Bement, Illinois

City: Bement

County: Piatt

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 39.9167, -88.5667

Bement, Illinois, is a village in Piatt County. Located seven miles south of Monticello, Bement was founded in 1855 and named for Edward Bement, an official with the Great Western Railroad. The U.S. Post Office Department established a post office at the village in January 1856. Tradition has it that Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas met at Bryant Cottage in Bement to work out the details of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 29; Jim Fay, "Lincoln & Douglas at the Bryant Cottage" Lincoln Herald 100 (Spring 1998), 11-28.