Bill Cleary’s saloon stood a short distance down the bluff from Offut’s store. It was the hangout for Jack Armstrong, who challenged Lincoln to a wrestling match. Even though the match ended in a draw, it gave Lincoln the reputation for courage and strength that convinced his associates that he “belonged.”
New Salem was a trading post for the farmers who cultivated farms on the surrounding prairies. On Main Street there was a cobbler, a hatter, a cooper, a blacksmith and wagon builder, a wheelwright and several merchants.
These tradesmen had come to New Salem to help fill the needs felt by everyone. At the height of its prosperity, New Salem had a population of a hundred citizens and some twenty-five or thirty buildings.
The buildings were made of logs, notched together at the corners and chinked with native clay.
Roofs were pitched and covered with clapboard shingles called “shakes.”
Better homes in New Salem had chimneys made of stone.