Business & Tech

West Chester's Lincoln Building entered in National Contest

If it wins, the building could receive $25,000 for repairs.

Many West Chester residents, including myself, have walked by the , stopped a second and asked, "I wonder why they call it that?" before continuing on their way.

The Lincoln Tea Room actually sits in the basement of an entire building named after the 16th president.

It turns out that before Lincoln became "the Great Emancipator" he was just a humble presidential hopeful from the faraway state of Illinois.

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After some urging from one of his advisors and Chester County native, Jesse Fell, Lincoln submitted a handwritten biography to "The Chester County Times," a weekly abolitionist newspaper that operated out of the Lincoln building.

The story printed in the Times went the 19th Century equivalent of viral, showing up in prominent newspapers across the eastern seaboard and upping Lincoln's profile with East Coast voters.

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The National Trust for Historic Preservation has just named West Cheter's Lincoln building as a finalist for the "This Place Matters 2011 National Challenge."

The challange aims to help promote and preserve historic buildings within communities that help those communities stand out.

The challenge also awards a prize of $25,000 to the winner for preservation and repairs. 

The best part of the challenge is that all voting is open to the public.  In order to vote for the Lincoln Building people simply need to go to the Chester County Community Fund Web site for registration and voting instructions. (I just did it, and it took three minutes).

So log-on and vote for this historic West Chester Landmark.


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