Lincoln is a city in

Logan County Logan County is the name of ten current counties and one former county in the United States: * Logan County, Arkansas * Logan County, Colorado * Logan County, Idaho (1889–1895) * Logan County, Illinois * Logan County, Kansas * Logan County, ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. First settled in the 1830s, it is the only town in the

that was named for

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

before he became

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

; he practiced law there from 1847 to 1859. Lincoln is home to one

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

Lincoln Christian University Lincoln Christian University (LCU) is a private Christian university in Lincoln, Illinois. It maintains extension sites in Normal, Illinois, metropolitan Indianapolis, Indiana, and Las Vegas, Nevada. LCU is affiliated with the Christian churches ...

- and two prisons. It is also the home of the world's largest

covered wagon The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance or prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America. With roots in the he ...

and numerous other historical sites along the Route 66 corridor. The population was 13,288 at the 2020 census. It is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Logan County.

History

The town was officially named on August 27, 1853, in an unusual ceremony.

, having assisted with the

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

ting of the town and working as counsel for the newly laid Chicago & Mississippi Railroad which led to its founding, was asked to participate in a naming ceremony for the town. On this date, the first sale of lots took place in the new town. Ninety were sold at prices ranging from $40 to $150. According to tradition Lincoln was present. At noon he purchased two watermelons and carried one under each arm to the public square. There he invited Latham, Hickox, and Gillette, proprietors, to join him, saying, "Now we'll christen the new town," squeezing watermelon juice out on the ground. Legend has it that when it had been proposed to him that the town be named for him, he had advised against it, saying that in his experience, "Nothing bearing the name of Lincoln ever amounted to much." The town of Lincoln was the first city named after Abraham Lincoln, while he was a lawyer and before he was President of the United States. Lincoln College (chartered Lincoln University), a private four-year liberal arts college, was founded in early 1865 and granted 2 year degrees until 1929. News of the establishment and name of the school was communicated to President Lincoln shortly before his death, making Lincoln the only college to be named after Lincoln while he was living. The College had an excellent collection of Abraham Lincoln–related documents and artifacts, housed in a museum which is open to the general public. The City of Lincoln was located directly on

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

from 1926 through 1978. This is its secondary tourist theme after the connection with Abraham Lincoln. American author

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

spent one year of his youth in Lincoln. Later on, he was to write to his eighth-grade teacher in Lincoln, telling her his writing career began there in the eighth grade, when he was elected class poet. American theologians

Reinhold Niebuhr Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of America ...

and Helmut Richard Niebuhr lived in Lincoln from 1902 through their college years. Reinhold Niebuhr first served as pastor of a church when he served as interim minister of Lincoln's St. John's German Evangelical Synod church following his father's death. Reinhold Niebuhr is best known as the author of the

Serenity Prayer The Serenity Prayer is a prayer attributed to the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) in 1943. However, Winnifred Crane Wygal wrote an early version in the Santa Cruz Sentinel of March 15, 1933, as noted in the above cited research ...

. The City of Lincoln features the stone, three-story, domed Logan County Courthouse (1905). This courthouse building replaced the earlier Logan County Courthouse (built 1858) where Lincoln once practiced law; the earlier building had fallen into serious decay and could not be saved. In addition, the

Postville Courthouse State Historic Site The Postville Courthouse State Historic Site is a replica county courthouse in Lincoln, Illinois, United States. The original frame courthouse was built in 1840 and later moved to Greenfield Village in Michigan; the current courthouse, which is a ...

contains a 1953 replica of the original 1840 Logan County courthouse; Postville, the original county seat, lost its status in 1848 and was itself annexed into Lincoln in the 1860s. Lincoln was also the site of the

Lincoln Developmental Center The Lincoln Developmental Center was a state school for people with developmental disabilities in Lincoln, Illinois. It was founded in 1877 as the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children, became the Lincoln State School in 1954, and adopted its ...

(LDC); a state institution for the developmentally disabled. Founded in 1877, the institution was one of Logan County's largest employers until closed in 2002 by former Governor

George Ryan George Homer Ryan (born February 24, 1934) is an American former politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the 39th governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003. Elected in 1998, Ryan received national attention for his 1999 mor ...

due to concerns about patient maltreatment. Despite efforts by some Illinois state legislators to reopen LDC, the facility remains shuttered.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Lincoln has a total area of , all land.

