Lincoln's Springfield Home: The Man Before the Monument

A three-year-old boy shoves his father's legal papers into a mouse hole in the kitchen wall. Upstairs, the father works by candlelight long after everyone else is asleep. In the sitting room, he wrestles with his sons while the dog barks and cats roam freely. This isn't a scene from just any American home—it's the Lincoln house in Springfield, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln lived for 17 years before moving to the White House.

Susan Hake, curator of Lincoln Home National Historic Site, guides us through the actual house where Lincoln practiced law, lost two Senate races, won the presidency, and raised his young family. The home still stands on its original 1839 foundations, containing over 100 artifacts including Mary Lincoln's dessert plates, the boys' marbles found under the outhouse, and documents discovered in the walls during a 1988 restoration. This is Lincoln before the monument—the husband, father, and workaholic lawyer who lived a solidly middle-class life in a neighborhood that now comprises one of the smallest holdings in the National Park Service.

The walls of this Springfield home witnessed the making of America's 16th president, but they also reveal something more human: a messy family life with barking dogs, wrestling matches, and a wife who loved to bake. After Lincoln's assassination, Mary Todd Lincoln never returned—the memories were too painful. The house remained frozen in its 1860 appearance, preserving the domestic world that shaped the man who would save the Union.

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In This Episode:

• How a young Robert Lincoln stuffed his father's legal papers into a mouse hole
• The domestic artifacts that survived: Mary's cake plate, wrestling marbles, stolen horse documents
• Why Lincoln's Springfield house was solidly middle-class, not mansion-sized
• What the 1988 restoration uncovered in the walls and floors
• The family dog Fido and the chaos of Lincoln's everyday home life
• Why Mary Todd Lincoln refused to return after the assassination

Key Figures:

• Susan Hake - Curator, Lincoln Home National Historic Site
• Abraham Lincoln - Illinois lawyer and politician (lived here 1842-1861)
• Mary Todd Lincoln - Wife who loved desserts and entertaining
• Robert Lincoln - Eldest son who hid dad's papers
• Reverend Charles Dresser - Original homeowner who married the Lincolns

Timeline:

• 1839: House originally built by Reverend Dresser
• 1842: Lincoln marries Mary Todd; Dresser performs ceremony
• 1843: Lincolns purchase the home
• 1850s: Major renovations add full second story
• 1860: Lincoln wins presidency; house appearance preserved to this era
• 1861: Family moves to White House, keeps home as rental
• 1865: Lincoln assassinated; Mary refuses to return
• 1887: House donated to state of Illinois
• 1970s: Transferred to National Park Service
• 1988: Major restoration uncovers hidden artifacts

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