In 1858, Jonesboro was the bustling county seat of one of the state's oldest counties, founded in 1818 on twenty acres donated by John Grammer. Several early politicians came from Jonesboro, including Representative John Hacker, Secretary of State Alexander Field, State Treasurer Abner Field, U.S. Senator Richard Young, and Lieutenant Governor John Dougherty, whose home still stands west of the square. Prosperous businesses, including the Union House Hotel, operated with goods shipped along the plank road to and from Willard's Landing on the Mississippi, and the town boasted churches, Jonesborough College, a Masonic hall, and a women's seminary, while two 1850s Lutheran churches still stand south of town. At the time of the debate, Abraham Lincoln had few supporters in this Democrat county. The evening before, Lincoln and host D.L. Phillips went to the Union House to meet Chicago Press and Tribune reporter Horace White and stenographer Robert Hitt, and they reportedly sat in front of the hotel to watch Donati's Comet. The next morning Lincoln, accompanied by Phillips and eleven-year-old son Judson, rode to the Mississippi River. Returning to Jonesboro, Lincoln visited the home of Dr. Henry Hacker, where Mrs. Hacker recalled that Lincoln was so kind that everyone liked him. Lincoln also spent some time at the courthouse, conversing with local politicians. Senator Douglas arrived by train, accompanied by the Jonesboro Band, which had met him in Cairo the previous evening. At two o'clock the band marched to the fairground followed by Douglas in a carriage and a cannon brought from Cairo. Lincoln followed, walking with his hands behind him and his head bent forward, apparently in deep meditation. The old brick courthouse Lincoln visited was the third to stand in the center of the square and, though still in use in the 1850s, was in poor repair with a dirt floor. Meanwhile, a new courthouse on Market Street was being finished while Lincoln and Douglas debated at the fairgrounds, and the plasterer later recalled that he was not interested enough to stop work and listen. During the Civil War years, Union County had divided loyalties; although southern sympathies remained strong, over eighteen hundred local men fought for the north, and the Jonesboro Gazette was closed by militia in 1863 for anti-war editorials.