Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois: Wax Figures Abound

Illinois is really proud of its ties to Abraham Lincoln. It’s the state’s Polk High. Everyone clings to something, right? If you want to really explore this obsession in all its wax figure glory, the Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois should be your first stop.

Quick verdict: Worth a stop, not worth a special trip. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is well done, genuinely kid-friendly, and cheap by museum standards ($15 a head, free for kids four and under). Budget about three hours, watch both shows, and don’t expect a full day’s worth of things to do in the surrounding blocks.

What Do You Need to Know About Visiting the Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois?

1. Where Is the Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois?

2. Where Do You Park at the Lincoln Museum?

3. How Much Does the Lincoln Museum Cost (and How Do You Save)?

4. What Are the Lincoln Museum Hours in Springfield Illinois?

5. How Long Does It Take to Go Through the Lincoln Museum?

6. What Exhibits Are at the Lincoln Museum?

7. Are the Lincoln Museum Shows Worth Watching?

8. Lincoln Library Springfield Illinois

9. Union Station

10. No Outside Food Allowed

11. On Property Dining Option

12. Lincoln Museum Springfield Illinois Gift Shop

13. Lincoln Museum FAQ

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The Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois

1. Where Is the Lincoln Museum?

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum sits at 212 North Sixth Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701 — smack in the middle of downtown. “Library and museum” makes it sound like one building, but it’s actually two facilities facing each other across the street. The museum is the part you came for; the library is the research building.

I wouldn’t say there’s a ton to do in the immediate area, but you can fill a day. If you’d rather build a full itinerary, our one-day Lincoln historical sites touring plan for Springfield strings the worthwhile stops together so you’re not wandering.

Pro tip: Want to see more of Springfield? Consider a scavenger hunt.

2. Where Do You Park at the Lincoln Museum?

There’s a parking garage at the corner of Sixth and Madison, with the entrance on Sixth Street. As of this update, the museum lists flat tiered rates: $5 for up to four hours, $10 for four to twelve hours, and $15 for a full day. For a three-hour visit you’re looking at the $5 tier, which is about as painless as downtown parking gets.

Note: Rates change, so confirm the current pricing when you arrive rather than trusting a blog (even this one). Pay attention to posted closing times too — you do not want to discover the garage gate is down after a long day with cranky kids.

3. How Much Does the Lincoln Museum Cost?

How much does it cost to get into the Abraham Lincoln Museum? Not much. This isn’t an all-day affair, and the price reflects that. You might shave a few dollars off with a deal, but even at the rack rate, it won’t break the bank.

Lincoln Museum Tickets Through Direct Purchase

As of this update, standard admission runs:

• Adults: $15
• Seniors (62+): $12
• Students (with ID): $12
• Military (with ID): $10
• Children 5–15: $6
• Children 4 and under: free
• ALPLM Members: free

The encouraging part: those prices haven’t budged in years, which is more than you can say for almost anything else you’ll buy in 2026. Buy your Abraham Lincoln Museum tickets online ahead of time and pick an entry time. (Always confirm current pricing on the official site before you go.)

Museums for All ($3 Admission)

If you have an EBT/SNAP card, the museum participates in Museums for All: show your card and admission drops to $3 for up to four people. That’s a legitimately great deal for a family on a budget, which is sort of our whole thing here.

Free Admission Days

The museum runs a generous calendar of free-admission days throughout the year — typically things like Lincoln’s Birthday in February, Juneteenth, Independence Day, the Gettysburg Address anniversary in November, and military/veteran days. The exact dates shift year to year, so check the current promotions page and, if you’re flexible, time your visit to one of them.

Lincoln Springfield Museum Groupon

Deals come and go on Groupon. It’s worth a quick search before you buy direct, but don’t count on one being live — admission is cheap enough that it’s no tragedy if there isn’t.

