Benjaminville was founded in the 1850's by Quaker farmers looking for rich prairie soil on which to grow their wheat. The Friends Meeting House, built in 1874, has changed little since then. The adjacent burial ground is divided into two sections: . . . — — Map (db m157153) HM
Married Letitia Green Dec. 26, 1866
Member of the 44th US Congress 1875-1877 and the 46th US Congress 1879-1881. Under President Grover Cleveland he was appointed first Assistant Postmaster General 1885-1889. Was elected Vice President of . . . — — Map (db m160458) HM
Twice made unsuccessful bid for the office of US President on the democratic ticket in 1952 and 1956. Named US Ambassador to the United Nations by President John F. Kennedy serving in London, England until his death. — — Map (db m160459) HM
Married Ward Hill Lamon Mar. 17, 1850
The 8th circuit court and the members including the Honorable Judge David Davis and Abraham Lincoln, future president of the United States of America gathered here at the burial site of Angeline Turner . . . — — Map (db m160308) HM
"My line of defense is going to be that your tongue is no slanderer...that the people generally know you to be, impulsive and say things that you do not mean, and they do not consider what you say as slander," was Lincoln's defense of . . . — — Map (db m57379) HM
(front:)
Route 66, the Mother Road, is an American icon that symbolizes romance and freedom of the open road. Born in 1926, Route 66 was one of the first numbered U.S. highways, journeying 2,500 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. Today, . . . — — Map (db m158214) HM
First brick pavement in the United States
Innovation to modern highways
Installed 1877 by Napoleon B. Heafer
This plaque set in original paving brick and presented to the City of Bloomington May 11, 1968, by Bloomington Junior High School . . . — — Map (db m57840) HM
Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1940, Charles pitched professionally for 11 years in the National League and the Players League.
In those 11 years he won 310 games and lost 191 for a winning percentage of .619.
In 1884 he won 62 . . . — — Map (db m160304) HM
David Davis swapped for the farm just east of here with Normal's founder Jesse Fell. Davis forgiving Fell's debts. Judge Davis was a friend of attorney Abraham Lincoln and the two of them rode the 8th Judicial circuit together, holding court from . . . — — Map (db m57560) HM
This Victorian Mansion was the home of Judge David Davis, an associate of Abraham Lincoln's.
Construction began in 1870 and was completed in 1872. The house is built of yellow hard-burned face brick with stone quoins in the corners. It is 64 . . . — — Map (db m12249) HM
Little Dorothy was born to Sophie Jewell and Thomas C. Gage, five months later the family was devastated by her death. Shortly after this, Thomas and Sophie left Bloomington for Aberdeen S.D. Dorothy's uncle, L. Frank Baum, named the main character . . . — — Map (db m160313) HM
The first woman elected to the Illinois Senate, Florence Fifer Bohrer served two terms from 1925 to 1933. She chaired the Senate committee to visit charitable institutions, led efforts to revamp Illinois' child welfare laws, and sponsored . . . — — Map (db m55616) HM
Franklin Square contains the homes of former Vice President Adlai Stevenson I and Governor Joseph Fifer. Franklin Park, the centerpiece of the district, was the starting point for partisan torchlight parades in the late nineteenth century. The park, . . . — — Map (db m156963) HM
Family Patriarch
Asahel Gridley
04/21/1810 - 01/20/1881
Banker, lawyer, politician, merchant, and first millionaire in McLean County.
The town of Gridley is named for him.
Gridley was once sued for slander and hired Abraham Lincoln . . . — — Map (db m160311) HM
Wife, mother, and registered nurse.
A driving force behind the merging of the Bloomington City Cemetery and Bloomington Cemetery.
It was with great dedication that she served Evergreen Memorial Cemetery first as an advocate then as a . . . — — Map (db m160445) HM
This was the home of Adlai E. Stevenson I, Vice-President of the United States, 1893-1897. Stevenson was born in Kentucky in 1835 and came to Bloomington in 1852. He attended Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington and Centre College in . . . — — Map (db m55614) HM
This was the home of Joseph W. Fifer, Republican Governor of Illinois, 1889-1893. Fifer was born in Virginia in 1840 and came to Illinois in 1857. During the Civil War he served in the 33rd Illinois Infantry Regiment. He graduated from Illinois . . . — — Map (db m55615) HM
"I am now free to make an engagement for the road; and if you think fit you may 'count me in,'" wrote Lincoln to Illinois Central Railroad attorney Mason Brayman in October 1853. In 1851, the Illinois Central Railroad charter had . . . — — Map (db m57561) HM
This is the site of the home of Judge Scott who was a member of the Illinois Supreme Court from 1870 to 1888, and a leading philanthropist of McLean County.
