Director

Before Abraham Lincoln was our 16th President, he traveled along the 8th judicial circuit twice a year by horse and buggy. Along this ride, Lincoln would stop through Champaign County along with several other counties in the region. As he traveled, it was common for him and his colleagues to stay in taverns. Kelly's Tavern, located in what is now St. Joseph, Illinois, has a special section within this exhibit.The growth of Champaign County during the middle of the 19th century helps tell the story of Lincoln in our region. In the nearby Urbana Courthouse, Lincoln tried many cases. In downtown Urbana at Alschuler's Studio, Abraham Lincoln received his third ever photograph. Furthermore, Goosepond Church, which was found where the present Champaign Police Department is currently located, was a spot where many individuals including Lincoln came to speak about politics. In 1856, Lincoln spoke in support of John C. Fremont at Goosepond Church.Many stories from Lincoln's travels along the 8th judicial circuit have been recorded. These unique, and sometimes humorous stories allow us to see a different side of Lincoln, one that is less known to the general public. For example, while serving at the Urbana courthouse, Lincoln once stole and hid a large gong from John Dunaway. The large musical instrument was used ceremoniously at the American House, and Lincoln rather humorously camouflaged the gong so it could not be used. Another story chronicles the third photograph ever taken of Lincoln by Samuel G. Alschuler in Urbana. Lincoln had to borrow a jacket and the sleeves were 3/4 of a size too short. Alschuler's solution was to "zoomed in" on Lincoln, eliminating the short sleeves from the photograph. And finally, Lincoln defended the first ever murder in Champaign County for which there was a trial and conviction. After failing to exonerate William Weaver, of Urbana, escaped from custody and fled to Wisconsin.

This photograph was taken by Alschuler at his photography studio in Urbana. A Busey Bank now stands near where the photography studio once was in downtown Urbana. It is the 3rd ever photo taken of Abe Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln riding the 8th Judicial Circuit

Video

Champaign County's Lincoln - A Short Virtual Tour

Website

The built environment that Lincoln knew in Champaign County is almost completely gone and the natural environment is vastly altered. Through our exhibit, "Champaign County's Lincoln" we recreate those places, and evoke that lost environment. Visitors will appreciate the era in which Lincoln made friends, worked and built his political career in our community! Our visitors can enter the county, the way Lincoln did, in a buggy. They can visit Kelley's tavern, have their photograph taken in Alschuler's studio, and visit the Goose Pond Church where they'll hear neighbors talking about the political issues of 1856 as they wait for Lincoln to arrive.

Champaign County’s Lincoln

Institution

In turbulent times, it is customary to look to the past for answers. In 1968, Champaign County’s answer to that quest was opening a museum.The August 8, 1967 issue of The News-Gazette reported on the Champaign County Forest Preserve District, “The most outstanding project by far, is the Early American Museum, now under construction. Early American artifacts and antiques donated by William Redhed, Homer, will be on view in the two-story building and adjoining structure.” By June 16, 1968, that outstanding project was completed and the Early American Museum opened its doors.For over fifty years the Early American Museum, now the Museum of the Grand Prairie, has been collecting and interpreting the past, telling the stories of the lives of Champaign County’s people, providing fun and stimulating experiences for its audience all in hope of informing current and future generations. The Museum of the Grand Prairie also offers several virtual exhibits, including the Gray Family Photos archive, an oral history project summarizing the experiences of the East Frisian community of German immigrants, and information from the Doris K. Wylie Hoskins Archive for Cultural Diversity detailing the lasting contributions of African-American women and men to the community.An extensive amount of information on museum updates, events, and featured museum artifacts can be found on Museum Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. See the links below for more info.

