abraham lincoln

Entries Tagged as 'abraham lincoln'

Standing Lincoln

August 13th, 2008 · 9 Comments

Standing Lincoln, Lincoln Park, Chicago

After visiting the Chicago History Museum and looking at The Children’s Fountain I came across this bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln in the museum’s east lawn, in Lincoln Park. The statue is called “Standing Lincoln” and was completed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887.

I quite liked the monument and if I lived or worked nearby I might enjoy my lunch in Lincoln’s shadow as these others were doing. In front of the monument were some landscaped gardens that were really pretty to look at. Must be a nice lunch break for nearby workers.

As I continued to walk around the museum, to the north I saw this marble-looking box with a very short fence around it. I was getting tired and hungry so I didn’t go over to see what it was. I thought it was probably something of ComEd’s or some kind of waterworks thing. Who knows. Boring. Reading this Wikipedia entry on Lincoln Park I realized that it’s an old mausoleum. Dang! I wish I would have gone over. Lincoln Park was a cemetery before a park and when they relocated all the graves, the Couch family refused to move. Their tomb stands to this day, see a photo here.

Chicago History Museum

August 12th, 2008 · 4 Comments

Chicago History Museum, Old Town, Chicago

I’ve never been to the Chicago History Museum but I’ve passed by it on Clark and always thought, “I should check that out.” Online I found out that on Mondays admission is free, so I made my first visit yesterday.

I thought the Chicago History Museum was well put together. It’s not gigantic, which is kind of nice. You can see everything there in just and hour or two. If you plan ahead you can download a free audio tour mp3s of the permanent exhibit. I downloaded them, but forgot to put them on my iPod.

The special exhibit right now is Catholic Chicago, which I wasn’t really interested in. The permanent exhibits are all about the history of Chicago and I enjoyed those a lot. I liked the artifacts from the Columbian Exposition and Riverview Park. There was a cool area that was called “City in Crisis” that told about different things like the Great Chicago Fire, the Chicago race riot, Haymarket affair, the Chicago Outlet, that kind of thing.

This old CTA train reminded me of when Tien and I visited the New York Transit Museum.

One exhibit of the Chicago History Museum displayed artifacts from major businesses that are based in Chicago. I kind of chuckled because I own the pitcher that is on the left in the display. You can order your own here.

Kind of morbid, but I thought I’d seen Lincoln’s deathbed on a visit to Washington DC. I saw the Peterson house where Lincoln died and there was a room with a bed. When I got home I looked it up online and the Chicago History Museum has the actual bed. The one in the Peterson house is a replica.

There was a Gas for Less gas station on Lincoln. Before it was torn down I photographed it. At first I thought this was the same sign, but it’s not. Still cool because this sort of gas station sign just does not exist any more.

In the museum gift shop I bought a book on Riverview park. I walked around outside a bit. The Chicago History Museum is right on the edge of Lincoln Park, so the grounds are gorgeous. I wanted to walk around more but it was about 1:30 and I was hungry for lunch. I took the bus down Clark to Frontera Grill but they’re closed on Mondays. boo. I went to Mambo Grill instead. Pretty good, but not Bayless.