Welcome to Lincoln and Logan County, Illinois! We are a friendly community in the heart of Illinois with a rich history associated with Abraham Lincoln and Route 66. We have fertile farmland and a strong work ethic, progressive schools, active civic groups, and quality healthcare.

Come for a visit and enjoy our simple pleasures: apple and pumpkin farms, farmer's markets and flea markets, antique and craft shops, fairs and festivals. Tour our courthouses, museums, and Abe Lincoln sites; take in a ballgame or a round of golf; get your kicks on old Route 66. Come for a lifetime and delight in the many benefits of life in a smaller community. Enjoy our four distinct seasons, our brick streets and historic homes, our city and state parks. Participate in an active civic life.

• We're a great place to work or live. Bring your skills to one of our existing businesses or industries. Start your own home-based business. Or, reside here and commute to a job in one of our nearby metropolitan communities.
• We're a great place to raise a family. We have strong community recreation programs, bicycle-friendly streets, and great schools with caring teachers. Our children enjoy a healthy sports competition with neighboring communities.
• We're a great place to retire. Many former residents return from larger cities to retire here. We have challenging golf courses, senior centers, retirement villages and apartments, quality local healthcare.
• We're a great place to locate a business. Our central location provides easy access to interstate highways and passenger and freight rail service. We have sites for industrial or commercial development and warehouse, retail, and office space for rent. Our Enterprise Zone and revolving loan programs offer incentives for business development.

Consider Lincoln and Logan County. We're sure you'll enjoy it as much as we do.

Sincerely,

Bobbi Abbott

Executive Director
Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce

YOUR LOGAN COUNTY INFORMATION SOURCE

Whether you're just visiting, moving here, or starting or expanding a business, there's a center for business & visitor information about Lincoln and Logan County, Illinois. All working together in one office, our organizations can answer your questions.

Lincoln / Logan County Chamber of Commerce - The voice of the business community. Pro-active committees. City maps & community fact books, phone & business directories, community information for newcomers, Art & Balloon Festival information & souvenirs. 217-735-2385, fax 217-735-9205, chamber@lincolnillinois.com

Logan County Economic Development Council - Community profiles, labor force, market & demographic statistics; available buildings & sites; assistance on business startup, financing, manufacturing technology and workforce training programs. 217-732-8739, fax 217-735-9205, loganedc@lincolnillinois.com

Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County - Area & state calendars of events, sites & parks brochures, county motel directory, state highway maps, and county history. Call for group tours. 217-732-8687, fax 217-732-6293, tourism@abelink.com

Main Street Lincoln - Downtown Lincoln's historic preservation and retail development organization. 217-732-2929, mainstreet@abelink.com

Office hours

8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Central time

Monday through Friday

Internet: www.lincolnillinois.com

Mail: 303 S. Kickapoo Street Lincoln, IL 62656

Lincoln and Logan County share two slices of Americana. Abraham Lincoln rode his court circuit through Logan County, owned property in the county, and formally christened the only town named for him before he was president, the City of Lincoln. The city and county also share what may be the longest remaining segment of historic Route 66, the nation's Main Street during the golden age of the automobile when Americans explored America in the family car.

Lincoln said at the christening of the town: Anything named Lincoln never amounted to much. Time has proven him wrong. Lincoln has amounted to a great deal. It has developed a solid base of business and industry, becoming the county's economic focal point.

The city is a delightful place to live. You'll find a wide range of affordable and comfortable homes including modern executive styles, well-kept turn-of-the-century and early 20th century homes, and the ranch models popular during the years following World War II. The small towns of Logan County share these same housing attributes.

The schools of Lincoln and Logan County challenge students to succeed, providing strong academic and career-oriented programs. Three colleges in Lincoln add measurably to the county's education opportunities and its cultural attainment.

Residents of the county share a love of community and direct their efforts toward community betterment. Lincoln is Logan County's shopping center with a busy downtown and a commercial artery lined with shopping centers, restaurants, and motels. However, visitors still love to browse the small shops that line the main streets of the towns and villages of Logan County.

Residents of Lincoln and the county's smaller communities enjoy their well-equipped parks and other recreation facilities. Healthcare is readily available from local physicians and dentists, a hospital, county health department, and a 36 foot mobile health unit that travels throughout the county.

Abe Lincoln and vacationers on old Route 66 walked here. It's still a nice place for a walk.

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Civilization came to the area now called Logan County at a place called Elkhart Hill. Rising high above the generally flat prairie terrain, the glacial moraine had long been an Indian landmark that helped guide their journeys.