Group Tours

Adult groups can usually visit at a discount. It doesn’t tend to be geared toward kids, so this likely isn’t the play for families. Confirm current group terms with the museum if you’re wrangling a crowd.

4. What Are the Lincoln Museum Hours?

The museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the last ticket sold at 4:00 p.m. You can visit year-round except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Don’t roll up at 4:15 expecting to get in — that last-ticket cutoff is a real thing.

The library across the street keeps different hours — Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed weekends and many holidays — and it’s a research facility, not an exhibit hall.

Pro tip: Sundays and Mondays tend to be the quietest. Fewer people, fewer elbows, fewer strangers photobombing your wax-figure family portrait.

5. How Long Does It Take?

The museum is relatively small. There are two shows worth watching, and even with both, you can see everything at a reasonable pace in about three hours. If you’ve got little kids who melt down on a schedule, you can comfortably do it in two.

6. What Exhibits Are at the Lincoln Museum?

The exhibits are unique, well done, and full of wax figures I’d be terrified to run into in the dark. The technology is worked in more gracefully than you’d expect from a state-run museum — fitting, since the place opened back in 2005 and quietly hit its 20th anniversary in 2025, complete with a commemorative exhibit near the Ghosts of the Library show.

The Plaza

The Plaza is basically a giant room you pass through to reach the other exhibits. If you were hoping for a creepy photo of your family standing among a cluster of wax figures, this is your moment.

Journey 1

Journey 1 is a walkthrough exhibit that starts in Kentucky and ends in Washington, D.C. Everything in this section covers Lincoln’s life before he was president — the log-cabin boyhood through the 1860 campaign.

And you thought your house was crowded.

Turns out, his kids were brats.

Note: The slave auction is disturbing for adults. I’m guessing young kids won’t be happy to learn that Freddy Krueger owned slaves. You might want to distract them during this part.

Journey 2

Journey 2 covers his time in the White House through his death. The exterior of the exhibit is the White House itself, which is a nice touch.

There’s a section with clips from the harsh media coverage of the era that’s genuinely interesting. Turns out the country has been blunt about its disdain for politicians all along — Twitter just gave everyone a megaphone.

Heads up: There’s a section dedicated to the death of Lincoln’s young son. I tried to zip my kids through that one. You may want to do the same.

Treasures Gallery

Treasures Gallery houses the real artifacts — documents and personal items. The display rotates, but one thing’s a certainty: it will not hold a young child’s attention for long.

Illinois Gallery

The Illinois Gallery is the rotating exhibit, and it changes regularly — so whatever was up the last time someone wrote about it is probably long gone. Check the Lincoln Museum website to see what’s on display when you visit.

The Children’s Exhibit (Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic)

Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic used to be a small (and I mean small) play area where kids could dress up, do chores, and play period games. It closed during the pandemic and didn’t reopen — the museum is replacing that space with a new children’s exhibit called Citizen City, funded in part by a federal grant. As of this update it’s still in development with no announced opening date, so don’t promise the kids a play area until you’ve confirmed it’s open.

The Mr. Lincoln Theater

There’s a small theater space inside the museum that has hosted rotating mini-presentations over the years. Programming changes, so check the day’s schedule when you arrive to see what (if anything) is running.

7. Are the Shows Worth Watching?

The biggest surprise of the day was that the shows didn’t completely blow. I am not a fan of theater. My bar was set nice and low, but both were much better than expected. They’re worth a watch with kids.

Both run frequently throughout the day, so working them into your visit takes almost no planning. Grab a schedule at the entrance and build your three hours around the next showtimes.

Ghosts of the Library

The Sixth Sense Ghosts of the Library plays in the Holavision theater. It’s a nine-minute presentation with a single live actor who turns out to be — spoiler — dead. Holograms enter the mix, plus screens and smoke to jazz it up. It’s genuinely clever, and short enough that even antsy kids make it through.

Pro tip: The show is mild, but there are loud noises at the start. Consider noise-canceling headphones if that’ll be a problem for your child.

