Abraham Lincoln visited Athens numerous times in the 1830s and 1840s, after the town had grown into a thriving community following its first settlement in 1819. His earliest visits were just north of town to the home of Col. Matthew Rogers, where he borrowed books. Between 1833 and 1836, while serving as postmaster, Lincoln collected New Salem's mail in Athens when river flooding prevented the mail carrier from reaching New Salem. In 1834, as deputy surveyor for Sangamon County, he surveyed the Athens-Sangamo Town Road ending at Main and Jefferson streets. After his election to the Illinois Legislature in 1834, he came to Athens to meet and socialize with fellow Long Nine legislator and Athens resident Robert Wilson. On Aug. 3, 1837, Lincoln and six other Long Nine legislators from Sangamon County attended a banquet on the second floor of the Rogers Building, where they were honored for helping secure legislative approval to move the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield. The Long Nine were so called because the Sangamon County legislators averaged six feet in height. Built in 1831-1832 by Col. Matthew Rogers, the Rogers Building served as a store, the site of Athens' first post office, and a place for early civic gatherings, and it was reportedly the first framed commercial structure north of the Sangamon River. Lincoln-era Athens also included Robert Wilson's home, the Banks Hall tavern where Lincoln sometimes stayed, William Strawbridge's steam-powered saw and grist mill, and an early Methodist Church where Peter Cartwright preached.