Hoosiers’ fascination with Abraham Lincoln, among Americans’ favorite presidents, has always been strong. As Lincoln’s “boyhood home,” Indiana can claim to have had a significant impact on his life. Putnam County residents are no less interested in ties to the sixteenth president. One of the most common is that Abraham Lincoln stayed in the county while traveling to Washington, D.C. There is, however, no evidence to support this. On the other hand, DePauw University can boast of one significant and a number of lesser connections to Lincoln. A good overview of Lincoln's Hoosier years is available from Geoffrey Johnson's article in the February 2009 Indianapolis Monthly magazine, "Our Abe."
Timeline of Lincoln’s life
Abraham Lincoln document in the Archives