The Museum of the Grand Prairie collects, preserves, and interprets the natural and cultural history of Champaign County and East Central Illinois. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 1972, the Museum of the Grand Prairie has interactive exhibits that engage visitors from ages 2 through 102! Exhibits include The Grand Prairie Story, interpreting the history of the region from the Ice Age through the present day. Champaign County's Lincoln, discussing what the region was like during the 1850s as Lincoln rode the Eighth Judicial Circuit through Champaign County. Discovering Home, an engaging and highly interactive exhibit where visitors of all ages can explore a variety of homes from a wigwam to a log cabin as well as explore ways people across our area's history have communicated with and traveled to and from their homes. Historic Hensley Town Hall that has been reconfigured as our one-room schoolhouse that also doubles as an exhibit and a space where school marms/masters conduct first-person interpretations of 19th century school lessons. Blacksmithing on the Prairie recreates the Chesebro Blacksmith Shop, formerly of Saunemin, Illinois, and tells the story of this central Illinois family as well as its experience in the Blacksmith business. Our current special exhibit is titled "A History of Healing: Infectious Diseases and Community Responses to Defeat Them." The exhibit focuses on the impact and influence of such diseases as the 1918 flu, smallpox, malaria, tuberculosis, polio, typhoid, cholera, HIV, AIDS, and COVID-19. When viewing this exhibit, visitors will build an appreciation and basic understanding of the historic influences disease had over people’s lives and communities, both in central Illinois and abroad, resulting in a better understanding of how disease affects us today and informs our responses to it. In addition to examining the impact disease has had on the health and well-being of local communities, the exhibit will highlight particular instances in the past, as well as the present, where local citizens came together during previous epidemics and pandemics for the betterment of their communities.

"There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories." - Ursula Le Guin. Each of us has our own story, a story of living here-- on the verge of the Grand Prairie. Our stories inform our lives and the lives of those around us. Come visit and read, see, listen to, to stories of Native Americans and settlers, farmers and city folk, Irish and Germans and African Americans. Reflect on how the stories of others are similar to, or different from your own. "The Grand Prarie Story" is an exhibit that narrates the natural history of Champaign County and how the early humans interacted with the environment. Scientists, archeologists, and historians have relied on soil samples, fossils, and Native American artifacts to narrate the story of the grand prarie in central Illinois. Guests of the museum are able to interact with replicas and technology to better understand the story of the first Americans in central Illinois. The exhibit includes some very interesting artifacts including wooly mammoth and mastodon teeth, a replica bison skull, ancient projectile points, grinding tools, atlatl darts, and clay pots. Over millions of years, the landscape of Champaign County was transformed from frozen glaciers to flat prairies and low wetlands. Wooly mammoth and mastodon once roamed the area and were hunted by the nomadic tribes in the region. When the glaciers melted, water provided for extensive wildlife including sabertooth cats, giants sloths, and wolves. Flatlands allowed for periodic wildfires that provided beautiful wild flowers and tall prairie grasses. Much of central Illinois was covered with prairie until the 1700s, before farms began taking the place of the prairie in the 1800s. Within the exhibit, human technology is chronicled from 10,000 BCE to the 21st century as agricultural practices evolve from native techniques to John Deere's steel plow, and mechanized agriculture. In the late 1600s, French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet arrived in Illinois. These men set the stage for interaction between Indigenous Americans and the European colonizers in the area. The Sadorus family arrived in East Central Illinois in 1824 and Potawatomi Natives occupied areas surrounding the Champaign County courthouse as late as 1832. While early accounts detail peaceful meetings between the Europeans and the Natives, interactions grew violent as Europeans expanded into Indigenous lands. In the middle of the 19th century, the population of central Illinois skyrocketed as people immigrated from all over the world. By the 1860s, railroads stretched across the county and allowed Illinois to become a center for transportation and industry. Illinoisans profited from massive grain elevators that increased the production of farming. Family owned businesses flourished through downtown Champaign and Urbana. The Grand Prairie Story was made possible, in part, with a grant from the State of Illinois Public Museums Capital Grant Program. This grant is administered through the Illinois department of Natural Resources and the Illinois State Museum.

