Informative Illinois

Our stop in Illinois is in Springfield, a city all about Abraham Lincoln and The Civil War.

From these plaques it appears that Abraham Lincoln came from a poor life with poor education but made it all the way to the White House.  We've got a lot to learn about this beloved man.  In the meantime..........................................

Our campground is huge and very lovely.  "The Double J Campground" is run by a young couple who were excited to expand the facilities by adding another pool.  There are two pavilions, a basketball court and a large lounge with a large screened TV and movies.  A rally had arrived just before us and had a number of fire pits lit with lots of people hanging around.  We met one couple who told us they had to move from the local KOA campground because it was flooded.  Yes, we've had lots of rain in the Midwest but fortunately for us so far as we tour around we've had really good weather - cool but dry.

Our touring started on a Sunday as we made our way to downtown Springfield but soon learned that nothing opens until Noon on a Sunday.  So we walked around and got our bearings for what we wanted to see:  The Capitol, the Old Capitol, the Governor's Mansion, one of the historic homes that are listed on the National Register and, Lincoln's Homestead which is also on the National Register.  In the meantime, we wandered around and found The Old Capitol alongside which was the Lincoln Plaza where we found the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office where Abe practiced  with his partner William H. Herndon from 1843 to 1852 before running for office as a Senator.



Tony is almost six feet yet Abraham Lincoln looks much taller at 6ft 4 inches.  These bronze statues are of Abe, his wife, Mary and their first son, Robert. The law office is in the background.

The Old State Capitol is just up the street from the Lincoln Plaza but it was closed today.  Not deterred, we walked around it and both agreed that it was way too small.  However, Abraham Lincoln tried several hundred cases in the Supreme Court here, borrowed books from the state library and on May 3 and 4, 1865, Mr. Lincoln's body lay in state here before his burial in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Here's Lin with Abe sitting in the Union Plaza.  Today it was bright but cool hence Lin had her fleece on.  In the background is the Train Depot at which Lincoln's body arrived by train after a long trip from Washington, D.C. stopping at various cities along the route in 1865.

We noticed across the street from Union Plaza, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum but this Library is not on the official list of Presidential Libraries (run by the National Archives) that we have been following and have been to nine of the 12 (One more will be added to that list, George W. Bush's in Dallas on May 1, 2013).  So we'll be thrilled to visit Abe's Library and Museum tomorrow, not today as we are off to the Capitol now.

This is the view of the Capitol from Capitol Avenue.  The building is a combination of Renaissance Revival and Empire style.  The dome, which at 405 feet high exceeds the height of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is covered with zinc to provide a silver-like facade which is not affected by the weather.

Here's Lin with Lincoln's statue.  The grounds are lovely and we made our way around to the side of the building for our tour which we are looking forward to.

We should have known something wasn't going to be right on our tour of the State Capitol after Lin approached the tour desk to have her State Capitol book stamped - the tour guide was on the phone and a little miffed that Lin waited with her book open at the Illinois page.  With a huge TUT, the guide said into the phone "I'll have to call you back".  She then without a word erratically stamped Lin's book then said "The tour starts at 1:00pm".  It was 12:50pm so Lin walked back to where Tony was standing in the middle of the Rotunda. 

Just before our tour Tony took this photo of Lin and the statue in the centre of the Rotunda which originally welcomed people to the Colombian Exposition in 1893, sculpted by Julia Bracken. (We found that info in the self-guided tour booklet not from the tour guide!!) 

At precisely 1:00pm the guide walked from her desk to the elevator and in a loud voice said "The tour starts on the 4th floor"  So twelve of us herded into the elevator with her.

Exactly 18 minutes later we returned to the Rotunda - it was the fastest tour we have ever taken of a State Capitol.  The guide, a black woman with a strong accent spoke rapidly about each area of the tour without any questions - who could think of questions that fast - we almost ran from the House Gallery, the Senate Gallery, the Old Supreme Court, then to The Hall of Governors where we noticed immediately that the previous Governor, Rod Blagojevich, did not have a portrait on the wall - not shocked as he was the Governor found to have tried to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Obama and went to jail for it!!  Thank goodness we grabbed a Self-Guided Tour Booklet before being told the tour was done.  From that we learned that Chicago was deemed the Capital City in 1871 but then the Great Chicago Fire occurred in October 8 - 9 so Springfield remained the Capital and got a new Capitol Building that was finished in 1877 at a cost of $4.3 million.

A view from up top.  There are many bronze statues of famous State Legislators such as Richard Barr, a Senator for 48 years; Lottie O'Neil, the first female State Representative; Adelbert Roberts, the first African-American Illinois Senator. 

This frieze surrounds the 3rd floor rotunda view, it represents early Illinois history from Native Americans through the Abraham Lincoln-Stephen Douglas debates in the Capitol.

Lin loves chandeliers and this one is a beaut.  It's made from Czechoslovakian crystal, is 17.5 feet long and weighs 750 pounds.  Wow!!

This is the gawdy entrance to the Governor's Office - of course, he's not here right now as it's Sunday.

After the tour, Lin asked if we could go on our own self-guided tour but the guide told her that only the first floor was open to the public.  So we decided to leave from the other side door.

We were glad we left the Capitol by the other side door as we would not have seen this wonderful Memorial to Firefighters.  Created in 1993, the memorial depicts four life-size bronze figures of firefighters in action.

