Preserve America is a White House initiative in cooperation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; the U.S. Departments of Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities; and the President's Council on Environmental Quality.

Preserve America Community:
Springfield, Kentucky

Springfield (population 2,634) is the gateway community for Lincoln Homestead State Park, which is the site of Abraham Lincoln's childhood home and the blacksmith and carpentry shops where he worked.

Springfield also is rehabilitating and adaptively reusing the old 1902 Opera House—formerly a site for cultural events like Chautauquas and traveling shows and now a focal point for redevelopment and economic growth in the historic Main Street District.

The Main Street District contains six structures that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, including the 1816 courthouse that is still in use. Another is the home of the minister who united Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, parents of Abraham.

For more information

City of Springfield: www.springfieldky.org

Updated November 23, 2004

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Designated Preserve America Communities