"The Grand Prairie Story" is the trademark exhibit of the Museum of the Grand Prairie in Mahomet, Illinois. The exhibit narrates the long history of Champaign County from millions of years ago until the present. The exhibit details how humans continually adapted to their environment as it changed throughout history. 


The Grand Prairie Story

Before Abraham Lincoln was our 16th President, he traveled along the 8th judicial circuit twice a year by horse and buggy. Along this ride, Lincoln would stop through Champaign County along with several other counties in the region. As he traveled, it was common for him and his colleagues to stay in taverns. Kelly's Tavern, located in what is now St. Joseph, Illinois, has a special section within this exhibit. The growth of Champaign County during the middle of the 19th century helps tell the story of Lincoln in our region. In the nearby Urbana Courthouse, Lincoln tried many cases. In downtown Urbana at Alschuler's Studio, Abraham Lincoln received his third ever photograph. Furthermore, Goosepond Church, which was found where the present Champaign Police Department is currently located, was a spot where many individuals including Lincoln came to speak about politics. In 1856, Lincoln spoke in support of John C. Fremont at Goosepond Church. Many stories from Lincoln's travels along the 8th judicial circuit have been recorded. These unique, and sometimes humorous stories allow us to see a different side of Lincoln, one that is less known to the general public. For example, while serving at the Urbana courthouse, Lincoln once stole and hid a large gong from John Dunaway. The large musical instrument was used ceremoniously at the American House, and Lincoln rather humorously camouflaged the gong so it could not be used. Another story chronicles the third photograph ever taken of Lincoln by Samuel G. Alschuler in Urbana. Lincoln had to borrow a jacket and the sleeves were 3/4 of a size too short. Alschuler's solution was to "zoomed in" on Lincoln, eliminating the short sleeves from the photograph. And finally, Lincoln defended the first ever murder in Champaign County for which there was a trial and conviction. After failing to exonerate William Weaver, of Urbana, escaped from custody and fled to Wisconsin.

Blacksmiths were an important part of cities and towns in the early 1900s. Repairing or sharpening whatever needed attention was their business. So was shoeing horses, painting buggies, repairing stoves, or mending wash tubs. This work allowed farmers to farm, wives to cook, and keep house, and everyone else got their jobs done. A.B. Chesebro opened his Blacksmithing establishment after 1888. Ralph and Elmer Chesebro learned the trade from their father, and after his death in 1909, ran the shop until the 1920s. They lived in Saunemin, Livingston County, Illinois. There were 12 similar shops in Champaign and Urbana in 1910. Among them were the Chester Transfer Co., located at 58-60 South First Street, F.M. Foltz, at 206 North Market St., and Gerber &amp; Sigler, 203 East Main in Urbana. Industrialization after World War I reduced demand for Blacksmithing. When the Chesebro business closed in 1920, the building sat undisturbed for almost 20 years. In 1992, Pat and Nina Chesebro donated the contents of their father Ralph's shop to the Early American Museum. Tongs were still hanging by the forge, horseshoes were on the racks, and buggy rims still in their packing. In 1992, the building was 58 feet long and 25 feet wide. The front portion held the Blacksmithing space which was 34 feet long. Large double doors opened to the west. Two forges, benches, bins, and several windows were on the south side. An open central area furnished space for vehicles and machines being repaired. Rings in the north wall allowed horses to be tied while being shod. A partition with a large sliding door separated the wagon shop from the Blacksmithing area. This 24 foot long and 25 foot wide space held the wood, working equipment, and buggy and wagon repair facilities. A gasoline engine sat in one corner of the wagon shop to power the line shaft which drove all machinery in the building. The museum staff moved over 2,000 artifacts from the shop and brought them here. What we know about the shop and its business comes not only from examining the tools but also from the day books, orders for supplies, and other records, which came to the museum. Most important of all were the oral histories of Pat and Nina about growing up while living next to the Blacksmith's shop. "We played in the shop, but not when work was going on. When Dad was working, we would go down and watch. I can remember watching the trip hammer and pounding things on the anvil and with the new shop we had these hitching racks out front. We used to do stunts on them, and finally Dad put one in our yard." -Nina Cheseboro In the exhibit hall, you will find "The Trick Buggy." This buggy was built by Parry Manufacturing Company and owned by the Trick Family of Sydney, IL in the late 19th century. Any repairs to the buggy would have required the services of a Blacksmith. To make a tire for a buggy, Blacksmiths required a measuring wheel to create the correct size. Blacksmiths needed a special outdoor oven to heat the tire iron. An intense fire made with wood shavings provided the heat necessary to soften the iron so it could be dropped into a wooden wheel. While the iron was hot, Blacksmiths hammered and "quenched" the hot iron with water to prevent singeing the wood. This would also shrink the iron, making it fit the wheel tightly on the rim.

