History Talk - Lincoln's 8th Circuit Markers

200 West Green Street,Champaign IL 61820

21 July, 2022

Description

The 8th Circuit Marker project was initiated in a 1914 joint meeting of DAR chapters of C-U and Danville, at the home of our founding Regent Kate Baker Busey, and with the influence of Judge J.O. Cunningham, who already was a very old man by then. The Illinois State Organization of DAR (ISO DAR) took on the project, extending support through the Lincoln Circuit Marking Association, which was established for the purpose and functioning under the auspices of the ISO DAR. Markers were placed at the County Courthouses of what had been Lincoln's trail of the 8th Judicial Circuit, and similar guidepost markers were placed out in the hinterlands where his trail crossed from one county to the next. Lincoln traveled the judicial circuit as a lawyer, during which time he was honing skills that served him in meeting the challenges of his presidency. The markers were placed over a period of several years: an extant printed program for the marker dedications has 1922 ceremony dates for events around east and central Illinois. The Marking Association dissolved about a decade later, and the ISO DAR, with area chapters, continues to address historic preservation of the markers as interest and funding are available.