Article from: http://mywebtimes.com/ottnews/archives/ott...y.php?id=352278



HISTORY: Coins sold to mark debates
01/25/2008, 10:22 am

DAN CHURNEY, danc@mywebtimes.com, 815-431-4050

To mark the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates -- the first of which was conducted in Ottawa -- coin sets are being offered for sale.

The sets consist of seven coins, each of which commemorate the seven communities where the debates took place. Each coin is two inches in diameter, with a gold finish and silver two-tone plating. Each coin has a common backside -- the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Sesquicentennial logo. The other side of the Ottawa coin has an image of Reddick Mansion. The coins are sold in a wooden display box with cherry finish, accompanied by a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity and a booklet about the debates.

The sets are $100 each. Orders must be made by Saturday, March 1, by contacting the Ottawa Visitors Center at the Reddick Mansion carriage house, 100 W. Lafayette St. The phone number is 815-434-2737. Sets are scheduled to be delivered in June.

The sets are being offered through the seven debate communities, the Lincoln-Douglas Society and the Illinois Lincoln-Douglas Debates Sesquicentennial Committee.

From mid-summer to fall, events are planned in the Illinois to mark the anniversary of the debates. The highlight of the events is to be Reunion Tour '08, in which actors portraying Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas will visit the seven communities.

In Ottawa, the commemoration is to begin Thursday, Aug. 21, with the opening of the time capsule buried Aug. 15, 1959, at Washington Square, the site of the debates. The capsule was buried at the end of the year-long debate centennial. According to The Daily-Republican Times, among the items placed in the 4-foot long, 1-foot in diameter Plexiglas capsule were 55 photographs of the centennial, the script for the 1958 re-enactment, copies of the newspaper and a leaf from an American elm. The capsule also was filled with nitrogen for preservation.

The governor of Illinois in 1958, William G. Stratton, presided over the opening of Ottawa's debate centennial that year.

Other scheduled events include a storytelling festival, a costume ball aboard the Spirit of Peoria paddleboat, a Lincoln portrait exhibit and a period fashion show.

I wanted this link to be separate from the article so I'd be sure people would see it: http://www.lincolndouglasquincydebate.com/html/coin_set.html. Unfortunately, the photos and images are not very good.

Here is the order form that tells what you will actually get for your $100.

I may be off on US history but why was the debate held in Canada?

Ottawa, Illinois

Here is the link to their chamber of commerce's website. Notice the street address at the bottom of the page is 100 West Lafayette Street, Ottawa, IL 61350. I know it's confusing because it's a French name.

Oh and that photo at the top is a big fake. You can't see the city from the Ottawa and Dekalb areas.

Haha.. and notice the shadows on the buildings. Definitely a fake!