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The Lincoln
Colored Home is in a mixed residential and commercial
neighborhood bordering on the east edge of the downtown
area. It is a two-story brick structure with wood
interior floors and framing. The roof is a low-pitched
hipped structure. The structure’s importance comes from
the intimate connection of this building to the history
and lives of African Americans in Springfield. This
building served orphan African American children and
elderly women at a time when the existing social service
facilities were not open to them. Realizing the need
for such a facility, Eva Carroll Monroe (1869-1950)
worked to establish the home in 1904. It was the first
orphanage in the nation for African American children.
Mrs. Monroe’s early efforts to establish an orphanage
caught the attention of Mrs. Mary Lawrence whose husband
had been mayor of Springfield and whose daughter Susan
Dana built what is now known as the Dana-Thomas House
designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Dana-Thomas House
was built around the core of an older home and many of
the doors, windows, some stained glass, and even
chandeliers were incorporated into the Colored Home. As
such the home serves as testament to the results of
cooperation between the races in the early part of the
previous century. Today the structure remains
unoccupied and in disrepair, but efforts continue to
restore and find a contemporary use for the building.
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