Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois, includes the only house that Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, ever owned. The site also includes a four-block area of restored houses surrounding Lincoln’s home. Lincoln served as president from March 4, 1861, until he died on April 15, 1865, after an assassin shot him.
Lincoln bought the Springfield house in 1844, and he and his family lived there until he began his presidency. When he purchased the house, it stood 11/2 stories high and contained 6 rooms. By 1856, it had been expanded to 2 stories and 11 rooms. Three of Lincoln’s four children were born during this time.
After Lincoln was elected president in 1860, he decided to keep the house as a rental property. The Lincoln family owned the home until 1887, when Lincoln’s son Robert donated it to the state of Illinois. Robert Lincoln gave the house to the state on the condition that people could visit it at no charge. The state transferred ownership to the National Park Service in 1972. In 1987 and 1988, the Park Service carried out a complete restoration of the Lincoln Home. The project returned the home to the way it looked in 1860.
During the next several years after acquiring the Lincoln Home, the Park Service also acquired a four-block area surrounding the home. Restoration work continues on many of the houses in this area.
Visitors can take a free guided tour of the Lincoln Home and stroll through streets that Lincoln walked for 17 years. The Visitor Center presents audio-visual programs, and some of the neighborhood houses have exhibits that describe details of the life of the Lincolns and their neighbors during the time the Lincoln family lived there.
