Springfield’s historic St. Nicholas Hotel, now converted into apartments. It hosted a slew of notables over the years.

Springfield has a lot of rich history, especially with its Lincoln connections.

But there’s more than Lincoln to the city’s downtown, and a Thursday tour sponsored by Downtown Springfield Inc. and Illinois REALTORS® highlights the city’s architecture.

Called the Upper Story Tour, the event takes visitors on a journey into some of the city’s older and historically significant buildings including the St. Nicholas Hotel.

The St. Nicholas, now converted into apartments, hosted Dwight Eisenhower in its heyday and was the scene of a famous scandal involving former Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell who died there leaving a room packed with containers of cash.

There are other stops along the route, too. The building where Lincoln celebrated his first presidential win and a Second Empire-style building used as a brew pub and restaurant. Details here.