I-55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

(formerly

) connects Lincoln to Bloomington and

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

Illinois Route 10 Illinois Route 10 (IL 10) is an arterial east–west state highway that runs from rural Mason County east to Champaign, a distance of . Route description Illinois 10 starts at US 136 about 12 miles east of Havana. The highway heads south to ...

and

Illinois Route 121 Illinois Route 121 (IL 121) is a major state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Although it travels from northwest to southeast, it is marked as a north–south highway.Sarjeant, CharlesIllinois 121. Retrieved ...

run into the city.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

serves

Lincoln Station Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

daily with its ''

Lincoln Service The ''Lincoln Service'' is a higher-speed rail service operated by Amtrak that runs between Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. The train is a part of the ''Illinois Service'' and is partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transp ...

'' and ''

Texas Eagle The ''Texas Eagle'' is a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Chicago and San Antonio in the central and western United States. Prior to 1988, the train was known as the ''Eagle''. Trains #21 (southbound) and 22 (northbound) ...

'' routes. Service consists of four ''

'' round-trips between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, and one ''

'' round-trip between

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

and Chicago. Three days a week, the ''Eagle'' continues on to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Lines of the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

and

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

railroads run through the city.

Salt Creek (Sangamon River Tributary) Salt Creek is a major tributary to the Sangamon River, which it joins at the boundary between Mason and Menard County, Illinois. There are at least two other Salt Creeks in Illinois, Salt Creek (Des Plaines River Tributary), and in Effingham Coun ...

and the Edward R. Madigan State Fish and Wildlife Area are nearby.

Climate

Lincoln has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: Dfa). Monthly means range from in January to in July. There are 126 days below freezing while there are 24 days above . Since having an average record minimum of (-24 °C) according to XMACIS, It lies in the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5b. The highest temperature was on July 15, 1936, and the lowest was on January 15, 1927.

Demographics

According to the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, Lincoln had 14,504 people. Among non-Hispanics this includes 13,262

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

(91.4%), 528

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

(3.6%), 118

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

(0.8%), and 227 from two or more races. The

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

population included 336 people (2.3%). There were 5,877 households, out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 8.4% had a female householder with children & no husband present, and 40.1% were non-families. 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 29.7% had someone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.83. The population was spread out, with 78.5% over the age of 18 and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.0 years. The gender ratio was 47.9% male & 52.1% female. Among 5,877 occupied households, 64.6% were owner-occupied & 35.4% were renter-occupied. As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 15,369 people, 5,965 households, and 3,692 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 6,391 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.79%

, 2.82%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.16% Native American, 0.89%

, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 0.45% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.86% from two or more races.

of any race were 1.19% of the population. There were 5,965 households, out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were

living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.89. The town's population is spread out, with 21.6% under the age of 18, 13.8% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $34,435, and the median income for a family was $45,171. Males had a median income of $33,596 versus $22,500 for females. The per-capita income for the town is $17,207. About 8.5% of families and 10.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 13.9% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

operates the Lincoln Post Office. The

Illinois Department of Corrections The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) is the code department of the Illinois state government that operates the adult state prison system. The IDOC is led by a director appointed by the Governor of Illinois, and its headquarters are in Sp ...

Logan Correctional Center Logan Correctional Center is an Illinois Department of Corrections prison for female offenders in Broadwell Township, Logan County, Illinois, near Lincoln and north of Springfield. The prison opened in January 1978. A plot of fenced land hou ...

is located in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

, near Lincoln.Logan Correctional Center
"

. Retrieved on October 12, 2010. "1096 1350th Street P.O. Box 1000 Lincoln, Il 62656" Cresco Labs opened their cultivation site there and has since replaced over 250 jobs lost when the bottle factory closed down. The farm has shown to be an integral factor in Lincoln’s economy.

Education

* Lincoln College *

Lincoln Community High School Lincoln Community High School is located at 1000 Railer Way in Lincoln, Illinois, United States. It is the only high school of the Lincoln Community High School District #404. Sports The school is a traditional power in boys' basketball, music, ...

Notable people

Scott Altman Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman (born August 15, 1959) is a retired United States Navy Captain and naval aviator, engineer, test pilot and former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. His fourth mission on STS-125 was ...

, NASA astronaut and space shuttle Columbia commander * Brian Cook, forward for five

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

teams *

Henry Darger Henry Joseph Darger Jr. (; April 12, 1892 – April 13, 1973) was an American writer, novelist and artist who worked as a hospital custodian in Chicago, Illinois. He has become famous for his posthumously discovered 15,145-page fantasy novel ma ...

