Vice President Adlai Stevenson's Birthday

Today is the birthday of Adlai Ewing Stevenson I of Illinois, 23rd Vice President of the United States during Cleveland's second term, and unsuccessful candidate for vice president in 1900 on the ticket with William Jennings Bryan. He is, of course, the grandfather of the Adlai Stevenson III who so gamely opposed the popular Dwight Eisenhower for the presidency twice in the 1950s, but he's also the great-granduncle of actor McLean Stevenson.

The Stevenson family is associated with Bloomington, Illinois, but a young Adlai Stevenson began practicing law in Metamora, Illinois, now a suburb of Peoria, in 1858. The Stevenson home in that town is currently undergoing a long process of restoration.

"The Stevenson House is an austere two-story Federal style structure built before the Civil War," notes the Metamora Association for Historic Preservation on its web site. "It is located a block south of the southwest corner of the Village Square and faces north on a corner lot. The home is approximately 35 feet wide and 30 feet deep and is set back from both front and side streets. It is constructed of “faded pink” brick made locally. The interior of the home contains eight rooms, four on the upper level and four on the lower, with room sizes and arrangements identical on the two levels."

After he married in 1868, Stevenson and future second lady Letitia Green Stevenson moved to Bloomington. The Metamora Association for Historic Preservation is currently seeking donations to help pave the walkway in front of the Stevenson home in Metamora.