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Displays at the museum include
antique surveying instruments, historical survey plats and
information on early land surveying.
Prints by the nationally recognized Abraham Lincoln artist Lloyd
Ostendorf are on display. The drawings capture Lincoln's surveying
career.
The Museum of Surveying display was recently expanded by a
generous donation from the Nancy Baber McNeill Living Trust. Mrs.
McNeill was the daughter of Adin Baber, an Illinois surveyor who
died in 1974.
The donated equipment received from this outstanding collection
includes a Vernier transit compass manufactured by William J. Young
(1800-1870) of Philadelphia, Pa.; a four-vane compass manufactured
by Aloe-Hernstein & Co (1860-1940) of St. Louis, Mo.; an 18-inch wye
level, manufacturer and date unknown; a surveyor's cross transit
manufactured by A.S. Aloe Co (1860-1940) St. Louis, Mo.; a 33-foot,
two-pole Gunter's chain from the 1830s; and a set of 11 18-inch
marking pins from the 1830s.
Adin Baber an author as well as a surveyor. He wrote the only
book about Abraham Lincoln's surveying career as deputy surveyor for
Sangamon County from 1834 to 1837. The book includes plats of
surveys, maps of towns and is illustrated with drawings by Lloyd
Ostendorf. During that early period, Sangamon County included what
are now Menard and parts of Logan, Christian and Mason counties.
Lincoln laid out Petersburg in February 1836.
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 Baber's "A. Lincoln With Compass and Chain" was originally
published in 1968. With permission, the book was reprinted and
annotated by Robert E. Church in 2002. The reprinted book is
available for purchase at the Museum of Surveying in Petersburg.
The museum is housed in the historic Frackelton Bank Building,
located at 125 S. Seventh St. The Menard County Historical Society
owns the building and is also located there, with the Petersburg
Chamber of Commerce.
Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. During the
remainder of August the museum has additional hours Monday through
Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. On Sept. 27, special hours will be from 11
a.m. to 4 p.m.
There is no charge to view the outstanding collections.
[Jackie Horn, Menard County Historical Society secretary; edited
by LDN]
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