, writer and artist * William D. Gayle, Illinois State Representative and Mayor of Lincoln *

, poet, novelist, playwright *

Terry Kinney Terry Kinney (born January 29, 1954) is an American actor and theater director, and is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Sinise, and Jeff Perry. Kinney is best known for his role as ...

, actor, cofounder of the

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on ...

* David T. Littler, Illinois state legislator and lawyer *

Edward R. Madigan Edward Rell "Ed" Madigan (January 13, 1936 – December 7, 1994) was a businessman and a Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Lincoln, Illinois. He served almost twenty years in the United States House of Represent ...

, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1991–1993), congressman (1973–1991) *

Robert Madigan Robert A. "Bob" Madigan (November 28, 1942 – May 4, 2006) was an American politician. Born in Lincoln, Illinois, Madigan received his bachelor's degree from Millikin University. His brother was Edward Rell Madigan. Madigan served as city cle ...

, Illinois State Senator *

William Keepers Maxwell, Jr. William Keepers Maxwell Jr. (August 16, 1908 – July 31, 2000) was an American editor, novelist, short story writer, essayist, children's author, and memoirist. He served as a fiction editor at ''The New Yorker'' from 1936 to 1975. An editor ...

, author; his 1979 novel '' So Long, See You Tomorrow'' is set in Lincoln *

Kelly McEvers Kelly McEvers is an American journalist. McEvers is host of NPR's "Embedded" podcast. She was a co-host of NPR's flagship newsmagazine ''All Things Considered'' until February 2018 . Before this she was a foreign correspondent for NPR, in which ...

, journalist and correspondent for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

* Alberta Nichols, composer for Broadway, radio and films of the 1920s, 30s and 40s * H. Richard Niebuhr, prominent American theologian, brother of Reinhold Niebuhr *

, prominent American theologian and author of

, brother of H. Richard Niebuhr *

Stella Pevsner Stella Pevsner (October 4, 1921 — June 11, 2020) was an American author of children's books and works of young adult literature published since the late 1960s.Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmi ...

, children's book author * Clifford Quisenberry, Illinois State Representative * Rip Ragan, MLB pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds * Dick Reichle, MLB outfielder for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

Bill Sampen William Albert Sampen (born January 18, 1963) is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1990-1994. Sampen owns an instructional baseball program in Brownsburg known as "Samp's Hack Shack.” In 2016, Sampen f ...

, former Major League baseball pitcher *

Kevin Seitzer Kevin Lee Seitzer (; born March 26, 1962) is an American former third baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, and Cleveland Indians. He is currently the hitting coach for the Atl ...

, former Major League Baseball player *

Tony Semple Anthony Lee Semple (born December 20, 1970 in Springfield, Illinois) is a former professional American football player who played guard for eight seasons for the Detroit Lions. He was the Offensive Line Coach at Hope College Hope College ...

, former National Football League player *

Willis R. Shaw Willis R. Shaw (June 17, 1860–March 29, 1933) was an American printer, newspaper editor, and politician. Shaw was born in Charleston, Illinois. He was involved with the newspaper and printing business. He was involved with the Typographical ...

, Illinois state senator *

John Schlitt John William Schlitt (born February 3, 1950) is an American singer, who was the lead singer of Christian rock band Petra (band), Petra from 1986 until the band's retirement in early 2006. Prior to joining Petra in 1986, Schlitt was the lead voc ...

, lead singer of Christian rock band

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

* Larry Tagg, rock musician, songwriter, teacher, and historian *

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

Illinois State Representative and judge *

Emil Verban Emil Matthew Verban (his original Serbian name is Vrban; August 27, 1915 – June 8, 1989) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1944–1946), Philadelphia Phillies (1946–1948), Chicago Cubs (1948 ...

, MLB second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves *

Dennis Werth Dennis Dean Werth (born December 29, 1952) is a former Major League Baseball catcher, first baseman and outfielder. Career Werth is an alumnus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Lincoln College (Illinois), Lincoln College. Drafted ...

, MLB first baseman for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20091027001639/http://geocities.com/findinglincolnillinois/ * http://www.lincolnil.gov * http://www.lincolnparkdistrict.com/ * http://www.lincolnpubliclibrary.org/ * http://lchs.k12.il.us/ * {{authority control Cities in Logan County, Illinois Micropolitan areas of Illinois Cities in Illinois County seats in Illinois Populated places established in 1853 1853 establishments in Illinois Abraham Lincoln