President Herbert Hoover with Henry Ford in Logan County Courthouse, Greenfield Village, May 1937

THF238628 / President Herbert Hoover with Henry Ford in Logan County Courthouse, Greenfield Village, May 1937
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Artifact Overview

Henry Ford admired President Lincoln's character and collected many Lincoln-related artifacts, including the Logan County, Illinois, courthouse in which Lincoln had practiced law in the 1840s. At the opening of Greenfield Village on October 21, 1929, President Herbert Hoover ignited a memorial fire in the courthouse fireplace. In 1937, President Hoover returned to drop another log on the still-burning blaze.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Subject Date

20 May 1937

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

P.188.20711

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 8.25 in
Width: 10 in

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    Artifact

    Logan County Courthouse

    Between 1840 and 1847, Abraham Lincoln tried cases here as a traveling lawyer. Visiting once or twice a year, he worked mostly on cases resolving neighbors' disagreements over land, contracts, and debts. As Lincoln traveled, people got to know him because he always took time to talk to them. This helped him earn votes later when he went into politics.
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  • "First Court House of Logan County where Abraham Lincoln Practiced Law, Lincoln, Ill.," 1927 Postcard
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    Logan County Courthouse: Where Abraham Lincoln Practiced Law

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    Between 1840 and 1847, Abraham Lincoln tried cases as a traveling lawyer in this courthouse when it was located in Postville (later Lincoln), Illinois. When the Logan County seat moved to Mt. Pulaski, this courthouse was reused as a general store, jail, post office, and private dwelling. Henry Ford purchased it in 1929 and brought it to Greenfield Village.