Lincoln’s Eyes

Lincoln’s Eyes is more of a movie than a stage production and plays in the Union Theater. It runs roughly fifteen to twenty minutes. It was interesting, but — in keeping with the rest of the museum — a little dark. If you’d rather your kids not learn that Lincoln’s children and a lot of soldiers died, you might want to skip this one.

Pro tip: This show is all kinds of loud. There are also strobe lights and vibrating seats. Bring noise canceling headphones and plan accordingly.

8. Springfield Lincoln Library

The library is the research building across the street, and it’s free — no admission charged. The museum seems to imagine you’ll spend your time there digging through documents. There is zero chance of that with small kids, but it’s worth a walk-through if you’re curious about the other half of the campus.

It keeps weekday hours (Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) and is geared toward researchers, so check the official site for any access requirements before you make a special trip.

9. Union Station

Union Station is the old train depot directly across the street from the museum. It was a working station from the late 1800s through the 1970s, and for years it hosted rotating exhibits as part of the museum campus.

Note: As of this update, the Union Station building is closed to the public and used for private rentals rather than as a walk-in exhibit space. The adjacent Union Square Park, however, is open daily and free — a decent spot to let the kids burn off energy or eat a picnic between exhibits.

10. No Outside Food Allowed at the Lincoln Museum

You can’t bring outside food into the museum, but honestly, you don’t need to. The ticket allows all-day re-entry, so you can pop out, feed the kids elsewhere, and come right back. Time your visit around mealtimes and eat off-property — or picnic in Union Square Park across the street.

11. On Property Dining

On-site dining is now The Lincoln Cafe, which serves breakfast and lunch (the old Subway is long gone). If a cafe sandwich doesn’t do it for you, there are several restaurants within walking distance. Since you can leave and return at will, there’s no reason to settle.

Pro tip: The Information Desk can point you to nearby restaurants and hand you menus — handy when you’ve got a hangry toddler and no patience to Google.

12. Lincoln Museum Gift Shop

No tourist attraction is complete without a gift shop, and this one doesn’t disappoint. It’s themed nicely and stocked with genuinely unique items. Some are reasonably priced, some decidedly not — budget accordingly if you’re bringing kids who fall in love with everything they touch.

13. Lincoln Museum FAQ

Is the Lincoln Museum worth visiting with kids?

Yes, with caveats. It’s more engaging than most history museums thanks to the wax figures, holograms, and two short shows — and the cheap admission makes it low-risk. Just know a few exhibits get dark (a slave auction, a child’s death), so be ready to steer little ones past those parts.

How long should I spend at the Lincoln Museum?

About three hours covers both shows and every exhibit at a relaxed pace. With small kids, two hours is plenty. It’s not a full-day attraction, so don’t plan your whole trip around it.

How can I get into the Lincoln Museum for free or cheap?

Kids four and under are always free, and ALPLM members get in free. With an EBT/SNAP card, Museums for All gets up to four people in for $3. The museum also runs free-admission days throughout the year — check the official promotions page and time your visit if you can.

Is the Lincoln Library open to visitors?

The library is a free research facility across the street, open weekdays. It’s not an exhibit hall, so it’s worth a quick look at most. Confirm hours and any access rules on the official site before making a special trip.

Final Thoughts – The Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois

The Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois is worth a stop. The exhibits are unique, the kids will be entertained, and the cost is genuinely reasonable. It is not, however, worth a trip way out of your way. There isn’t much to do in the immediate area — you can fill a day, but not much more.

If you’re passing through Springfield anyway, make the Lincoln Presidential Museum your first stop and build the rest of the day around it. For another “is this worth the detour” verdict, our take on whether Sleeping Bear Dunes is worth a trip to nowhere is cut from the same honest cloth. And if you’re a museum family planning a bigger Illinois swing, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago needs a lot more of your day than this one does.

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The Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois