wagon, there are no horses pulling it.
I suppose one could imagine that Abe is camping there, or perhaps he was walking into town on foot, saw the wagon abandoned and decided to rest a spell.
Regardless, we have the worlds largest covered wagon, complete with Abe Lincoln, and we are proud of it!
Logan County does have other items of historical significance, but they do take somewhat of a back seat to Abe.
One of the most often referred to though is the fact that in our county there is still a stretch of the original Route 66 highway. (Like I said we preserve those historical roads no matter what!)
Route 66 runs through the entire county, and that is played up enough that it runs a close second to Abe.
Logan County is the home of the Oglesby Mansion site in Elkhart . Oglesby was one of the state's former, early Governors.
The community can also boast Edward R. Madigan State Park, Kickapoo Creek park (Kickapoo Creek is a tributary to the Illinois River), is the birthplace of world famous poet Langston Hughes, and most recently Scott Altman, who is currently piloting the space shuttle in the repair of the Hubble telescope was born in Lincoln Illinois.
Now the county does appreciate these things, they just don't play them up the way they do Abe Lincoln .
So, I was not at all surprised when the other night on one of the local programming shows, the host made a comment that there was a Logan County connection to Memorial Day and he invited viewers to call in if they knew the connection, but no one did.
I wasn't surprised that they didn't call in because I was sure that it had nothing to do with Abraham Lincoln, else wise the whole town would know the story and there would be no need to mention it in the first place.
Intrigued by the question, I did the research, and emailed Mike and asked him if he knew the answer, he emailed me back that he didn't, wanted to know if I was thinking about a feature for the LDN.
I emailed him back well maybe, I'm just not sure yet. Here's the story in a nut shell.
In the early days there were only 15 counties in Illinois . The northern 2/3 of the state was three counties only. When state legislators decided to divide the state further, Abraham Lincoln was on the committee to do so. He is the one who named our county "Logan", after a good friend of his in Southern Illinois Dr. John A. Logan.
John A Logan had a son, John Alexander Logan, who was a United States Congressman and the Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Civil War. His wife paid a visit to Petersburg VA , and when she returned to Washington told him about the Confederate Decoration Day that she had observed there. He thought it was a good idea, and took it to Congress to have a National Memorial Day Observance passed for all fallen soldiers.
So, the connection is, the Logan who made a motion to declare a national Memorial Day was the son of the Logan our county was named for by Abraham Lincoln.
I told Mike in my email that I could and would write a respectful and reverent story about it, but I had to tell him at least, I find it a little comical.
It reminds me of that movie "My big fat Greek wedding" where that the father figure maintained that every word in the world could be traced back to a Greek derivative.
It would appear that all of America 's history since the early to mid 1800's can be attributed in one way or another to Abraham Lincoln and Logan County !
Mike wrote me back and said, yes he agreed it was a bit comical, but then again, he had heard from reliable sources that Moses actually parted Kickapoo creek, not the Red Sea!
At any rate, I will write the story for LDN, will make it interesting and will draw the connection to Logan County and Abraham Lincoln in a very clear straight line.
And who knows? Maybe the city council will decide to erect another historical marker.
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Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)Hi Nila.Very interesting historical article. Thank you for writing this, I enjoyed it tremendously. Thanks for sharing this historical aspect of your city, the city of Lincoln.Best regards,NenitaNenita, thanks so much for reading my little story, and thank you for joining my fan club! I hope I can prove worthy of the honor.As I said in my article, I do love this community, I cherish the history here, but sometimes I think they take it just a wee bit too far, LOL!!
Interesting and entertaining, Nila. I love your reference to My Big Fat Greek Wedding. And I now have a new respect for Illinois...with Moses having been there, and all.... ;-)Lorrie, thanks for your comments!I wrote this with a little bit of "tongue in cheek", but really I am quite proud of this community that truly does have strong links to Abraham Lincoln.
Nila,I enjoyed this write. Simply because for one, I'm a Lake County native! And, I'm a firm believer of keeping history alive. Thanks for sharing this write with us.Thanks Ronyae, and thank you for joining my fan club.The Abraham Lincoln Route 66 Tourism bureau publishes an online guide to historical sites in Logan County.The attractions around about the area are free of charge, and I would suggest that anyone who wanted to make a day trip with their family, could come to Logan county and have a very enjoyable and educational day.Sounds like a plan, Nila. Thanks.
Now I know why I thought from the very first article that you were an incredibly gifted writer, Nila. You've got good experience under your belt.Although I've heard of Lincoln, I've never been there. I do however, like Illinois as I lived for many years in Rockford and spend much time in Chicago.Thanks for sharing this interesting history of Lincoln.SandraHi Sandra!Wow! "incredibly gifted" is a very strong compliment that I'm not sure I truly deserve, but I sincerely thank-you!Have a good day!
It is very informative, thanksThank you for reading my article!
Great article. Well done.A city of rich history Linchon is. I hope that the fire cheif gets a new building and the old one is left as a museum.Connor, thank-you for reading my article!Lincoln, over the years has grown on the west part of town, so that the current fire station in addition to being old, is no longer centrally located.As is the case with most city's our size, money is a big issue, but the Chief is searching for grants to assist in the building, and actually there may be something there in the Economic Stimulus.I believe that eventually there will be a new fire station, as it is very important, but it is going to take time.
Very good article and a statement for living in small towns.. Thanks for the article."Tread the Earth Lightly"" and let your days be filled with... Peace, light and love,Arlene Wright-Correll
Love this post. i am from southern illinois, and another funny fact is that my great aunt has traced our family tree to Abe's mother. My family name is Hanks! we have found all Lincoln historical information very fascinating. Thanks for posting.
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