This mound was the site of major campaign addresses by Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during their campaign for U.S. Senate in 1858. Music, fireworks, banners, and parades characterized the campaign. After firing a cannon to assemble a crowd of one thousand, Douglas spoke here for several hours on August 13th, 1858. Half the crowd left to greet Abraham Lincoln at the landing several blocks to the south. As he arrived with a brass band on board the flag draped steamboat "Senator". After spending the night with friends, Lincoln spoke for two hours in the grove on the mound on August 14th, highlighting his opposition to slavery and responding to Senator Douglas's claims. Lincoln remained in Havana for several days, visiting old friends and campaigning. On April 16th, he spoke at Bath. After renewing acquaintances all along the route. Lincoln departed on the Havana Ferry on August 17th.

Abraham Lincoln was well known in Mason County. During the 1830's and 1840's, he surveyed and practiced law here, campaigned for other offices, and owned a Mason County farm.

This park has been the scene of social and recreational activities ever since it was donated by Havana pioneer Northrup J. Rockwell in 1849. The mound was crowned with a large bandstand near the beginning of the 20th Century.

"Let ups have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

"We here highly resolve that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.

"With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. Let us strive on to finish the work we are in."

Hancock County, established in 1829, had no permanent county seat for four years. On February 13, 1833, the General Assembly commissioned William Gilham, Scott Riggs and John Hardin to establish a permanent county seat, which was named Carthage and was incorporated in 1837.

Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, and his brother Hyrum were shot to death in the Old Carthage jail on June 27, 1844. Joseph had chosen Nauvoo as headquarters for the church in 1839, and by 1844 Hancock County was a Mormon center. However, unrest concerning the authority of the Mormon leaders was extensive. When an anti-Mormon newspaper in Nauvoo was destroyed, Joseph and Hyrum were jailed at Carthage to await trial. Governor Thomas Ford assigned the Carthage Grays, a militia unit, to guard them. A mob overpowered the guards and rushed the captives who with two Mormon friends, Willard Richards and John Taylor, occupied an unlocked, second floor room in the jail.

Hyrum was killed, and the prophet was shot several times before he fell from a window to the ground. Taylor, later the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (1877-1887), recovered from his wounds while Richards was uninjured. Conflict between the Mormons and their neighbors continued until the Mormons completed their exodus from Illinois (1846). The Mormons have restored the Old Carthage Jail.

During the 1858 U.S. Senatorial campaign Stephen A. Douglas spoke at Carthage on October 11 and Abraham Lincoln spoke on October 22.

In 1673 the areas of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers were explored by Frenchmen Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette. Their voyages resulted in French claims on the area until 1763 when, by the Treaty of Paris, France ceded the land to Great Britain. During The Revolution the Illinois Territory was won for the Commonwealth of Virginia by George Rogers Clark and his army. In 1784 it became part of the Northwest Territory and on December 3, 1818 Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first State.

U.S. Route 136 enters Illinois at Hamilton, North of Warsaw, the site of Fort Edwards erected during the War of 1812 to counter British influence at Rock Island. It proceeds east through Carthage where, in 1844, the jailed Mormon leader Joseph Smith was killed defending himself from an angry mob. The highway crosses the Illinois River at Havana and runs east passing north of Lincoln, Illinois, the site of the reconstructed Postville Court House where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. Route 136 passes south of Funks Grove named for Isaac Funk one of a group of farmers who raised large herds of cattle for shipment to eastern markets.

Route 136 exits Illinois northeast of Danville, home of Joseph "Uncle Joe" Cannon the powerful Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Along its approximate 235 mile length Route 136 passes through eight of Illinois 102 counties and three of its county seats.

The site of Mississippian and later Indian activities, Mason County's first modern settlement was made here shortly after Ossian Ross began ferry service in 1823. An Indian skirmish took place in 1826 and a blockhouse was built during the Blackhawk War in 1832.

An 80 by 30 four story stone and frame hotel was built in 1831-1833. It was a trading post, Post Office, Inn and gathering place, and served as the area's first courthouse when the County was formed in 1841. Abraham Lincoln was a frequent visitor and participated in court sessions. The building was destroyed by fire in December of 1849.

On this spot Abraham Lincoln spoke to the citizens of Bath, as he campaigned for the United States Senate. Taking a Bible from his pocket, he read: Mark 3-25 "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand..." and so began his historic speech, August 16, 1858.

This structure was erected in 1841 by Col. Wm. B. Archer, founder of Marshall, and John Bartlett and has been in continuous use as a hotel. It was an important stage coach stop on the early Cumberland Road where many prominent people, including Abraham Lincoln and Grover Cleveland, stayed.