The Col. Matthew Rogers Building, also known as the Abraham Lincoln Long Nine Museum, is a historic building located at 200 S. Main St. in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The building was constructed circa 1832 by Colonel Matthew Rogers, who ran a store in the building. As Rogers was also

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Athens, he moved the city's

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

to his store.

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

, who was postmaster of New Salem at the time, frequently visited the post office during the 1830s to fetch mail. Josiah Francis purchased the store on a mortgage from Rogers in 1837. In the same year, Athens held a banquet in the building to honor Lincoln and eight other Illinois legislators for moving the state capital to Springfield; the nine men were known as the "Long Nine", as they were all over tall. When Rogers sued Francis for failing to keep up with his mortgage payments in 1840, Lincoln again became involved with the store, as his firm represented Rogers in court; Rogers won the case by default. After Rogers died in 1848, the building continued to be used as a store. The building is now a museum documenting Lincoln and the Long Nine's history and connection to the building. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on May 22, 2005.

References

External links

Abraham Lincoln Long Nine Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colonel Matthew Rogers Building Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Greek Revival architecture in Illinois Commercial buildings completed in 1832 Buildings and structures in Menard County, Illinois History museums in Illinois Abraham Lincoln Museums in Menard County, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Menard County, Illinois