Come see the family Blacksmith shop, a shop begun by A.B Chesebro, in Saunemin, Illinois in 1896 and brought to the Museum of the Grand Prairie!

In 1993, the museum’s staff walked into a block and frame shop that Ralph Chesebro, A.B.’s son,  had walked out of for the last time in the 1930's.  Oral history interviews were recorded  with Ralph’s family, the shop itself was tirelessly drawn to scale, photographed and videoed; the contents of the shop have been moved; each of 5500 objects has been marked and accessioned into the museum's collections; research on the Chesebro's, Saunemin and area Blacksmiths has been conducted; and –within the walls of the museum-- the shop itself was partially reconstructed. Enjoy the interactives, see the wagon equipment, and view the tools of the Blacksmith trade in this comprehensive exhibit.

Blacksmithing on the Prairie

Home is where we begin our day each morning and return to at night. Home is at the center of our lives, providing shelter and comfort, a place to work and play, and a setting to share our lives with family. Homes might be in a permanent building at a specific place, or move around from place to place. Home might also be wherever the people we love are living. Different people have very different types of homes, but the basic ideas of place, purpose, family, and familiarity are the same. Come discover homes from Champaign County’s past, and compare them with your own. Long before European explorers and settlers came, the Inoca people lived in the area that is now east central Illinois and Champaign County. You might know these people by their French name, Illini. Many different tribes that shared a common way of life made up the Inoca Nation. They included the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michegamea, Peoria, and Tamaroa people. Their homes were not in one place, but in multiple places throughout the region. They moved three times a year. During the spring and late summer, they lived in larger villages near fields and water where they grew and harvested maize, squash, and beans. They moved into temporary camps during the summer to hunt on the prairies, and when winter came, the people lived small villages near rivers. The word that means moving between homes in permanent villages and temporary camps is semi-sedentary. When settlers came to east central Illinois and Champaign County beginning in the 1830s and 1840s, they were looking for places to stop and stay. Families settled on specific pieces of land near woods and water, sometimes called homesteads. They farmed small parcels of land. They built permanent structures, like cabins and barns, and lived and worked in them all year long. The word that means living in a single home in the same place all year is sedentary. The first structure a settler built was often a log cabin. They were quick to build and required very few tools. In the river timbers and groves, wood was plentiful. A log cabin is a simple box-shaped building made from stacked logs. A mixture mud or clay and plant material, called daub, filled the spaces between the logs. Eventually, settlers would build larger, wooden frame or brick houses; more like houses people live in today. Before electric washing machines and dryers, clothes had to be washed by hand. Clothes would be scrubbed and rubbed with soap along a washboard, a bumpy metal surface inside a wooden frame that helped wash out dirty shirts, pants, and other clothing. Many early forms of laundry soap were made out of lye (treated wood ash) and various animal fats. A variety of household substances might have been used on tough stains. Clay, chalk, and brick dust were used on greasy stains. Alcohol treated grass stains. Kerosene was used to get out bloodstains. Milk was thought to remove urine stains. Ironically, urine, due to the high ammonia amount of ammonia was used often for bleaching as were lemon and onion juice. Today if we want water, we can just turn on a faucet, but early settlers did not have indoor plumbing. They had to carry their water from the nearest stream or river. Water is heavy! Buckets were attached to the