Abraham Lincoln Memorial Garden

The Abraham Lincoln Memorial Garden, commonly known and referred to as the Lincoln Memorial Garden, is a self-governing 100-acre woodland and prairie garden owned by the city of Springfield, Illinois and managed by the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Garden Foundation. The gardens are made up of two major units, the 63-acre Jensen section bordering Lake Springfield, and the newer 29-acre Ostermeier Prairie Center section. There are also 19 acres of additional buffer properties. As of April 2006, the Garden is maintained by a full-time staff of 4 men and women, supplemented by more than 150 volunteers and docents.

Lincoln Memorial Garden is the inspiration of Springfield Civic Garden Club leader Harriet Knudson. When Knudson learned that the city of Springfield was acquiring land for the basin of a new reservoir, intended to serve as a source of city drinking water, she asked the city to set aside approximately 0.6 miles of future shoreline as a garden to memorialize Abraham Lincoln. The city agreed and leased the Jensen section to Lincoln Memorial Garden in perpetuity. At the time of the lease, the future Garden site was cultivated farmland that contained approximately 12 trees.

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