Lincoln's Mahomet / Mahomet's Lincoln - Mahomet, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 40° 11.218 W 088° 23.073
16T E 382136 N 4449427
Two sided marker, part of the Looking for Lincoln series, explaining Lincoln's involvement in the Mahomet,IL community.
Waymark Code: WM9HH7
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 08/23/2010
Views: 5
From the Looking for Lincoln site at (
visit link)
"Once known as Middletown, this Champaign County community, settled in 1832, was situated midway between both Danville and Bloomington and Danville and Decatur, county seats along the 8th Judicial Circuit. As Middletown grew, so did inns and taverns, and Lincoln is thought to have stayed in at least two of them. The Nine Gal Tavern, colorfully named for the nine red-headed daughters of its proprietor, was actually known as the Ohio Tavern when Lincoln purportedly stopped there. Thomas Davidson ran the Ohio Tavern from 1853 to 1856. Legend has it that when Abraham Lincoln passed through on his way from Decatur to Urbana, he liked to bounce little Jimmy Davidson on his knee. Likewise the Bloomfield or Rea Tavern, operated by Sarah Rea, carried with it a Lincoln story. The inn had two floors, and when Lincoln went up to sleep in the second story, he had to duck his head to pass through the narrow overhead clearance on the staircase, the ceiling was so low. A stroll down Main Street offers residents and visitors alike evidence of the Mahomet Chamber’s motto “Preserving the Past/Building the Future.” "
From the very excellent entry in the IL Historic Marker database
(
visit link)
Inscription example from Lincoln’s Mahomet side [Upper Section]:
"The village of Middletown-Mahomet was platted by Daniel Porter in 1832 on the west bank of the Sangamon River near its headwaters. The main street of the village was actually a new road, made necessary by the location of the county seat at Urbana. The state road was moved to the south of the old Fort Clark Road. This change made Newcom’s Ford (on the northeast) obsolete and, thus, created a new ford near where the old railroad bridge stands today. The main street of Mahomet was once part of the Bloomington Road, reflected in its diagonal orientation, which would have made it align with the river and its ford."
There is much more to this marker - be sure to read both sides! The marker is on the roadside, up on a rise that you might pass the first time you drive by.
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