In 1819, James Latham, his son Richard, and Ebenezer Briggs, a friend, arrived in the area and built a cabin on the northwest slope of Elkhart Hill. Other settlers soon followed clearing forested land for farms. These pioneers from Kentucky and Tennessee avoided the prairie land, believing it was not fertile enough for farming. Besides, the plows of the day were unable to cut through the tough prairie sod.

By 1832, the area had sufficient settlers to establish a town and Middletown became the first organized community in Logan County. Later, in 1835, Russell Post came to the area determined to make his wealth by establishing a town. He laid out Postville, built a courthouse in the center of the town square, and built a hotel. Although the Postville Courthouse was on Abraham Lincoln's circuit and served as the site for religious revivals, the business Post hoped would make him rich never came.

Instead, Jabez Capps came to the area and created a town called Mount Pulaski which was named for General Casimir Pulaski, the Revolutionary War hero. By 1845, the population of Mount Pulaski had surpassed that of Postville. It had 300 residents and a flourishing business center. Although Postville was the county seat when Logan County was created in 1839, Mount Pulaski was awarded that honor in 1847. Eventually, Postville was absorbed by a growing neighbor, Lincoln.

Three developers -John Dean Gillett of Elkhart, Virgil Hickox of Springfield, and Robert Latham of Elkhart -hired Abraham Lincoln as their lawyer while they sought to establish a town halfway between Springfield and Bloomington, along the right of way for a new railroad. In 1853, the three named the town for their lawyer. He was also instrumental in having the county seat moved from Mount Pulaski to Lincoln, despite construction of a beautiful courthouse in the Mount Pulaski town square. Lincoln, himself, christened the town using the juice of a ripe watermelon. Atlanta, in the northeastern part of the county, was organized at the same time as Lincoln. The prairie was now prime farm land, thanks to improved plows and strong horses. The railroad added a dimension needed to bring agriculture into its own as an economic power. The railroad also brought more people to the area,particularly German and Irish immigrants. The Irish worked on building railroads and Germans worked the coal mines and the farms.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Lincoln had become the economic center of Logan County. Busy stores lined the town square. An impressive new Courthouse (built in 1905) commanded the square.

Today, the courthouse is still the dominant building on the square. Some of the shops on the square are now the offices of lawyers and other professions, but the downtown commercial area has reached beyond the square to encompass more than 100 stores. Additional commerce has positioned itself close to the interstate highway on Lincoln's west side, firmly establishing the community as the economic heart of Logan County and one of its chief tourist attractions.

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Logan County stands at a special place in Illinois. Not only is it Illinois' geographic center, but it is also centered among five metropolitan areas. That fact, alone, makes our location special. Add local access to two interstate highways (I-55 and I-155) and three (I-72, I-74, and I-39) an easy distance away, and you have an ideal location for distribution throughout Illinois and the Midwest as well as a convenient place to live.

From Lincoln, the county seat and center of the county, Springfield is 30 miles southwest, Decatur 34 miles southeast, Bloomington/Normal 28 miles northeast, Peoria 40 miles northwest, and Champaign/Urbana 60 miles west While our communities offer a relaxed small-town lifestyle, over a million people live within 60 miles.

Saint Louis, MO. is 125 miles southwest, Chicago 170 miles northeast, and Indianapolis, In. 185 miles east. Kansas City, MO., Louisville, KY., and Memphis and Nashville, TN. are all within 400 miles. Besides the two interstate highways, three state highways (Routes 10, 54, and 121) and US Route 136 crisscross Logan County. What is probably Illinois' longest remaining segment of historic US Route 66 also passes through Logan County and the communities of Atlanta, Lawndale, Lincoln, Broadwell, and Elkhart.

Air travelers can find passenger service nearby at Springfield's Capitol Airport, Bloomington's Municipal Airport, and the Greater Peoria Airport. Logan County Airport, on the edge of Lincoln, is used as a base for private and small corporate aircraft. It has a 4,225-foot paved and lighted runway and a 3,000-foot grass runway. Logan County is served by two railroads, Union Pacific with one line and Illinois Central, with two intersecting lines. Illinois Central's merger with Canadian National will provide central Illinois a single continental system serving seaports on three coasts. Six Amtrak trains per day provide service from Lincoln to St. Louis and Chicago.

Three motor freight firms have terminals in Logan County and a number of other transportation companies also offer daily service.

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