The Friends of Historic Meridian will host a speaker series at the Village Chapel (5151 Marsh Road, Okemos) on Wednesday, June 25, at 7:00 pm.

Dr. Roger L. Rosentreter, assistant professor of history at Michigan State University and former editor of Michigan History Magazine, will explore the Michigan connections of the man credited with saving the Union and ending slavery.  

The words Abraham Lincoln and Michigan are rarely used in the same sentence. That is understandable since Abraham Lincoln only visited the state once. Four years before he was elected president, Lincoln campaigned for the Republican ticket by visiting Kalamazoo.

However, there are many Michigan connections to the sixteenth president. Some are tangible (like the rocking chair he sat in at the Ford Theatre or an Illinois courthouse where he practiced law). Others are more obscure.

Michigan historians also have chronicled various Lincoln aspects--everything from Lincoln’s presidential yacht that sailed the Great Lakes to how Michigan paid its final respects to a martyred leader.

For more information, contact the Meridian Historical Village at 517.347.7300.