Thanks to the generous funding from a state grant provided by the Illinois Office of Tourism, we are proud to display one of many beautiful murals along Route 66 in McLean County.
Artist Troy Freeman from FreeSky Studios did an incredible job highlighting our Route 66 sites. And... there are mice hidden throughout the painting. Can you find them all?
On May 29, 1856, delegates from across Illinois gathered at Bloomington's Major's Hall to oppose the expansion of slavery. They were part of a national movement that became the newly organized Republican Party. An an emotionally charged keynote address, Lincoln pledged to oppose the expansion of slavery and the rise of “Slave Power” — even threatening to use force if southern “disunionists” made good on their threats to secede.
Contemporary observers believed Abraham Lincoln’s May 29, 1856 speech in Bloomington was the finest of his career. Because no copy of this address exists, today it is known as Lincoln’s “Lost Speech.”