|
Marquee Lights of the Lincoln Theater, est. 1923, Lincoln, Illinois |
|
Web Site created by
Digital Camera Self-Portrait on
Fellows Lake, the Ozarks, North of Springfield, MO, 10-07 |
|
Picture Postcard Image of |
Adapted from the Illinois
|
Main Pier
Remnant
of |
|
Introduction: The Site's Purposes "The past is forever being swept away in the interest of neatness and order. It is unforgivable, or at least I don't intend to forgive it." Lincolnite award-winning Author William Maxwell, Ancestors (1971), p. 244. William Maxwell (1908-2000), a native of Lincoln, Illinois, wrote 11 short stories, 4 novels, and a nonfiction book of family history (Ancestors ) based on his hometown (the first namesake city of Abraham Lincoln). Maxwell was also a fiction editor ofThe New Yorker magazine for forty years (1936-1976), working with such luminaries as Harold Brodkey, John Cheever, Frank O'Connor, John O'Hara, Mavis Gallant, John Updike, and Eudora Welty. Maxwell's 1980 novel, So Long, See You Tomorrow , won the American Book Award and the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. "The creation of a culture at any time and for any society requires its re-creation from the materials of the past. And that act of re-creation, the search for a 'usable past,' as Van Wyck Brooks termed it, ought to be as ongoing and as serious as anything we do." Professor Robert C. Bray, Rediscoveries: Literature and Place in Illinois, p. 11. Mr. Lincoln, Route 66, and Other Highlights of Lincoln, Illinois protests the arbitrary "sweeping away" of history and seeks to advance the noble quest for a "usable past." This Web site is the result of a journey to discover a truly "usable past" for me personally and for others associated with my hometown. Many people have a natural curiosity about the social factors that have shaped their lives, especially their families and their hometowns. My hometown is Lincoln, Illinois; and I have studied its history for insight into how this community influenced my parents' generation, my generation, and me. The last few years have afforded me the opportunity to investigate Lincoln's history more thoroughly than in my younger years. I have learned a great deal, exploring how this community is unique and how it is typical of small Midwestern towns. This information has helped me to probe the "mixed feelings" about Lincoln that I have experienced since adolescence (of course, many others have similar views of their hometowns, large or small). This project has strengthened my view that overall the experience of my formative years in Lincoln (1942-1961) was positive. My family life was good, and at Lincoln Community High School and Lincoln College, I discovered the subjects I have always enjoyed studying and teaching--literature and writing. I remain a "Lincolnite at heart." Thus, I have created this book-length community history Web site as a "distance" public service to inform viewers about the rich heritage and promising future of Lincoln, Illinois. This site aims to strengthen the civic pride of former and current (and future) Lincolnites, to inform all viewers about the first Lincoln namesake town--its past, its present, and its future prospects--, to inspire viewers to become more interested in the cultural history of the Land of Lincoln, and to encourage people to visit this historic central Illinois city (population about 16,000) (heritage tourism). Next, I summarize the historical and cultural distinctions of Lincoln, Illinois--the subject matter of Mr. Lincoln, Route 66, and Other Highlights of Lincoln, Illinois. This Web site typically devotes one or more chapter-length "Web pages" to various topics in an attempt to offer a comprehensive, interesting history. The Introduction (link below) provides a more detailed explanation of the site's content, contributors, intended audiences, organization, and writing style. The most celebrated historical distinction of Lincoln, Illinois, is its association with Abraham Lincoln. In 1853, Abraham Lincoln was the attorney for the railroad whose construction led to the establishment of the town. Abraham Lincoln was also the attorney for the three men who founded Lincoln, Illinois, the seat of Logan County. The attorneys asked Mr. Lincoln for permission to name the new town after him. Legend has it he noted that nothing named Lincoln ever amounted to much, but he agreed to give the town his name. Near the train depot on August 27, 1853, Mr. Lincoln christened this first namesake town with watermelon juice in a public ceremony. Lincoln, Illinois, is thus the first town named after Abraham Lincoln before he became famous. In Lincoln, Illinois, Mr. Lincoln