Old Illinois State Capitol (Springfield, Illinois)

 museum, capitol building, courthouse, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1840s construction, historic landmark

Young state legislator and would-be attorney Abraham Lincoln helped champion moving Illinois' State capital from Vandalia to Springfield. This building, constructed from 1837-1840 at a cost of $240,000, is the result.

It was here that Lincoln served his final term as a state lawmaker in 1840-41. It was here, as a lawyer, that he pleaded cases before the state supreme court. It was here, in the Illinois House chamber, that he made his famous "House Divided" speech in June 1858. And it was to the same chamber, in May 1865, after his assassination, that his body was returned from Washington prior to final burial in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery.

From 1876 until 1966, the Old State Capitol was the county courthouse of Sangamon County.