Wayside exhibits tell story of Quincy’s Lincoln connections

October 2, 2008

Edward Husar

As Quincy makes plans to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate with a host of activities Oct. 11-13, efforts are also under way to honor the city’s ties to Abraham Lincoln in a more permanent fashion.

A series of 18 wayside exhibits are being installed around the downtown area to provide lasting educational insight into Quincy’s connections with the nation’s 16^th president.

Three of the storyboards already have been erected. Two are in Washington Park near the site where Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas held the sixth of their seven Illinois debates in 1858. Those two wayside exhibits are in the newly renovated Sesquicentennial Plaza, which will be dedicated at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 11.

The third storyboard has been placed at the northwest corner of Ninth and Hampshire. It describes some of the things Lincoln did after the debate, including have a couple of beers at Saloon No. 9, get a shave at a local barbershop and submit to an interview with an Ohio newspaper reporter who later started a campaign to nominate Lincoln as a presidential candidate.

This third storyboard also describes how an exhausted Lincoln recuperated after the debate by being treated to a folk remedy called a “rum sweat” at the nearby Farmer’s Home Hotel on the southeast corner of Ninth and Hampshire. This storyboard will be dedicated at 11 a.m. Oct. 11.

The remaining 15 storyboards will be erected by next summer. They will tell other stories about Lincoln’s connections to Quincy and provide insight into the economic, political and cultural climate in Quincy during Lincoln’s era.

The storyboards are being installed through the cooperative efforts of Quincy’s Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the state’s Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition. The commission and coalition are sharing in the cost of developing the storyboards. Local sponsors have been secured to help underwrite the local share.

Chuck Scholz, chairman of Quincy’s Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, said the storyboards will be a major educational tool to help illustrate Quincy’s Lincoln connections.

“We think we have a great story to tell, and the waysides do an effective job of explaining how something happened and why it’s significant,” he said. “I think it can be a huge thing for our Central Business District because we will promote it as a walking tour.”

Once all the wayside exhibits are in place and a walking tour is developed, Quincy will be in better position to become a full-fledged member of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, which provides national publicity about Illinois communities with demonstrated ties to Lincoln.

Membership in the coalition is contingent upon a community’s ability to showcase its Lincoln ties in a profound manner, and Quincy is in the process of doing that right now.

“Quincy has made significant improvements to the debate site and expects to have 18 wayside exhibits installed by next summer, which will make Quincy an important anchor in the western loop of the coalition,” said Hal Smith, director of the Springfield-based coalition.

“We look forward to the completion of the walking tour with 18 waysides next spring that should lead to full-fledged coalition membership for Quincy,” Smith said.

Scholz believes the wayside exhibits, and its participation in Looking for Lincoln, will help draw more tourists to Quincy.

“Tourism is the No. 1 business in the world, and historic tourism is the fastest-growing component of the tourism industry. So we ought to be right on the cutting edge of that in Quincy,” he said.