Lincoln’s funeral train to visit Lafayette this Saturday

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — On Saturday, President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train, “The Lincoln Special,” will be stopping in Lafayette to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

As part of a statewide tour, The Lincoln Special will make two stops in Lafayette, the first at 11 a.m. at the Wea Prairie Branch of the Tippecanoe County Public Library located at 4200 South 18th Street.

The second stop will be at 4 p.m. at the historic Monon Museum at 1835 Monon Avenue.

The executive director of the Lincoln Special non-profit, Chris Allen, will host a free hour-long symposium highlighting Lincoln’s life and legacy after his assassination at Ford’s Theater.

“It’s imperative to remind people in Lincoln’s home state that his story didn’t just end at Ford’s Theater,” said Allen in a press release.

Although Lincoln was born in Kentucky, he has strong roots in southern Indiana as he spent his childhood to adulthood in Spencer County (then Perry County).

“Even in death, Lincoln’s story continued on, only with us as authors,” Allen said.

“Every city and town in Indiana that Lincoln’s funeral train stopped at shares an indelible connection to our nation’s story.”

Lincoln visited Lafayette en route for his inauguration in February 1861.

His funeral procession stopped in Lafayette, on May 1, 1865, around 3 a.m., when his funeral train passed through the city on Fifth Street tracks at 5 mph en route to Chicago then Springfield, Ill., to bury Lincoln's remains.

“It wasn’t just Lincoln’s remains that came through here,” said Allen. “It was everything Lincoln stood for, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, and the Gettysburg Address that came through here.”

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lincoln’s funeral train to visit Lafayette this Saturday