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Bowling Green, KY 42101
Phone: (270) 745-7317
Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm
Sunday 1-4pm
Opening March 26, the Historic RailPark & Train Museum celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s Bicentennial with the “Lincoln and the Railroads” exhibit.
In March 1832, Abraham Lincoln wrote: “No other improvement can equal in utility the railroad”. Thus began Lincoln’s thirty year association with the newest and ultimately one of the most important modes of transportation to affect the United States. As an attorney in Springfield, IL, Abraham Lincoln defended and at times prosecuted the Central Illinois railroad for over twenty years. As president he supported rail expansion westward with legislation that ultimately connected the Atlantic to the Pacific. During the Civil War, he supported movement of Union troops and equipment by rail which helped create the first mechanized war. Lincoln’s last trip by train was the Funeral Train from Washington DC to Springfield, IL – the reverse trip taken just 5 years earlier.
Explore this fascinating and little known portion of Abraham Lincoln’s life. The Historic RailPark is open Tuesday - Saturday from 9am-5pm and Sundays from 1pm-4pm.
Sponsored by the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Kentucky Historical Society, Trains Magazine, Shutterbug Photo Mall, and Bev’s Studio Gallery.
Mr. Peter A. Hansen will be speaking on the topic of this article on March 26, 2009 at our museum unveiling of our new exhibit, "Lincoln and the Railroads."
Mr. Hansen is the editor of Railroad History, the academic journal of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, and his work also appears frequently in Trains and Classic Trains magazines. His most recent Trains cover story, appearing in the February 2009 issue, was titled The Rail Splitter and the Railroads. The article was written at the behest of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission in honor of the 16th president's 200th birthday.
