Lincoln Tomb

Oak Ridge Cemetery

Dedicated in 1874, Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary, and three of their four sons, Edward, William, and Thomas. The eldest son, Robert T. Lincoln, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

On April 15, 1865, the day after President Lincoln's assassination, a group of Springfield citizens, learning that the body would be returned to Illinois for burial, formed the National Lincoln Monument Association and spearheaded a drive for funds to construct a memorial/tomb. Upon arrival of the corpse on May 3, it lay in state in the capitol for a night, and after the funeral the next day was placed in a receiving vault, constructed ca. 1860, at Oak Ridge Cemetery, the site Mrs. Lincoln had requested for burial. Funeral services for Abraham Lincoln on May 4, 1865.

During the month of December of 1865, Lincoln's remains were removed to a temporary vault not far from the proposed memorial site. In 1871, or 3 years after laborers had begun constructing the tomb, the body of Lincoln and those of the three youngest of his sons were placed in crypts in the unfinished structure.

In 1960 the Tomb was designated a National Historic Landmark and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.