Management

On February 19, 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed the bill authorizing the establishment of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial.

NPS

For over thirty years, the State of Indiana administered and operated the memorial to Abraham Lincoln and his mother, but in 1962, in recognition of its national significance, Congress authorized the creation of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. That act was the climax of nearly a century of increasing interest in appropriately honoring and preserving the home and gravesite. On February 19, 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed the act providing for the establishment of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in the State of Indiana.

The National Park Service assumed responsibility for maintaining and operating the park. Since that time the park has evolved from a primarily commemorative site to a place where people can come to honor the memory of the man and learn something of his life as well. The site preserves the boyhood and family of Abraham Lincoln and contains the original Thomas Lincoln farm, the nearby gravesite of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and such adjoining lands as deems necessary for the establishment as the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial.