“Other than the shooting, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” Nearly 150 years ago, on a cold spring day in April, a theater full of people laughed, making the consequential noise that covered up the shot which would end the life of President Abraham Lincoln, often termed Honest Abe for his reputation in his business of law and jurisprudence. A clamorous day in history began and ended in the irony of a tragic and calamitous laugh.

As I sit across from my historian adept husband in Springfield, Illinois, he asks me this oft quoted quip for the third time today. Not attributed to anyone, and in fact, not even an actual quote, yet it stands as a symbol for someone missing the point altogether. The subject weighs heavily on both of our minds tonight.

Earlier that day, we toured the one and only home that Abraham and Mary Lincoln would ever own. Purchased from Reverend Charles Dresser on May 2, 1844, a year after their marriage, this modest, Greek Revival-style cottage sat at the corner of Eighth and Jackson Streets in Springfield, Illinois. The couple purchased this home, as well as an additional downtown lot and building, for a total of $1,500. According to the CPI inflation calculator, that is the equivalent of $62,959.20 today.  I would say that was a steal, even for a home built in 1844, and even for Springfield, Illinois, a part of the country where real estate is still “affordable.”

When the Lincolns first moved into this home, it was a one-and-a-half story cottage with five rooms and a sleeping loft. As the family expanded, Mary made it her business to be sure her home expanded as well. They raised the front of the home to two stories and added a rear parlor. The home was originally built in 1839 as a one-and-a-half story cottage with five rooms, including a sleeping loft. No need to waste space on a bathroom since indoor plumbing had yet to exist. The expansion eventually resulted in a 3,000 square-foot house on a corner lot. This was a space that Mary would stage herself with ornate and colorful wallpaper, carpets and fine furnishings. A garish collection of unmatched patterns and textures by today’s standards, was considered formal, fancy and tasteful during the time of Lincoln’s residency.

It seems Mary was a partier of sorts as well. She loved entertaining and once invited over 500 guests to her home for food and fun. As only 300 of the guests showed, Mary kept a note of the 200 missing, even though the night was damp and dreary, with temperatures dipping below normal for the time of year. Yet there was no time for societal revenge as her husband was quickly swept up in the coming election — the election that would change the history of this country as well as the entire world.

Fortunately, Lincoln was not only a respected and successful attorney, but he was also a real estate investor, and a type of hard money lender as well. He is quoted as saying, “I take it that it is best for all to leave each man free to acquire property as quickly as possible. Some will get wealthy. I don’t believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good.” He learned quickly the value of real estate investing. With all of the changes over the years, this has been a constant.

As for us, we came to Springfield early that morning to pass the time productively while awaiting the Billy Joel concert held at Busch Stadium in St. Louis later that evening. As the day went on, we soon learned the concert had been cancelled due to heavy rain and wind coming from the hurricane in Florida. Though we were both disappointed (not equally so), we were also feeling the synchronism having missed the point altogether. We came for the concert and visited a historical national park that represented significant consequential value. Perhaps we missed the point. We should have come for the history and visited the concert.

Jen Fischer is an associate broker and Realtor. She can be reached at 801-645-2134 or jen@jen-fischer.com.