Judge Scott was also one of the founders and the first President of the McLean County . . . — — Map (db m156964) HM
John served as judge to the 8th Judicial Circuit in Illinois 1862-1870
Elected to the Illinois Supreme Court 1870-1888
One of the founders of the McLean County Historical Society in 1892
John considered Sarah his equal and life . . . — — Map (db m160306) HM
(left plaque:)
On the right is a reproduction of a plaque attached to the original Lincoln Oak Tree. Under that oak, it is said Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas gave speeches between 1855 and 1860. The original oak died and was cut . . . — — Map (db m156965) HM
“A rustic on his first visit to the circus” is how John W. Baddeley, an English immigrant farmer described Abraham Lincoln on his first visit to the McLean County Courthouse as a young attorney in the summer of 1837. Lincoln was wearing . . . — — Map (db m12362) HM
"His love of wealth was very weak....he said he had no capacity whatever for speculation and never attempted it." So said attorney friend Joseph Gillespie who once asked Lincoln how much land he owned and why he had never speculated in . . . — — Map (db m57559) HM
(Plaque 1) Major's Hall Erected 1852 by William Trabue Major Razed 1959(Plaque 2) Illinois Republican Party born in Major's Hall I have supposed myself since the organization of the Republican Party at Bloomington, in May 1856, bound as a party man . . . — — Map (db m57459) HM
Five generations of the McCormick family are buried here in the Big Circle.
Family Patriarch
Henry W. McCormick, Ph. D.
Irish immigrant, farm laborer, teacher, college professor.
For his contribution to the university, McCormick Gym, at . . . — — Map (db m160456) HM
In 1908, the park board established racially segregated beaches and bathing facilities at Miller Park. Whites had exclusive use of the lake's larger beach and cleaner waters, while the "colored" beach was located in the park's smaller lagoon - a . . . — — Map (db m156962) HM
A National Register of Historic Places SiteHere, in the 1840s attorneys of the old Eighth Judicial Circuit would gather. In the upper rooms Abraham Lincoln, David Davis, Asahel Gridley and others forged their ideals which fifteen years later were . . . — — Map (db m57453) HM
"...If they believe...Vandeventer pointed the gun at Swartz and advanced upon him, merely to intimidate Swartz.... so that he could get to kill the dog, and with no intention of him, or otherwise hurting him with the gun, that was no assault . . . — — Map (db m57454) HM
The frame house (left) that once stood on the site of this Victorian mansion was the home of Abraham Lincolns trusted friend, legal associate, and political manager, David Davis (1815-1886). The two-story structure closely resembled Lincolns . . . — — Map (db m12263) HM
On May 31, 1948, a group of citizens gathered at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery's Civil War Veteran's enclosure to honor those who had given to our great nation through their military service. During the ceremony, a WWII trainer plane flown by James A. . . . — — Map (db m160452) HM
Illinois Route 66 was dangerous. Curves, crossroads, and bridge abutments doomed many speeding motorists, giving rise to the nickname, "Bloody 66." After World War II, curves were straightened, towns bypassed, and four lanes built to improve . . . — — Map (db m57555) HM
The American Veterans Traveling Tribute Vietnam Wall was brought to this site in August of 2016. It was through the hard work and dedication of many volunteers that made this event possible. The black granite monument to commemorate the Honor, . . . — — Map (db m160455) HM WM
The home of Julia Green Scott, (Mrs. Matthew T. Scott) seventh President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution 1909–1913
Later home of her daughter, Julia & son-in-law, Carl Vrooman — — Map (db m57838) HM
"I look upon that enactment not as a 'law,' but as 'violence' from the beginning. It was conceived in violence, passed in violence, is maintained in violence, and is being executed in violence. I say it was 'conceived' in violence, because . . . — — Map (db m57456) HM
Horace Greeley's New York Tribune reported on the Bloomington convention for its national readership: "It was most emphatically a convention of the people, where all classes, opinions and shades of belief were represented---but all inspired . . . — — Map (db m57458) HM
"Why if that one is named Democrat, I will name this one Whig," Lincoln said to John Ewing the proprietor. Such was Lincoln's affection for the family of John Ewing, who ran the hotel in the 1840's. John had nicknamed one of his sons . . . — — Map (db m57550) HM
"Herewith is a little sketch...there is not much of it...I suppose, that there is not much of me." Lincoln thus fulfilled Jesse Fell's 1858 request for an autobiography. Catching Lincoln as he emerged from the courthouse, Fell invited . . . — — Map (db m57553) HM
"While I am writing speakers are addressing the people from the portico of the Pike House." Thus wrote the correspondent of the Chicago Democrat Press on the morning of May 29, 1856. The Anti-Nebraska Convention was scheduled to . . . — — Map (db m57556) HM
The Rounds Block was built in 1857 by brickmaker S.D. Rounds. Rudolph Richter who was employed by Rounds, is believed to be the architect for the building. Richter was a trained architect who had immigrated to America from Prussia.The Rounds Block . . . — — Map (db m57552) HM
"I am in a little trouble here---I am trying to get a decree for our 'Billy the Barber' for the conveyance of certain town lots sold to him by Allin Gridley and Prickett...." Lincoln explained that "Billy will blame me, if I do not . . . — — Map (db m57558) HM
Matthew T. Scott made his fortune on the Grand Prairie in the 19th century by developing thousands of acres of farmland. He founded the town of Chenoa in 1855 as a center for his business activities. Although Scott bought and sold over 45,000 acres . . . — — Map (db m160064) HM
On a regular mail flight
November 3, 1926, Charles
A. Lindbergh parachuted
near Covell, Illinois. His plane
landed on the Charles Thompson
farm, 500 south of this marker. — — Map (db m156941) HM
By the late 1700s, the Kickapoo people had established a major settlement here, close to fertile fields, abundant game and timber, and important trade routes. Opposed to American expansion, these Native Americans allied with the British during the . . . — — Map (db m157154) HM
This park is the location of the major village of the Kickapoo Indians in central Illinois. The French first recorded a well established Kickapoo presence here in 1752. The 1818 surveyor's map for the new state of Illinois showed the grand village . . . — — Map (db m157173) HM
From the early 1700s until 1832 this site was occupied by several thousand Kickapoo. This park is dedicated to those ancestors who lived and died here, a great Nation that once called this place home
As a people who honor their elders and . . . — — Map (db m157174) HM
The first settlement in this area in 1822 was called Keg Grove. By the time a post office was established in 1829 the settlement was known as Blooming Grove. McLean County was organized the following year and Bloomington, which was laid out in 1831 . . . — — Map (db m157176) HM
The pioneer, settled and erected
His log cabin upon this spot 1824
He set an example to his posterity
For better agriculture
Isaac Funk, 1797-1865
Cassandra Sharp, 1801-1865
George W. Funk 1827-1911
Adam Funk 1828-1847 . . . — — Map (db m157179) HM
In 1926, construction began on a 2,448-mile highway from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. Route 66 reflected the increased use of motorized vehicles. The road, which cut diagonally across Illinois, passed through Lexington. Sleek restaurants, . . . — — Map (db m157028) HM
The John Patton Cabin, originally situated 3½ miles southeast of this site, is a structure intimately linked with the relations of whites and Indians on the Illinois frontier. Built with the assistance of Kickapoo Indians from a nearby village, . . . — — Map (db m160059) HM
Illinois' oldest truck stop, the Dixie Trucker's Home offered Southern hospitality for weary Route 66 travelers. J.P. Walters and his son-in-law John Geske opened the Dixie in 1928 in the corner of a mechanic's garage. Route 66's first truckers . . . — — Map (db m156953) HM
The town of Normal was created at the junction of the Illinois Central and the Chicago and Alton Railroads. The Camelback Bridge is the last surviving structure in Normal associated with the railroad. Its location was chosen because here the . . . — — Map (db m58105) HM
The Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School (ISSCS) opened in 1865 as the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home. Dedicated in 1869, it provided a home for children of Civil War veterans who had been killed and wounded. In 1899, the state . . . — — Map (db m160048) HM
(front:)
Route 66, the Mother Road, is an American icon that symbolizes romance and freedom of the open road. Born in 1926, Route 66 was one of the first numbered U.S. highways, journeying 2,500 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. Today, . . . — — Map (db m158093) HM
You are standing on the pavement of the original Route 66 that was commissioned in 1926. The width of the original hard road was only 16' wide and constructed from Portland cement. The road immediately in front of you is the upgraded Route 66 known . . . — — Map (db m157604) HM
The Towanda, Il. Route 66 Parkway stretches 1 mile in front of you and 2.5 miles behind you. You are standing on the 1954 alignment of Route 66. The original 1926 two lane Route 66 is behind you and to the right and just up this road and to the . . . — — Map (db m157605) HM
Ahead of you is Dead Man's Curve, the site of many disastrous accidents from the late 1920s through the 1950s. This curve was part of the original Route 66 that was constructed around Towanda in 1927. Behind you to the east approximatley 1/4 mile, . . . — — Map (db m157594) HM
Your experience of this portion of Historic Route 66 is eight tenths of one mile of the 2448 miles stretching from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. As the primary road connecting Chicago to the west coast, Route 66 was called the Main . . . — — Map (db m157589) HM
Directly ahead lay the remnants of Henderson's Dairy, which was closed in 1942 due to a calling to war. Upon Jerry Henderson's return home from World War II in 1945, the Standard Service Station was built and opened. It was a small, family owned . . . — — Map (db m157603) HM
Ahead of you is the former location of the Delco Truck Stop, a historic landmark opened in 1952. Three years later, the name changed to Pure Oil Truck Stop with gasoline selling at 17.9 cents per gallon. Pure Oil also featured a restaurant that . . . — — Map (db m157602) HM
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