ends of a wooden yoke. The yoke rested on a person’s shoulders to make carrying the heavy buckets easier. When European settlers first arrived to North America, they brought apples and apple seeds along with them. Apples were easy to grow and were often the first thing a farmer planted. Apples could be kept for a long time in fruit cellars, a type of cold storage. Aside from picking apples and eating them fresh, early settlers preserved apples in many other ways, such as making apple jams and jellies and even apple cider. Most early ciders were alcoholic beverages because without refrigeration, it would ferment. At one point in American history, cider was the most popular available beverage, more so than fresh water! Corn was originally a Native American crop, but European settlers quickly adopted it. Corn was relatively easy to grow and harvest and had many uses. The ears of corn were eaten or ground into the corn meal. The ears and leaves were fed to pigs and other livestock, corncobs were burned for fuel, and dried leaves made into dolls. Corn was an important crop in east central Illinois, like it still is today. Early settlers wore simple clothes that they often made themselves. They did not have closets full of clothes though, so they tried to take good care of the clothes they had. Can you imagine wearing the same clothes day after day? The fireplace was the only source of heat in small log cabin and it was also the kitchen. Food would be prepared on the fire, and usually served on a nearby table. Sometimes there might be chairs, but simple benches were also common. Hearths like this were often built to be easily pulled away from the house in the case of a fire. A hearth is the area around a fireplace. For many settlers, the hearth was the center of home. The hearth provided, heat light, and a place to cook. It also provided a place for people to talk and tell stories. The fire ring in wigwams did these same things, too. Today, most people do not think of hearths and fire rings as the center of their home. Many homes do not even have them. Instead, people today might use the kitchen or family room as the center of their homes. They might gather around the kitchen table or a television. This hearth is an original part of the museum building, and was never in a home. It is modeled on fireplaces from colonial times. It is much bigger than a hearth for a log cabin, but a large house might need many pots boiling at once. They would fit here. It is a good example to explore! As we live our lives, we often leave home. Sometimes we are only gone for a little while, like when we are at school or shopping. Sometimes we are gone much longer, like when we are on vacation, away at college, or serving in the military. Sometimes people even leave one home to move to a new home. No matter how far we go, or how long we are gone, we usually find our way home. Even when we are away from home, we want to stay in touch. There are many ways to communicate with people back home. Today we can call on a cell phone, text, email, or even video message. However, not that long ago writing was the only way to communicate, and that sometimes took a long time. Then there was the telegraph, which encoded our written words, and finally the first telephones that could transmit our voice.

The idea of home is transcendent. Though people’s homes may be very different, the basic ideas of place, purpose, family, and familiarity are the same. The place we travel away from and return to is our home. It is the place we communicate with when not there. Though very different, we can see similarities in the homes of settlers moving into Illinois from the east, and the native peoples already living here. These similarities extend all the way to the places we call home today.

Visitors of all ages will explore the idea of home by discovering the homes of settlers and native peoples through interactive play and interpretation in a long-term museum exhibit space. The objective is for visitors to build connections with homes from the past; finding similarities and common elements with the places they call home today.

