Arnold House at Lincoln Home National Historic Site

The Arnold House is one of four houses that visitors to Lincoln Home National Historic Site can enter. The main attraction, the Lincoln House, can only be seen on a guided tour, but the Arnold House is open for self-visitation. However, it is not a museum house, which is one decorated with original or period furniture. Inside is an exhibit area that focuses on the restoration of the Arnold House and a few other houses in the park.

Interactive exhibit points out construction methods used to build the c. 1840 Arnold House, Lincoln Home National Historic Site

The Arnold House was built around 1840 by Francis and Mary Springer. They lived in the house until selling it to Charles E. Arnold and his wife, Louisa, in December 1849. It was the Arnolds who lived in it the bulk of the years the Lincolns lived in Springfield, thus the modern name. Arnold, and then his son, Charles D., kept the house until 1892, at which time it was sold to Frank and Rebecca Cook. Frank died two years later, and in 1900, Rebecca moved the house to the back of the property and built a larger house at the street.

The next owners were Frank and Adele Darneille Davidson. They purchased the property from Rebecca in 1922 and subsequently subdivided both houses into multiple apartment units for rental. After Adele died in 1951, Frank lived in one of the apartments until selling it in 1962 to Hugh Garvey, the last owner before the National Park Service purchased the property in 1978. The new Cook house was then torn down, and the Arnold House was moved back to its original location. It was restored between 1996 and 1997, reopening as the exhibit house standing today.

Exhibit about the different owners of the Arnold House at Lincoln Home National Historic Site

If you want to read through all the information in the Arnold House, plan to spend about 30 minutes. If you have a long wait for your Lincoln House tour, which can be a couple hours on a summer weekend, a visit to the Arnold House is an informative way to kill time.

Back to the Top