And, a Lincoln Thing

Of course, Illinois is the Land of Lincoln, even says so on our license plates. However, other than the Lincoln Highway, celebrating its 100th anniversary next year, there isn't a whole lot of Lincoln here in the northern part of the state.

However, one of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates took place in Freeport, right along US-20, now with a bypass, but Business US-20 goes right through town. They have statues of the two men in a park.

This year, the Freeport/Stevenson County Visitors Center, located east of town on the US-20 bypass has an exhibit on the debate. I found the Illinois voting maps for the 1858 election of particular interest. The northern part of the state was solid Republican (even though Lincoln was from the Central. The southern half went Democrat. Back then, the states picked their senators.

We'll Have to Spend Some Time in Freeport One of These Days. --Old Secesh