Logan County Courthouse: Where Abraham Lincoln Practiced Law
15 artifacts in this set
This expert set is brought to you by:
The staff at The Henry Ford
Logan County Courthouse
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.
Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, 1846-1847
Photographic print
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.
Interior of Logan County Courthouse at Its Original Site, circa 1900, Used as a Private Residence
Photographic print
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.
Interior of Logan County Courthouse at Its Original Site, circa 1925, Used as a Private Residence
Photographic print
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.
Interior of Logan County Courthouse at Its Original Site, circa 1925, Used as a Private Residence
Photographic print
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.
Interior of Logan County Courthouse at Its Original Site, circa 1925, Used as a Private Residence
Photographic print
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.
Detroit News Clipping from September 3, 1929, "Ford Visits Court House Made Famous by Lincoln"
Clipping (Information artifact)
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.
Logan County Courthouse Being Reconstructed in Greenfield Village, October 2, 1929
Photographic print
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.
The Abraham Lincoln Chair Being Uncrated after Shipment to Greenfield Village, January 1930
Photographic print
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."
Charles Roscoe Miles with Henry Ford in Greenfield Village, October 1934
Photographic print
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.
Interior of Logan County Courthouse in Greenfield Village, March 1935
Photographic print
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.
President Herbert Hoover with Henry Ford in Logan County Courthouse, Greenfield Village, May 1937
Photographic print
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.
Student Play inside Logan County Courthouse, Greenfield Village, February 1938
Photographic print
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.
Actors inside Logan County Courthouse, Greenfield Village, 1983
Photographic print
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.
"First Court House of Logan County Where Abraham Lincoln Practiced Law, Lincoln, Ill.," 1927 Postcard
Postcard
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.