Abraham Lincoln and his family lived in this Springfield, Illinois house from 1844 to 1861, the first and only home he ever owned. Seven years after arriving in Springfield on a borrowed horse with all his belongings in two saddlebags, Lincoln bought a small cottage that expanded with his family into a full two-story house. The Lincolns lived here for seventeen years, and Lincoln's sons Eddie, Willie, and Tad were born here. Friends and neighbors gathered here for Eddie's funeral in 1850, and Lincoln was a familiar sight leaving the house for his law office. From this home, his first-born son Robert left for college in 1859. In February 1861, Lincoln left the house for the last time as he departed for Washington, D.C., as president-elect of the United States, facing the task of governing a nation divided by slavery and preserving a government dedicated to giving all a fair chance in life.
