Carl Sandburg Birthplace


County: Knox
Location: Sandburg Home, Galesburg

Erected: 01/01/1972 Erected by: The Illinois State Historical Society


Carl Sandburg, poet and historian, was born in this modest three-room cottage on January 6, 1878. He was the son of a Swedish immigrant railroad worker. Carl attended Lombard college in Galesburg, and his first poetry was published in this town. He later became a journalist and prolific author. His Complete Poems and a biography, Abraham Lincoln: The War years, won Pulitzer prizes. He also wrote a novel, an autobiography, children's stories, and folksongs. After his death in 1967, his ashes were buried beneath Remembrance Rock behind his birthplace.


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