David Wills House

On November 18, 1863, the day before he would give the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln spent the night at the home of Gettysburg attorney David Wills.

The three-story David Wills House was built in 1816. In 1859 David Wills bought the property for use as his law office. On behalf of the state of Pennsylvania and other northern states, after the Battle of Gettysburg Wills purchased the lots that would become Soldiers’ National Cemetery. He also arranged for the exhumation and reburial of the dead, and made plans to have the ground consecrated. Wills engaged prominent orator Edward Everett to be the featured speaker at the cemetery dedication, and later invited President Abraham Lincoln to give “a few appropriate remarks.” OnNovember 18, 1863Lincolnspent the night at Wills’ house along with Everett and Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin. That eveningLincolnfine-tuned and completed his speech in his second floor room at Wills’ house. The following dayLincolndelivered his speech, which would become immortalized as “The Gettysburg Address.”

After Wills’ death in 1894, the property was bought and used as a number of different commercial establishments. From 1945 to 2004, under various owners, “The Lincoln Room Museum” was operated on the second floor of the building. In 2004 the National Park Service acquired the building from the Borough of Gettysburg. On February 12, 2009the David Wills House was reopened to commemorate Lincoln’s 200^th birthday.