You are cordially invited to join our partnership. Fundraising efforts so far have earned $117,000 for the Historic Structure Report. The committee has applied for and won listing on the National Register of Historic Places, essential for pursuing state and federal grant support. Even with grant aid, however, the committee must raise as much as $500,000.

Your tax-exempt gift will accomplish two important things:

• it will contribute to the total dollars we must raise, and
• it will assure grantmakers that this project has the enthusiastic support of the community –– residents, local historians, preservationists, Lincoln enthusiasts, Civil War buffs, genealogists, educators, German–Americans and all who will benefit from this unique interpretive site.

Please consider a contribution. We will be most grateful for whatever you can give.

The restoration of Belleville's Gustave Koerner home, on Mascoutah Avenue at Abend Street, will stand as a testament to one of Belleville's most illustrious citizens. Koerner joined Abraham Lincoln, Horace Greeley and others who, fired by the passions of the times, came together to create the Republican Party in 1856. Koerner became a close Lincoln confidant, helped write the 1860 Republican Party platform, and managed Lincoln's drive to the presidential nomination at the party's convention. Koerner was an ardent anti-slavery proponent and, as a German emigre, played a key role in allying western America's German population with the Union cause.

The Koerner House Restoration Committee is working with a team of consultants to prepare a Historic Structure Report. Selective demolition of the structure's modern components commenced in May 2005. Once complete, the home will be opened as a museum, where Koerner's life and political career will be interpreted.