Among the sites associated with the life of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, and now appropriately designated by bronze markers, is that of the Old Globe
Tavern which stood at 315 E. Adams Street. In Mr. Angle's book, "Here I Have Lived," we find this reference to the old landmark:
"Of scarcely less interest to the visitors than the new State House, still unfinished (in 1839), were the hotels and taverns. Typical of most of these was the
Globe Tavern, on the north side of Adams Street between 3rd and 4th Streets - a plain, two-story wooden structure which also served as an office for several of the
stage lines operating in Springfield. Whenever a stage arrived, or a private conveyance for that matter, the clerk would
ring a large bell mounted on top of the house, and the stable men would run out from the rear to take charge of the horses. Following
their marriage in 1842, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, instead of taking a wedding trip, quietly moved to the Gove Tavern, where they secured board and room at $4.00
a week per person. Here Robert T. Lincoln was born in 1843. At that time, the Tavern was operated by a Mrs. Beck, widow. It enjoyed a good
reputation, and attracted the patronage of quite a number of young couples who made it their home in the first years of their married life. Among
these were Mr. and Mrs. John T. Stuart, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wallace (in-laws of the Lincolns), and Mr. and Mrs. Albert T. Bledsoe. (It is
interesting to note that Mr. Bledsoe, Southern born, was assistant secretary of war in the Confederage government at Richmond, Va., during the
Civil War.) Originally, we are told, this tavern was the old Spottswood Hotel, a noated institution in earlier days here. It was in this
hotel that Dr. Jacob M. Early was shot and killed by Henry B. Truitt, and in the ensuing trial Mr. Lincoln, as counsel for the defense,
for the first time opposed Stephan A. Douglas in court, securing an acquittal. In the middle Fifties the
tavern was known as the National House, Willis H. Renfro, proprietor, and in the Sixties as the Owen House, M. Owen, proprietor. Eventually
it became a rooming house, and was torn down in the Nineties.
Submitted by: Jeanie Lowe.