frequently practiced law, occasionally substituted as a judge, owned property, and engaged in politics until his election as the 16th President in 1860. Today Lincoln, Illinois, is home to many historic sites associated with Mr. Lincoln (he disliked the nickname "Abe"). A second major "claim to fame" of Lincoln, Illinois, is its close connection to Route 66, arguably the world's most famous highway. Throughout much of Illinois, Route 66 paralleled the alignment of the railroad whose construction led to Lincoln's founding, and many miles of Route 66 pavement and bridge remnants remain in Lincoln and Logan County. This Web site presents much information, including maps and color photos, about Route 66 in this area. Another distinction of Lincoln, Illinois, is that many successful writers lived there, including Langston Hughes, William Maxwell, Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and Robert Wilson. Maxwell and Wilson based many of their stories on Lincoln, Illinois; and I devote a separate chapter/page to Wilson. The site contains quotations from many of Maxwell's Lincoln-based works, and presently I am developing a chapter/page on Maxwell's portrayal of Lincoln's social classes (to be published late in the spring of 2005). This Web site attempts to interest and inform a wide audience--ranging from students and teachers at all levels to casual viewers. To do so, I develop various topics of historical and cultural significance, supplementing them with rich visual material: published and original photos, maps, and vintage picture postcards. Information in this site derives from more than 100 published sources, including county and city histories, the novels and short stories of award-winning Author William Maxwell, and the work of Illinois Appellate Court Justice James A. Knecht. Also, this Web site includes the recollections of Lincolnites from three generations: family history written by my grandmothers and Uncle Gilbert "Gib" Wilson (1928--2005), oral history from my father, and memoir I have written about growing up in Lincoln. Additionally, more than two dozen alums of Lincoln Community High School (LCHS) have contributed memoir to this project. Most of them graduated from LCHS in the 1950s and 1960s. A few of these alums still live in Lincoln, but many are scattered throughout the US. In 2001, I began to identify LCHS alums from mid-20th century who had email addresses. I wrote them to ask if they would like to reminisce online. Since then, many of these "Lincolnites at heart" have emailed one another stories, comments, and photos relating to their formative years in Lincoln, and they have generously agreed to share that material here. I list these contributors on the Introduction page, and I provide email links for the contributors throughout the site wherever I use their material. You are encouraged to respond to these folks with comments and questions. I am confident that you will find this Web site engaging, and here you will find plenty of useful information to help guide your visit to the namesake town. This information will better enable you to understand and enjoy Lincoln's sites on the National Register of Historic Places and Lincoln's museums, parks, festivals, fairs, and races at the new Lincoln Speedway. A good place to enter this Web site is the Introduction (link below). The Introduction and the navigation panel at the left of all interior pages provide links to online reviews of this Web site in the Lincoln Courier and Lincoln Daily News.com,. The site map page also presents "Lincoln online," a feature article in the Peoria Journal Star (7-5-04).
Note:
If you printed this entire Web site as of 10-2006, you would need 2,500+
sheets of paper (more than five reams). My plan is to complete this project
in 2008, burn copies of this site on CDs, and offer them to libraries,
including the libraries of various colleges and universities in Illinois,
the Public Library of Lincoln, Illinois, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library, the Smithsonian, and the Library of Congress. Thanks to
contributors: they have helped to create a new kind of history--an
unprecedented blend of historical and literary material, collective memoir,
and visuals ranging from maps to picture postcards to published and original
photos.
|
|
More people have visited this Web site than who have ever lived in Lincoln, IL, at any given time.
Email comments, corrections, questions, or suggestions.
(Or, correspond with me at P.O. Box 3127 GSS,
Springfield, MO 65808.) |
||||||||||||||
|
"The Past Is But the Prelude" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
