[3] The first settlers arrived in 1828 and began building log cabins and improving land around the area.

Harristown was along the main line of the Wabash Railroad, which contributed to increased population and business.

His family settled alongside the Sangamon River 4 miles (6 km) south of the present village in 1830 for a little over a year before relocating due to the harsh winter and extreme sickness.

During that winter, Lincoln, together with his stepmother's son, John D. Johnston, and John Hanks were hired by Denton Offutt to build a flatboat and navigate it from Beardstown, Illinois, down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans.

Lincoln Trail Homestead State Park was created in 1904 and marks the spot where his cabin stood.

[6] It lies within Harristown Township and is bordered to the east by the city of Decatur, the county seat.

Abraham Lincoln's first home in Illinois was located on the north bank of the Sangamon, 4 miles (6 km) south of the present village.