Lincoln Photograph from 1860 - Illinois Bicentennial Celebration

[David Lockmiller]

Monticello - A new portrait of Abraham Lincoln will hang in the Piatt County Courthouse as part of Illinois' bicentennial celebration (Illinois was admitted as a state in the Union in 1818 and there is now a U. S. postage stamp to commemorate the event in the form of an Illinois boundary map). The Lincoln photograph was taken in Springfield by photographer Alexander Hesler on June 3, 1860. The image was distributed for Lincoln’s 1860 presidential campaign. Historians consider Hesler’s portrait one of the best taken of Lincoln during his pre-presidential years.

Printed on canvas, the image of the beardless Lincoln is encased in a richly stained wood frame and measures 30-inches wide by 40-inches tall. It is a high-quality reproduction of the historic photograph, and each of the state's 102 counties will receive one from the Illinois State Historical Society, said John McClarey, a member of the society's board of directors. The Illinois Judges Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Judges Foundation and Illinois Bar Foundation donated the paintings for the bicentennial effort.

Sixth Circuit Court Judge Hugh Finson told a story about a time Lincoln stayed at a hotel on the main square in Monticello where the Dairy Queen is now. Finson said Lincoln had a pig bladder filled with water, which he was heating over a fire in his hotel room. “Eventually, it blew up and sent embers flying out around the room; he is lucky he didn’t burn the place down,” he said.