The only town named for Abe in his lifetime, Lincoln (pop. 15,418) took his name before he became a famous figure. As a young lawyer, Abraham Lincoln drew up the legal documents for founding the town but warned developers that he “never knew of anything named Lincoln that amounted to much.” At the dedication ceremonies, Lincoln supposedly “baptized” the place by spitting out a mouthful of watermelon seeds—hence the plaster watermelon and historical plaque remembering the great event, next to the train station at Broadway and Chicago Streets in the center of town.
