Lewistown Trail
Location:
The marker is located in Lewiston on the west side of Routes 100 and 97 (Main Street) on the Courthouse Plaza.
Dedication Date:
01/01/1975
Dedication By:
Fulton County Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society
Marker Description:
Lewistown Trail, from Springfield to Galena via Lewistown, was one of the main routes to the Galena Lead Mines from 1827 to 1837. The Trail crossed the Illinois River at Havana, where Ossian M. Ross, the founder of Lewistown, operated a ferry. He was one of three men who surveyed and marked out the Trail. The Springfield-Lewistown section was made a post road in 1834. At that time Abraham Lincoln was postmaster at New Salem, one of the towns on the road.
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