When I think about the history of West Erie County, I think of Dan Rice, the famous circus clown and entertainer from the 1800s. There's references to him all over Girard. But, I recently learned that Abraham Lincoln made a train stop down the road in Lake City in 1861. However, there's nothing there to commemorate the occasion.

Nathan Koble is doing something about that. He grew up in Lake City. He learned as a child about Lincoln's train stop in town on February 16, 1861. The train was transporting Lincoln from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, DC. for his inauguration. Nathan always believed an historical marker should be erected at the site along the railroad tracks to commemorate Lincoln's appearance. Last year, Nathan made a decision after being enshrined into the Girard High School Hall of Fame. He decided to design and purchase the Lincoln historical marker as his way of saying thanks.

"I thought, Hey, this is really the time to do that. A great opportunity for me to show my appreciation to the community for that honor. So, here we are. I'm looking forward to unveiling it during the Lake City Fireman's Carnival in June," says Nathan.

Nathan wants the marker to be something special. So he dove headfirst into researching Lincoln's Lake City train stop.

"The last thing I want to do in my hometown is to have some type of factual error of Abraham Lincoln sitting in my hometown. I don't want that. I don't want a grammatical error either,” he says.

Nathan traveled to the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Illinois to learn everything he could about Lincoln's stop in West County. He was told about a book written by author Henry Villard. Villard traveled with Lincoln on his inauguration train and wrote about the future president's stop in Lake City. Nathan also visited towns that previously erected markers commemorating Lincoln's train stops. Nathan says the Lake City marker will be equally impressive and will reveal that the 1861 West County crowd greeted “Honest Abe” with excitement and respect.

"They really hit the right note on the keyboard,” he says. “I would want people from Girard and people from the Girard community to know that they rose to the occasion and did it just right. That's something all those years later we can be proud of."

Lake City Borough Council granted permission for the marker to be erected beside the town gazebo on Rice Avenue. Nathan currently lives in Millcreek. He is also writing a children's book about Girard area history including the Lincoln train stop.