Discovering Home

Before it was a one-room schoolhouse, the building was Hensley Town Hall located in Hensley Township. Hensley Township is located between Mahomet and Champaign, Illinois. The building was physically lifted and transported to its currently location, just a short walk from the Museum of the Grand Prairie in Mahomet, Illinois. For almost 250 years, one-room schools existed as the foundation of American education. Idealized in the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the paintings of Norman Rockwell, and in movies and television, one-room schools are among the most enduring symbols of America's rural past. Some European immigrants settled in the ethnic neighborhoods of large cities. Others made their homes in rural areas and established their own communities and schools. Some immigrant children attended one-room schools with other students outside their ethnic communities, where they often had problems communicating with their teachers and classmates until they learned English. Once they had, they would teach it to their parents. Through their children's schools, immigrants were able to adjust and adapt to American culture. The popular image of the "little red schoolhouse" is an overused stereotype. 19th century schoolhouses were constructed from a variety of materials- logs, sawn, lumber, stone, brick, and on the western prairie, even sod. Red brick schoolhouses were popular in the later half of the century, but many were wood framed and often painted white. built on assorted shapes and sizes, some drew on professional designs in Greek Revival and Gothic styles. Others were based on functional and inexpensive plans chosen by local school trustees. Most were small enough for the teacher to be heard at all ends of the room. Many were rectangular and symmetrical, with the same number of windows on opposite long walls and a door in the middle of the front wall. Some even had two doors, one for boys and one for girls. Many children started their day very early, rising to help with family chores like fetching wood, drawing water, and helping with breakfast before leaving for school. The school day commenced with the teacher calling his or her students in order, often with a bell if one was available, and beginning with the opening exercises. Schedules varied from school to school but eight hour days, including noon and recess times, were not unusual. Throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century, most children made their way to school on foot, summer or winter. Some were fortunate enough to travel by horse or pony, or be taken in the family buggy. Consolidation of rural school districts in the early part of this century meant that children had to travel further for school. By 1915, some students rode to school in cars. Basic education was important to the quality of life in the 19th century. In the first half of the century, a curriculum of "readin', ritin', and rithmetic" met the needs of most rural children. Understanding the bibles, newspapers, agricultural journals, and other books required some reading ability. Good penmanship was considered to be a sign of culture and certainly one had to write to keep business, farm, and household records. Blacksmith, farmer, storekeeper, and miller alike needed basic grasp of arithmetic, to conduct business. In the latter half of the century, school reformers successfully expanded school curricula to include more history, geography, and new subjects like science, art, and health were added. Men dominated the education profession in the first half of the 19th century. Women taught in private and urban schools, but teaching in most rural schools remained men's work. By the 1850s, this situation was changing. As the population of the Midwest increased dramatically thanks to the railroad, so did the demand for teachers. The economic growth touched off by the railroad meant broader, and better paying job opportunities for men. The Victorian emphasis on women as nurturers of children also helped pave the way for a growing number of female teachers trained in eastern and midwestern academies and colleges. Schoolmarms far outnumbered the school masters in one-room schools by the end of the century. Although fewer in number, schoolmasters still received higher pay. Women became the preferred schoolteachers, especially for younger children. They were viewed by society as providing a natural bridge between mothers at home and the classroom. As such, they were held to high standards. Severe discipline was an accepted and expected practice in the one-room school. The corporal punishment handed out to unruly students was a reflection of the discipline practiced in many homes. Along with "thrashings" with hickory sticks or willow whips, other measures included hitting with rulers, sitting apart from classmates, holding one's arms straight for several minutes, or standing in the corner. The one-room school served as the community meeting place as well as a community meeting place as well as an education center for children. The community would gather at the school for student and social functions as well as political events since the schoolhouse might be the only public building for miles around. Religious services, weddings, and funerals were held in country schools prior to the construction of churches. Programs provided for the community by the teacher by his or her students were important events. Christmas programs and eighth grade graduation drew the most attendance, along with spelling bees. When consolidation of schools became a threat in the early part of the century, rural communities were very much against the closing of their central meeting place-the one-room schoolhouse. With good reason they feared that once their school was gone, their sense of community would disappear as well.

Once located in Champaign County's Hensley Township, what used to be the Hensley Town Hall has been transformed into our One-Room Schoolhouse. Thousands of schoolchildren and visitors have had the opportunity to visit this historic structure and participate in our 19th century school lessons. Go back in time and join us for this virtual tour to learn about the history of the building, stories of one-room schoolhouses in Champaign County, how education differed over 100 years ago, schoolhouse artifacts, and much more!

Museum of the Grand Prairie

Champaign County’s Lincoln

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information