What’s cool these days about the capital of Illinois isn’t the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
Not that the museum isn’t real good. It is real good, it’s drawing nice crowds, and an informal exit poll (mine) indicated folks are generally delighted with the place.
Here’s the cool part.
You walk through the museum and get a sense of Abraham Lincoln and the events and issues of his time. There are Disney-like effects, strong graphics, plenty of explanatory signage and artifacts ranging from a genuine Lincoln stovepipe hat to a genuine lock of John Wilkes Booth’s hair.
There is, in the museum, a life-size reproduction of the room in Springfield–Representatives Hall, in the Old State Capitol–where Lincoln’s casket rested as 75,000 people filed past to pay their respects on May 3 and 4, 1865.
Then you step outside, cross a couple of streets–and there it is.
“This,” says guide Kerry Hahn, the two of us standing in Representatives Hall, in the Old State Capitol, “is the room.”
It’s almost like seeing a statue of Lincoln, crossing the street and having a chat with the real Lincoln.
Well, OK, that’s a stretch–but people have been poking their heads into that old building for generations and have never fully grasped what it represents.
That’s changed now. And so, at least a little, has Springfield.
Suddenly Springfield is no longer just bureaucrats and lobbyists and a dead downtown and a checklist of soul-less Lincoln sites. No longer do visitors enter the Old State Capitol, listen to a well-meant lecture, look around, shrug, then head for the Lincoln gravesite to rub the guy’s bronze nose.
The museum has given everything Lincoln–and, for that matter, everything Stephen Doug-as, a major player and rival during Lincoln’s time here–a context it never had. It also seems to have given the city a major burst of positive energy.
Tim Townsend is a National Park Service historian assigned to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.
“When I first got here [in 1990], there was still a department store downtown,” he says, “but there were a lot of vacancies, a lot of empty buildings.
“I think it was in the early ’90s when things started to turn around, but there has, more recently, been a real push. It’s certainly coming around.”
Downtown Springfield sparkles. It still isn’t a bustling commercial center–as with many other American cities its size, the heavy shopping and movie houses headed mallward long ago, likely never to return–but there’s plenty of fresh paint.
As tourists walk downtown streets in the evening in search of food, drink and a little live entertainment–and find all of it–the “for lease” signs on storefronts seem less futile than they did even months ago.
“In the past,” says Chet Rhodes, staff development supervisor at the Old State Capitol, “we’d have the `school group season’ through about the first week of June, and then we’d have a little slack period after school and before vacations start.
“This year, we’ve noticed we haven’t had that at all.”
The personal Lincoln
Obviously, the core sights haven’t changed.
Lincoln is still in Oak Ridge Cemetery. The Lincoln Home is still where it’s been since the family moved into the place in 1844, and it’s here, even before the new museum did what it does, that his humanity seeped into the consciousness.
“Lincoln,” says Townsend, “isn’t that big guy sitting in that chair at the Lincoln Memorial, larger than life, a kind of unattainable, unreachable person. He was a husband, a father and a neighbor, just a regular guy who was propelled through his own ambitions and his own interests and desires into this high office.”
The Lincoln family account ledger is still on display at a downtown bank (though it’s doubtful his checks ever said “Bank One”). Drive out 20 miles to Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site and, as they have since the 1930s, the reproduced log houses and log taverns continue to create a setting for costumed wheelwrights and baa-ing sheep.
And I’m still a sucker for the Lincoln Depot. Here in February 1861, the newly elected president said an emotional (and extemporaneous) farewell to the people of Springfield that, even now, has lost none of its power.
An excerpt:
“To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return . . . “
There is, of course, more to see in Springfield than the Lincoln sights.
The “new” State Capitol (which hosted its first legislative session in 1877) is open for tours. A reasonable walk from the Capitol, the Dana-Thomas House–with its 450 pieces of art glass and classic Prairie style elements–will delight anyone with an appreciation for Frank Lloyd Wright.
There are war memorials and museums, and the Springfield Municipal Opera (“the Muni”) continues to present its Broadway shows. Chili and horseshoes aside (but still around), Springfield is becoming a decent restaurant town, and if the early popularity of the Lincoln Museum holds, expect more.
Lincoln. It still comes back to Lincoln.
There’s a marvelous new statue-grouping on the square between the Old State Capitol and the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office (another should-see).
It’s the future president (“just a regular guy”), Mary Todd Lincoln straightening his lapels, and young Tad waving to a pal, and it couldn’t be sweeter.
All around downtown, informational signs labeled “Looking for Lincoln”–these, too, are new–offer fascinating bits of real life: site of the hotel where the Lincolns lived after they were married; site of the shop where Lincoln had his hair cut by the Haitian-born barber who became a leading citizen of Springfield; more.
There are other informational signs, reminders of the 1908 race riot that shocked the nation–this was the Great Emancipator’s Springfield!–and led to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“Fellow citizens,” Abraham Lincoln had told Congress in 1862, “we cannot escape history.”
Springfield cannot escape Abraham Lincoln.
There are flaws in the new Lincoln Presidential Museum. There are bottlenecks as visitors move through the exhibits at different speeds. An “Ask Mr. Lincoln” interactive display asks people to wait too long for Mr. Lincoln to answer.
There has been some tampering with history. One case: When the people of Springfield filed past Lincoln’s casket in Representatives Hall, in the Old State Capitol–the same hall where, in 1858, he had declared “a house divided against itself cannot stand”–the casket was open.
In the museum’s reproduction, it’s closed. Which may be why some idiot woman was chattering on her cell phone as she waddled past it, but never mind that now.
