Stephen A. Douglas was a teacher, lawyer, orator, and statesman who served as a United States Senator from Illinois from 1847 to 1861 and was the Democratic candidate for President of the United States against Abraham Lincoln. In the early days of the War of the Rebellion, he was a loyal supporter of Lincoln and the Union. He was born at Brandon on April 23, 1813, in the cottage west of this site, and died in Chicago on June 3, 1861. He also made a generous contribution toward the foundation in 1855 of the first university established in Chicago, which is now the University of Chicago.