Reuben Scanland House - Pittsfield, IL
Posted by: YoSam.
N 39° 36.411 W 090° 48.639
15S E 687958 N 4386412
Mrs. Scanland called Lincoln "the laziest man there was."
Waymark Code: WM4QE6
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 09/20/2008
Views: 5
Marker Erected by: Abe Lincoln's Pike County.
County of Marker: Pike County.
Locations of Marker: 402 W. Washington St. (US-54), Pittsfield.
Marker Text:
Reuben Scanland House
Built ca. 1850's
Scanland was mayor of Pittsfield and a prominent attorney and judge. He backed Lincoln in the 1858 Senate race and Lincoln stayed here during his visit in October 1858. One of the stories associated with this home is of Mrs. Scanland's turkey dinner. Mrs. Scanland prepared an elaborate dinner for Lincoln and her husband's political friends, but they did not return home from a local drugstore where Lincoln was telling stories for a crowd of men. The dinner was cold when they finally got there, and Mrs. Scanland called Lincoln "the laziest man there ever was. Good for nothing except to tell stories." The bed he slept in at this house is in the Pike County Historical Society Museum at East School, 400 East Jefferson Street.