“They basically said, `We made that choice,’ ” says Kerry Hahn, the guide.
But the museum works.
You spend hours tracing this president’s life through his humble childhood, through personal triumph and sadness, through a time of incredible upheaval in a nation not quite certain of itself, through a war unspeakably brutal, to a death made all the more cruel by its timing . . .
. . . and then to step outside and cross a couple of streets . . .
“The coffin would’ve been up there,” says Kerry Hahn. “And they led the people through the gated area on that side, and across the front and back of the platform . . . “
The museum works, because it is here. It could be nowhere else.
And the city has risen to meet it.
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asolomon@tribune.com
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SPRINGFIELD
Population
113,000
Claim to fame
Along with being the capital of Illinois (with old and new Capitols), it’s home to a concentration of Lincoln historic sites, buttressed by the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
Nearby
Old Route 66 remnants and other Lincoln sites, including New Salem (20 miles away) and Beardstown’s courthouse (about 55 miles).
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A WEEKEND IN SPRINGFIELD
GETTING THERE
A straight shot down Interstate Highway 55; closest exit to downtown is 98B. About 200 miles; figure 3 to 3 1/2 hours. A popular option: Amtrak runs three trains most days between Chicago and Springfield; the journey takes 3 1/2 hours, at a round trip fare of $32.
STAYING THERE
The two big downtown hotels, within walking distance of the Lincoln home, library and other points of Lincoln interest, are the Hilton (regular rates from about $135) and the Renaissance ($144). Check both hotels for substantially lower promotional rates. Smaller and OK, a block from the state Capitol but a bit of a hike to the Lincoln stuff: a Quality Inn ($95). Still a hike but a shorter one, the Mansion View Inn and Suites (across from the Governor’s Mansion, near the Dana-Thomas House) is clean and pleasant, if you can handle the freight trains that occasionally pass right behind. Yes, B&Bs exist–and fringe areas are loaded with motels, particularly southeast of downtown at I-55’s Exit 94 (Stevenson Parkway, Dirksen Drive).
DINING THERE
As you would imagine in a city of lawyers, legislators, their staffs and stray journalists, lots of places offer quick lunches and a convivial post-work beverage. Norb Andy’s Tabarin has been offering all that (plus dinners and live music) forever. Lincoln never dined at upscale (but no dress code) Maldaner’s, but, as it opened in 1884, people who knew Lincoln did; sidewalk tables are especially pleasant. Trusted advisers also suggest, in the same price range, Sebastian’s Hideout (hints of Asian, Italian and Dixie) and humbler Cafe Brio (hints of Asian, Italian and, of course, Mexican). A breakfast option for those who want to bypass hotel prices: the Brewhaus, a Washington Street saloon that serves the eggy standards starting at 7 a.m. On the other hand, the breakfast horseshoe at Lindsay’s, in the Renaissance (subbing sausage patties and crisp hash browns), is worth the $9.75 splurge.
IF YOU COULD HAVE ONLY ONE MEAL
Augie’s Front Burner, 2 W. Old State Capitol Plaza; 217-544-6979. Exactly what you don’t expect to find in Springfield: an informal yet elegant (in its way) restaurant with an exciting menu varied enough to please the most persnickety. Try the crispy duckling with apricot reduction, $18.
KID-FRIENDLINESS
Excellent. But especially with younger children, it’s essential for parents to provide some Lincoln context or they’ll just be taking up space and annoying the rest of us. Same with Lincoln’s New Salem, which, without some preparation, becomes a bunch of log houses with a few animals, people in funny clothes and a gift ship selling bamboo backscratchers.
YOU SHOULD KNOW
The new Lincoln Presidential Museum is open daily except Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Admission: $7.50 adults, less for seniors, kids and military. . . . Dates for the Illinois State Fair: Aug. 12-21. . . . To really appreciate the current state Capitol, take the free 20-minute tour (every half hour weekdays, hourly on Saturdays and Sundays). Otherwise, visitors are limited to the main floor and a look up into the dome. . . . Movie trivia: Scenes in “Legally Blonde 2” were filmed in the Capitol’s House chamber. . . . And as long as you’re in the neighborhood: Don’t dismiss the Illinois State Museum, in the Capitol Complex. Natural history, plus surprises. . . . If you arrive by Amtrak and don’t rent a car, key sites are accessible via the Springfield Trolley (day pass with on-off privileges, $10; quick tour, $7), Springfield Mass Transit buses marked “Historic Sites Route” (day pass, $3; or one-trip fare, 75 cents), and, in a pinch, taxis (there are a few). For details, call the visitors bureau (see Information, below). . . . The first Springfield exit (105) of I-55 brings you downtown via Historic Route 66. Not scenic, but there are vestiges if you buy into the “Mother Road” mystique. . . . Favorite revelation on a “Looking for Lincoln” informational sign: Abe played baseball. And he was pretty good. . . . Civil War re-enactors perform drills and ceremonies Tuesday nights at 7 at the Lincoln Tomb. Incidentally, it’s not only OK but mandatory to rub Lincoln’s bronze nose outside the Tomb. . . . You’ll need tickets to see the Lincoln Home, available at the nearby visitor center. They’re timed, to minimize waiting around. . . . Best non-Lincoln site: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Dana-Thomas House. A must for fans of Wright and/or art glass. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. . . . Coming attractions at Springfield’s Muni Opera: “Annie Get Your Gun” and the Disney “Beauty and the Beast.” 217-793-6864.
INFORMATION
Call the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, 800-545-7300; www.visit-springfieldillinois.com.
— Alan Solomon
