Historic Sites

The Governor Oglesby Mansion is an 1870s Italianate style home of 3-time Illinois Governor, U.S. Senator and Civil War General Richard J. Oglesby. The mansion is located at 421 W. William St in Decatur, IL.

Walk into the past to an exciting place where the days before the Civil War live on. Homestead Prairie Farm is built around the Trobaugh-Good House located at Rock Springs Conservation Area. It has been restored to let visitors explore rural life on the Grand Prairie of Illinois in 1860 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Step back in time in a one room country school. The name “Bethel School” has a long history in Friends Creek Township.

Bethel School is located at Friends Creek Conservation Area.

The Paris-Springfield Road was one of the earliest roads in Central Illinois. The Paris-Springfield Road’s most famous traveler was Abraham Lincoln.

In the early 1900’s, Charles M. Parker started the Rock Springs Bottling Plant, providing local bottled water from the Rock Spring source in Decatur, IL.

Shortly after the first pioneers arrived in Macon County mills were built to grind their harvests of grain. One of the first was Miller’s Mill.