Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibit to be unveiled Monday in Atlanta

[December 11, 2008]  Atlanta, which has a significant link to Abraham Lincoln, will unveil a new interpretive Abraham Lincoln wayside exhibit on Monday at 2 p.m. The Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce will conduct a ribbon-cutting for the event, and the public is invited.

The wayside exhibit helps showcase Abraham Lincoln's journey from Illinois to the presidency. The story of the Atlanta chapter of the Wide Awakes, one of the first political campaign organizations, is documented in history. They led a campaign rally, carrying banners with their slogan, "A Nation's Choice," to show their support of Lincoln running for president.

The city of Atlanta will place its Looking for Lincoln exhibit at 104 SW Arch St., which is also part of Old Route 66. The location is near the Palms Grill, a historic building that has recently been renovated and is opening as a museum.

The Atlanta exhibit is one of four new Looking for Lincoln interpretive panels to be installed and dedicated in Logan County by the end of the year. One was dedicated in Elkhart in November. The others will be unveiled at separate events in Mount Pulaski and Middletown.

The new exhibits will accompany the other Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits in the county -- one at the christening site for the city of Lincoln and one at the Mount Pulaski Township Historical Society Museum.

The Atlanta wayside exhibit was made possible through special funding provided by the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, which will preside over the recently designated Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area in Illinois, a federal designation that will eventually deliver up to $15 million into the central Illinois areas in which Lincoln lived, worked and traveled. The Looking for Lincoln executive director, Hal Smith, is expected at the event Monday.

For more details, call 217-732-8687.

[Text from file received from Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County]