Where to Stay in Springfield, Illinois

What is Springfield known for?

Springfield is known as the Illinois capital where Abraham Lincoln built his career. The Lincoln Home National Historic Site keeps the family house and its surrounding block. The Old State Capitol State Historic Site holds the restored legislative chamber where he served, while the Illinois State Museum gathers the state's natural and cultural collections and the Vachel Lindsay House preserves the birthplace of the city's poet, and Edwards Place stands as one of the oldest mansions on the near-north streets.

What are the main landmarks in Springfield?

Springfield centers its landmarks on the Lincoln sites and the state capitol grounds in Illinois. The Lincoln Home National Historic Site is the signature site, the preserved family house set within its restored block of the old town. State buildings stand close by.

Nearby, the Old State Capitol State Historic Site holds the restored legislative chamber while the Illinois State Museum gathers the state collections, and the Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History Museum records the community's story. The Vachel Lindsay House and Edwards Place mark the older residential heritage nearby.

What is the history of Springfield?

Springfield was laid out in 1821 on the central Illinois prairie and first bore the name Calhoun before taking its lasting title. The prairie set the plan. The flat farmland and the young state's growth drew settlers to the crossroads, and the town rose as a market and county seat among the surrounding grain country.

Abraham Lincoln then bound his life to the place. He built the house the Lincoln Home National Historic Site preserves, argued cases and served in the legislature whose chamber the Old State Capitol State Historic Site restores, and left the streets that the Lincoln trail still follows. The capital moved here.

State collections and civic institutions followed, so the Illinois State Museum gathered the region's natural and cultural record, Edwards Place kept an early mansion on the near-north lanes, and the Vachel Lindsay House marked the birthplace of the city's own poet. Each era left a building still standing near the old town square.

Where is Springfield?

Springfield sits on the flat central prairie of Illinois, where level grain country spreads in every direction around the town. The setting is open and low. Its historic core gathers on the old grid, so the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Old State Capitol State Historic Site, and the Illinois State Museum all fall within a walkable band.

The regular streets then run out across the plain toward the near-north mansions near Edwards Place and the outer prairie roads.

What is the climate of Springfield?

Springfield has a continental climate typical of the central Illinois prairie. Winter in Springfield settles in cold and grey across the prairie. Snow and hard freezes cross the open farmland from late autumn into early spring, so the indoor galleries of the Illinois State Museum carry much of the cold-season visiting.

Summers turn hot and humid, with thunderstorms building over the flat grain country, and the walking blocks around the Lincoln Home National Historic Site draw the warm-weather crowds to the old town. Each season draws its crowd.

How do you get to Springfield?

Springfield sits on the main road and rail lines crossing central Illinois, so most visitors arrive by car or by train. Road and rail meet here. The routes feed the prairie grid and ring the old town, keeping the capitol grounds close to the highway exits.

From the historic core the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Old State Capitol State Historic Site, and the Illinois State Museum stay walkable, while drivers use the ring roads to reach Edwards Place and the outer streets.