Origins of Calumet City and Abraham Lincoln Funeral Train marker - Calumet City, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 37.318 W 087° 31.517
16T E 456240 N 4607938
A marker denoting significant events that gave rise to the Calumet City, including the nearby passing of Lincoln's funeral train upon returning to Illinois.
Waymark Code: WM1141N
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 08/12/2019
Views: 4
Marker Text:
"Two blocks north of this corner the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln entered Illinois at approximately 10:15 a.m. on May 1, 1865, on the Michigan Central Railroad right-of-way. In the autumn of 1869, the founders of the state slaughter house walked east along the railroad tracks and they searched for a suitable site to establish their business. The property they chose was north of the tracks on the east side of the Illinois-Indiana border. The company shipped its first load of dressed, refrigerated beef out of Hammond in October. Within a few years, some of the land south of the tracks on the Illinois side, once owned by Stephen A. Douglas, an attorney for the Michigan Central and a political colleague of Lincoln, became home to many employees of the packing plant. By 1891, the plant was known as G.H. Hammond and Company and employed approximately 1,000 men and women, many of whom lived in the neighborhoods on or just off State Street, including Freitag's Subdivision, which had been created in 1879 in the vicinity of Lincoln Avenue and State Street. Freitag's Subdivision and the residential neighborhoods on Douglas, Ingraham, Forsythe, and Plummer Avenues and the commercial establishments along State Street were incorporated as the village of West Hammond, Illinois, in 1893 and became know as Calumet City in 1924."
The marker was dedicated on 05/31/2009 by The Calumet City Historical Society, Calumet City, and the Illinois State Historical Society
The town's historical society not too far away has a poster display on the marker and Lincoln's funeral train (included in gallery.)
Head NW from the marker up State Street to what is left (which is nothing) of the Sin Strip that characterized Calumet City from the 20's through the mid 90's.
Location Type: Historic Marker
Property Type: Public
Date of Event: May 1, 1865
Location Notes:
NW corner of State Street and State Line Avenue
URL for Additional Information: [Web Link]
|
Visit Instructions:
Enjoy your visit, tell your story and post a picture.
Recent Visits/Logs:
| There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|
|