there during the war. Owned by the National Women’s Relief Corps, an auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, the museum also maintains many volumes of Civil War history that may be examined on-site.
Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum, 629 S. Seventh St., 217-522-4373.
Illinois State Military Museum
The museum’s permanent exhibit, “Patriots of the Heartland,” chronicles the actions of the military in Illinois from its early militias to current military operations throughout the world.
Located on the grounds of Camp Lincoln, headquarters of the Illinois National Guard, the Illinois State Military Museum is dedicated to the state’s military heritage, from pre-statehood days to today. While you’re there, take a close look at the target board used by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to test-fire the new Spencer rifle. Added in late 2007 is a realistic WWII scene depicting Illinois’ 132nd Infantry in combat on Guadalcanal in 1942. Also displayed is the artificial leg worn by Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana of Alamo infamy. Displayed outside are restored Vietnam War-era AH-1 Cobra and UH-1 “Huey” helicopters and an M60A-3 tank.
Illinois State Military Museum, Camp Lincoln, 1301 N. MacArthur Blvd., 217-761-3910, www.il.ngb.army.mil/museum. Open 1 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat. Admission is free. Donations are welcome.
The Pearson Museum
Located in the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, this teaching museum covers various aspects of healing, including pharmaceutical, surgical, dental and alternative medicine. Treatments through the centuries come to life in permanent and changing exhibits. Named for long-practicing Springfield physician Emmett Pearson, the museum features a dental exhibit, a complete homeopathic dispensary and an entire 1900 drugstore from Canton, Ill., with its many apothecary jars and vials. School groups and practicing physicians often visit the museum to hear lectures.
Pearson Museum, 801 N. Rutledge St., 217-545-4261. Open 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tue. Tours by appointment. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. www.siumed.edu/medhum/pearson.
Shea’s Gas Station Museum
When Bill Shea returned home from World War II, he started working at his neighborhood filling station. When the owner died, Shea bought the station and relocated it 850 feet north, where he continued to sell gasoline until 1982. The Gas Station Museum is the result of Shea’s not throwing much away during those 60 years. Located on a part of City Route 66, the collection consists of thousands of oil cans, fuel pumps, a 1952 Airstream travel trailer and a restored 1984 Ward school bus, a museum in its own right. In 2000 Shea moved another station office from Middletown, Ill., and restored it to its 1920s splendor. Perhaps in anticipation of a visit from Clark Kent, the station has acquired two old-time wooden telephone booths. Shea’s museum is a popular site on the national Route 66 tour.
Shea’s Gas Station Museum, 2075 Peoria Rd., 217-522-0475. Open Tuesday - Friday 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. - noon. Admission: $2 donation.
Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic Site
“Prairie troubadour” Vachel Lindsay captured the attention of audiences around the world during early 1900s. He was born on Nov. 10, 1879, and died on Dec. 5, 1931, and both events took place in the Lindsay family home, located at 603 S. Fifth St., across the street from the Illinois Executive Mansion. Lindsay’s father, Thomas, was a physician; his mother, Catherine, was an artist and social reformer. Lindsay was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps, and after high school he attended Hiram College in Ohio, to study medicine, but he eventually dropped out to attend art schools in Chicago and New York City.
In the early 20th century, Lindsay set out on a series of tramps across America. At the conclusion of one of these trips, his poem “General William Booth Enters into Heaven,” a eulogy to the founder of the Salvation Army, was published in Chicago’s Poetry magazine. The poem brought him national attention, and subsequent works garnered international acclaim. Some of his bestknown poems include “The Congo” and “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.”
Lindsay’s family home, now a state historic site, has been restored to depict life in 1917, when Lindsay’s parents still played an active role in community life. Examples of Lindsay’s poetry and art, not a part of the house at that time, have been added to showcase the poet.
Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic Site, 603 S. Fifth St., 217-524-0901. Open Tues. - Sat. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.
