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Media contact: Angela Try

SPRINGFIELD – Lincoln Land Community College invites the public to its annual Lincoln Lecture Thursday, Feb. 12 at 9 a.m. in the Trutter Center, 5250 Shepherd Rd., Springfield. The 2026 speaker will be Tim Good, recently retired superintendent of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.

There is no charge to attend, and refreshments will be served. The presentation will also be available via Teams ().

Good’s presentation, “Mr. Lincoln On the Road –Traveling the Original Route 66” will explore Abraham Lincoln’s journeys north to Chicago for judicial duties and political engagements that helped shape his early career.

Good has worked for the National Park Service for more than 30 years, holding positions at sites including the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Ford’s Theatre, the Lincoln Memorial, Cuyahoga Valley, Dayton Aviation, Ulysses S. Grant, Agate Fossil Beds, Pictured Rocks and Acadia. He is the author of six published books, among them “Lincoln for President: An Underdog’s Path to the 1860 Republican Nomination,” “The Lincoln-Douglas Debates and the Making of a President” and “We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts.”

Additional activities

On the main campus, the Logger Activities Board will host a “Cozy Cabin Vibes” Abe Lincoln birthday celebration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in A. Lincoln Commons with cake, ice cream and Lincoln-related games. There will also be a farewell to the penny in Lincoln’s honor.

69����-Jacksonville will celebrate Lincoln’s birthday with treats, fact sheets posted throughout the campus and games. A mini escape room will feature Lincoln puzzles for students to solve and photos of Mr. Lincoln at various Jacksonville sites that students can guess to win prizes.

69����-Litchfield will host a birthday celebration for Mr. Lincoln with displays, refreshments and information on Lincoln’s time in Montgomery County, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

69����-Taylorville will celebrate Lincoln’s birthday, noon to 1 p.m., with birthday treats and a whimsical look at a case he presided over at the Christian County Courthouse, where he issued a “Writ of Quietus” to the pigs under the courthouse.

This year’s Lincoln Lecture is co-sponsored by Visit Springfield, proudly supporting the connection of Abraham Lincoln and the Mother Road.