Logan County Courthouse: Where Abraham Lincoln Practiced Law

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.

Nicholas H. Shepherd made the original daguerreotype for this image in Springfield, Illinois, shortly after Lincoln's election to Congress in 1846. It is believed by many to be the earliest known image of Lincoln, who was 37 or 38 years old. At this time, Lincoln was a husband and father of two small boys and operated a successful law practice in Springfield.

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.

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.

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.

Henry Ford's search for a building with an Abraham Lincoln connection led him to this Illinois structure, a courthouse where Lincoln had practiced law early in his career. Ford purchased the building, although by then it had become a private residence. The building was dismantled, moved, and re-erected in Greenfield Village in time for the official dedication in October 1929.

Henry Ford admired President Lincoln's humble, down-to-earth character and his embodiment of the ideals of the "self-made man." Ford collected many Lincoln-related artifacts, including the Logan County, Illinois, courthouse in which Lincoln had practiced law in the 1840s. Despite perturbed townspeople, Ford workers quickly dismantled, moved, and re-erected the building for the opening of Greenfield Village on October 21, 1929.

Henry Ford admired President Lincoln's humble, down-to-earth character and his embodiment of the ideals of the "self-made man." Ford collected many Lincoln-related artifacts, including the Logan County, Illinois, courthouse in which Lincoln had practiced law in the 1840s. Despite perturbed townspeople, Ford workers quickly dismantled, moved, and re-erected the building for the opening of Greenfield Village on October 21, 1929.

President Abraham Lincoln was sitting in this rocking chair during a production of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., when he was assassinated on April 14, 1865. Henry Ford purchased the chair in 1929 for the Museum, where it remains one of the most revered objects associated with the "man who saved the Union."

Henry Ford admired Lincoln's character and collected many Lincoln-related artifacts, including the Logan County, Illinois, courthouse in which Lincoln practiced law in the 1840s. Here, Mr. Ford stands outside the courthouse with Lincoln portrayer Charles Roscoe Miles. Miles was a distant relative of Lincoln's and used his resemblance to the president to support himself during the Great Depression.

Henry Ford admired President Lincoln's humble, down-to-earth character and his embodiment of the ideals of the "self-made man." Ford collected many Lincoln-related artifacts, including the Logan County, Illinois, courthouse in which Lincoln had first practiced law and the chair in which Lincoln was assassinated. He housed his Lincoln collection inside the courthouse when it was re-erected in Greenfield Village.

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.

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. Ford wanted to have the courthouse serve as a teaching tool about the "principles of justice and common sense as exemplified by Abraham Lincoln." Here, students from Ford's Edison Institute Schools test out these principles.

Between 1840 and 1847, Abraham Lincoln tried cases as a traveling lawyer when this courthouse was located in Postville (later Lincoln), Illinois. With new leadership at Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in the early 1980s, museum staff worked to re-create courthouse activities in frontier communities of the 1840s--resulting in dramatic role-playing performances like this one.

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.