Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat of and most populous city in Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the largest in central Illinois. Approximately 208,000 residents live in the Springfield metropolitan area.
Sangamon County is located in the center of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 196,343. Its county seat and largest city is Springfield, the state capital.
Carthage is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Its population was 2,490 as of the 2020 census. Carthage is best known for being the site of the 1844 death of Joseph Smith, who founded the Latter Day Saint movement.
The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) is a public university in Springfield, Illinois. The university was established in 1969 as Sangamon State University by the Illinois General Assembly and became a part of the University of Illinois system on July 1, 1995. As a public liberal arts college, and the newest campus in the University of Illinois system, UIS is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. UIS is also part of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education. The campus' main repository, Brookens Library, holds a collection of nearly 800,000 books and serials in addition to accessible resources at the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campuses.
A catafalque is a raised bier, box, or similar platform, often movable, that is used to support the casket, coffin, or body of a dead person during a Christian funeral or memorial service. Following a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, a catafalque may be used to stand in place of the body at the absolution of the dead or used during Masses of the Dead and All Souls' Day.
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representatives elected from individual legislative districts for two-year terms with no limits; redistricted every 10 years, based on the 2010 U.S. census each representative represents approximately 108,734 people.
The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.
After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, a three-week series of events was held to mourn the death and memorialize the life of the 16th president of the United States. Funeral services, a procession, and a lying in state were first held in Washington, D.C., then a funeral train transported Lincoln's remains 1,654 miles (2,662 km) through seven states for burial in Springfield, Illinois. Never exceeding 20 mph, the train made several stops in principal cities and state capitals for processions, orations, and additional lyings in state. Millions of Americans viewed the train along the route and participated in associated ceremonies.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum documents the life of the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, and the course of the American Civil War. Combining traditional scholarship with 21st-century showmanship techniques, the museum ranks as one of the most visited presidential libraries. Its library, in addition to housing an extensive collection on Lincoln, also houses the collection of the Illinois State Historical Library, founded by the state in 1889. The library and museum is located in the state capital of Springfield, Illinois, and is overseen as an agency of state government. It is not affiliated with the U.S. National Archives and its system of libraries.
Dr. Alice Lovina Kibbe was an American botanist, and Professor and Chair of Biology at Carthage College in Carthage, Illinois from 1920 to 1956. She was noted in the region as a natural historian, philanthropist and traveler, and for her role as an early female academic leader.
The Illinois State Capitol, located in Springfield, Illinois, houses the legislative and executive branches of the government of the U.S. state of Illinois. The current building is the sixth to serve as the capitol building since Illinois was admitted to the United States in 1818. Built in the architectural styles of the French Renaissance and Italianate, it was designed by Cochrane and Garnsey, an architecture and design firm based in Chicago. Ground was broken for the new capitol on March 11, 1868, and the building was completed twenty years later for a total cost of $4.5 million.
Lincoln College was a private college in Lincoln, Illinois. The college offered associate, bachelor's, and master's programs. It maintained an extension site in Normal, Illinois that provided adults with Accelerated Bridge to Education bachelor's degree programs. The college closed on May 13, 2022.
The Old State Capitol State Historic Site, in Springfield, Illinois, is the fifth capitol building built for the U.S. state of Illinois. It was built in the Greek Revival style in 1837–1840, and served as the state house from 1840 to 1876. It is the site of candidacy announcements by Abraham Lincoln in 1858 and Barack Obama in 2007. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, primarily for its association with Lincoln and his political rival Stephen Douglas.
Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central third of the state, divided from north to south. Also known as the Heart of Illinois, it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agriculture, particularly corn and soybeans, as well as educational institutions and manufacturing centers, figure prominently.
Abraham Lincoln: The Man is a larger-than-life size 12-foot (3.7 m) bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. The original statue is in Lincoln Park in Chicago, and later re-castings of the statue have been given as diplomatic gifts from the United States to the United Kingdom, and to Mexico.
Shea's Gas Station Museum Center piece The Mahan Filling Station located on Route 66 in Springfield, Illinois was transformed from a working Texaco, and later Marathon, station into a museum by owner Bill Shea and his wife Helen. The museum contained an eclectic mix of vintage gas station memorabilia collected over the last fifty years including the original gas pumps, wooden phone booths, signs, photos, and other mementos reminiscent of old Route 66 service stations. In February 2000, the former Mahan's Station, rumored to be the oldest filling station in Illinois, was moved 21 miles to its current location at Fulgenzi's. It has since been fully restored. The museum's guestbook boasts visitors from all over Europe and Asia and has become a destination for international travelers exploring the Mother Road. Due to his commitment to preserving Route 66 history and gas station memorabilia, plus his many years of quality service to his customers, Bill Shea and his shop were inducted into the Route 66 Hall of Fame in 1993. The entire Shea family was inducted in 2002. Bill Shea died in December 2013 and the gas station was sold. The museum contents were auctioned in 2015. As of 2015, the old Filling Station building was in use as the Fulgenzi's Pizza & Pasta.
The National Museum of Funeral History is a museum in Houston, Texas, that contains a collection of artifacts and relics that aim to "educate the public and preserve the heritage of death care." The 35,000-square-foot museum opened in 1992.
The Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History Museum is a museum of African-American history and culture located in Springfield in the U.S. state of Illinois. The museum was founded in 2012 by historical educator Douglas King, and moved to a permanent location adjacent to Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery in March 2016. The history museum is located in the former home of the Museum of Funeral Customs, which closed permanently in 2009.
First Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) located in downtown Springfield, Illinois. This is the church that President Abraham Lincoln and his family attended while they lived in Springfield.
