Extra Credit Questions

[David Lockmiller]

Osborne Oldroyd it is! Kudos, Joe!

Oldroyd loved to take long walks. In 1913, at age 71, he walked from the Petersen House to New York City. On the way he stopped to view the Lincoln statue in Newark.

SOURCE: Current edition of For The People (newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association).

(Michael, the article I used as a source simply describes Oldroyd's attire as "suit and tie."

Osborn H. Oldroyd, the First Lincoln Collector

In 1883 Oldroyd was able to rent the Lincoln home at 8th and Jackson streets for $25 a month. He moved his family into the home’s second floor and turned the first floor into a museum to exhibit his collection.

Robert Todd Lincoln, who still owned the house, consented to the museum as long as it was open to the public for free. Oldroyd’s ceaseless “sideshow” promotion of his museum—along with the fact that he stopped paying the rent—made Robert Lincoln increasingly unhappy, however, and in 1887 he deeded the house to the state of Illinois.