Existing comment:
New Salem Tradition:
In 1829, James Rutledge and John M. Camron built a dam and a combination saw- and gristmill on the Sangamon River and laid out the town of New Salem on the overlooking bluff. The mill was the basis for the town's founding, but settlers also believed that the river would provide a trading connection to St. Louis by way of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
New Salem was a commercial village that at its peak totaled about 25 families. The population was literate. There was an active social environment, including storytelling sessions, a debate society, church functions and farming activities. Politics was serious business as Illinois grew and organized itself.
Abraham Lincoln was 22 when he arrived at New Salem in 1831. He lived here six years, participating in village life and trying his hand at various occupations before finding his calling as a lawyer and politician.
New Salem existed a little over ten years. The village began to decline when it was determined that the Sangamon River could not be navigated by steamboats. Residents began to move to nearby towns, and by the early 1840s New Salem had ceased to exist. |