After that rushed tour, we were amazed with the two-hour tour of the Dana-Thomas Historic Home built and furnished by the famous architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) between 1902 and 1904.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside the house.

The beautiful brick house was built for Susan Lawrence Dana (1862-1946), the wealthy daughter of a mayor of Springfield and an activist for women's rights.  The wide house has varying heights and levels with huge rooms for entertaining a large number of guests including the then Governor and High Society.  There is an indoor terra-cotta fountain that is gorgeous.  The furnishings look like they were made of teak wood but are actually made of white oak.  We walked through the whole house - it is huge with 35 rooms that contain more than 100 original pieces of furniture - it has numerous balconies and alcoves. The most beautiful feature of the house is the art-stained glass in 250 of the windows except those in  the Kitchen where, of course, the Mistress of the house would never go!!

This is just one section of the Home but if you can imagine each of those windows are covered with intricate art-glass that looks like crystal drops stuck to the window.  They are beautiful. 

Mrs. Dana had a very sad life in that she lost her first and second husbands to typhoid and her two small children to tuberculosis.  She eventually whittled away her fortune and got sick herself.  She had to move into a Care Home for four years before she died.  She owed $5,000 to a bank for her home so Thomas Publishing Company purchased the home in 1946 and paid $12,000 as well as the $5,000 bank loan.  The Company used the home for offices and entertainment for 35 years before selling it for $1 million to the State of Illinois to be registered as an Historic Home Site.

After leaving this home we headed over to the Lincoln Homestead Visitors' Centre where we watched a very interesting orientation film with an actor playing Lincoln that you'd swear was really him.  After the film, we joined a small group to tour Lincoln's home.

This is where Lincoln spent 17 years of  his married life in Springfield before leaving for Washington in 1861.  The house was surprisingly large with five bedrooms, a front and back parlor with doors to close off one parlor from the other.  The house was enlarged in 1855 to a full two-storey house.
 

Here the tour guide walks us through the home.  This is the front parlor where |Lincoln learned he was nominated as the candidate for President by the Republican Party in 1860 when committee members travelled to Springfield from Chicago to notify him. 

Mary Todd was a well-educated women from a prominent Kentucky family.  She married Abe in 1842 and had four sons, Robert the only son who grew to adulthood (1843-1926); Edward who died of an illness in the Springfield house five weeks before his fourth birthday (1846-1850); William who died in the White House from a lung infection when he was 12 years old (1850-1862); and Thomas, known as Tad because he looked like a tadpole, died when we was eighteen and left his widowed mother desolate (1853-1871).  Mary never recovered from Tad's death although she and Abe had been plunged into profound grief over the deaths of their other sons, it was Tad's death that left Mary with mental problems.  The oldest son, Robert, was away with the Military so could not help his Mother until she was charged with being insane at which time Robert took his Mother to Michigan for treatment.  When Mary died in 1882 she was buried in Lincoln's Tomb where her three boys were buried with their Father.  When Robert died in 1926, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

This is the street view from Lincoln's home.  Each home in the Lincoln Home National Historic Site is plaqued with information about the neighbours who interacted with the Lincolns. 

The next day, we drove downtown again for our visit of the Presidential Library and were we thrilled.

We spent close to three hours touring the Library which is of the calibre of the other Libraries on the National Archives List - we guess the only thing missing are the Presidential papers.

Inside the Museum is a partial reproduction of the 1860's White House,  here's Lin with the Lincolns' statues outside of the White House.

In the front foyer of the Museum there are two movie theatres - one with holographic and special effects, a replica of Lincoln's boyhood cabin where his family lived in one room, and, the White House which houses the museum.  It was dark in the museum so we could not take any photos but it was remarkable to walk through the state-of-the-art facility of Lincoln's lore and legend.  His famous stovepipe hat; the original hand-written Gettysburg Address; the evening gloves in his pocket the night he was assassinated; and, the quill pen used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation were all on display.

Tony could not resist getting involved in the conversation of these two soldiers as a passerby looks on.

The start of The Civil War

Lincoln certainly had to have personal strength and courage on the challenging road to greatness but he was struck down by gun shot fired by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford's Theatre in Washington on the evening of April 14, 1865 while watching a performance of "Our American Cousin", a comedy - and all because he wanted to abolish slavery and make all the States into one country that is United.

The Lincoln Tomb is in the Oak Ridge Cemetery which is not far from the downtown of Springfield.  It is a solemn and peaceful place - the Tomb is constructed of granite and at its centre is an obelisk that rises to 117 feet.  It is surrounded by four statues representing the four Civil War Union services - infantry, artillery, cavalry and navy.  The bronze head of Lincoln shows many people have rubbed his nose which gives good luck!

Lastly, our tour of Springfield brings us to the Governor's Mansion (known as the Executive Mansion) but it is only open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays so as it is Monday today, we cannot see inside.  The Mansion is made of red brick Italianate-style and has been the official residence of Illinois Governors since 1855.

So thanks Springfield, Illinois we had a blast visiting your city and have really enjoyed in-depth learning about Abraham Lincoln's life, visiting historic sites and stepping back in time to walk through charming neighbourhoods.

We are off to Jefferson City, Missouri as our last stop on this Adventure Tour of the Mid West States.