Postville Courthouse State Historic Site facts for kids
The Postville Courthouse State Historic Site is a special place in Lincoln, Illinois, United States. It's a copy of an old county courthouse that was important in the early days of Illinois. The first courthouse was built in 1840. Later, it was moved all the way to Greenfield Village in Michigan! The building you see today was built in 1953. It looks very much like the original. This courthouse is famous because Abraham Lincoln, who later became president, worked here as a young lawyer. He traveled around central Illinois, going from one courtroom to another. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency takes care of this historic site.
Building the First Courthouse
Postville was a new settlement started in 1835 by Russell Post. In 1839, the Illinois General Assembly decided to create a new county. They named it Logan County. The county leaders chose Postville as the first county seat. This meant it would be the main town for government business.
A simple wooden courthouse was built the next year, in 1840. It looked like a regular house, but it was very important. Inside, it had a courtroom where judges heard cases. It also had offices for important county workers. These included the county clerk, the sheriff, and the county recorder of deeds. The county board and the justice of the peace also met there.
The Postville Courthouse was used for only eight years, from 1840 to 1848. After that, a nearby town called Mount Pulaski, Illinois made an offer. They said they would build a new brick courthouse if they could become the county seat. The county leaders agreed. They were worried about a fire destroying the wooden courthouse and all the important records. The brick courthouse in Mount Pulaski is still standing today! It is now the Mount Pulaski Courthouse State Historic Site.
Abraham Lincoln's Time at the Courthouse
After seven years in Mount Pulaski, the county seat moved again in 1855. It moved to a new spot near the Chicago and Alton Railroad tracks. This new town was named Lincoln, Illinois, after the famous lawyer. A fire in Lincoln in 1857 destroyed many of Logan County's court records. Because of this, we don't know much about the specific cases Abraham Lincoln worked on at Postville.
When the Postville courthouse was active, Lincoln was a young lawyer. He was just starting his career. At that time, lawyers usually took on all kinds of cases. Lincoln would have taken any case he was hired for.
Even though there was a lot of competition, Lincoln made many friends in Logan County. In 1846, people in Central Illinois elected him to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Then, in 1853, they named their new county seat, Lincoln, after him. The town of Lincoln grew very quickly. By the 1860s, it had grown so much that it included Postville. Postville became a neighborhood of Lincoln and was no longer its own town.
People who lived near the old Postville courthouse shared many stories. One popular story says that Lincoln and other young lawyers played town ball in the field across from the courthouse. Town ball was an old version of baseball. They played while they waited for their cases to be called in court.
What Happened to the Courthouse?
After Postville became part of Lincoln, the old courthouse became a private home. It slowly lost its importance. In 1929, a famous inventor named Henry Ford bought the old building. He loved collecting historic buildings. He paid $8,000 for it. His workers carefully took the wooden building apart. They even dug up the foundation. Then, they moved everything to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. The Postville Courthouse was rebuilt there using its original materials. You can still see it in Michigan today!
The people of Lincoln were sad to lose this important piece of their history. They asked the state of Illinois to help. In 1953, the state built a new courthouse. This new building was a copy of the original. It was built using the same measurements and plans. This replica is now the Postville Courthouse State Historic Site. It is furnished like a courtroom from the 1840s.
