Major’s Hall

Built in 1851.

Was site of Lincoln’s famous “Lost Speech” on May 29, 1856. Although never recorded word for word, this speech was against slavery and launched what would become the Illinois Republican Party.

In 1857, this building was used to house the first classes for Illinois State Normal University while construction on the first building (Old Main) was underway on campus in Normal (then North Bloomington.

The third floor of the building (where Lincoln’s speech was given) burned in 1872.

The building was torn down in 1859 and today is the site of a parking garage (Lincoln Parking Deck). A plaque was placed by the Letitia Green Stevenson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution on May 29, 1918, and six others accumulated over the years commemorating Major’s Hall and the Lost Speech. After the building was torn down, those plaques were later incorporated into a monument that was dedicated in October 1962.