Lincoln-era house in need of a home

SPRINGFIELD -- It's history without a home.

A Lincoln-era house is sitting on wheels in the middle of a street in downtown Springfield after the city council refused funding to put it on a new foundation.

The so-called Maisenbacher home dates to the middle of the 19th Century and historians believe it was built with help from a $650 loan from Abraham Lincoln.

Court and Karen Conn agreed to move the building when a clinic planned to raze it for parking.

The city council already approved $115,000 for moving expenses, but Mayor Timothy Davlin came back with another $822,000 request to build a foundation.

Aldermen rejected a scaled-back request for $279,000, saying they'd been overwhelmed by constituents' criticism of the plan.