Holding Court in Postville

Category: Quick Stops

Walk up the cobbled sidewalk that leads to the Postville Courthouse in Lincoln and you’re accompanied by ghosts of court days past—including the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, who walked these same grounds himself more than 160 years ago.

The Postville Courthouse you enter today is not the same building that Lincoln spent time in. But a tour of the replica—a state historic site and Route 66 Roadside Attraction—offers a glimpse of what the original structure looked like at the time a young Abe Lincoln practiced law there.

A Trip Back In Time
Inside, displays showcase what life was like for traveling lawyers and explain how the legal system worked in the mid- to late-1800s. Lay your eyes on a rocking chair Lincoln used to sit in when he visited friends in the area—but be warned: it’s the only thing in the museum visitors aren’t allowed to touch.

Volunteers offer guided tours of the period courtroom upstairs, which is filled with reproduction furniture from the era. Although most of the items contained in the room (aside from the discreet electric lights) are historically accurate, volunteer tour guide Steve Cosby of Lincoln admits that the flag that hangs in the courtroom probably would not have been in the original courthouse because Postville was a lower court. It’s included to show how many states were in the union at the time court was held in Postville.

Cosby is proud to point out the attention to detail you’ll find upstairs in the courtroom and replica office next door—including wooden, hay-filled boxes hanging on the wall, which were used to store tallow candles so they wouldn’t melt in the heat, and hidden compartments in the desks for stashing private documents.

“Some people are disappointed that the courthouse is a replica,” Cosby admits. “But when you walk up the sidewalk or on the lawn, you’re on the same soil as Abraham Lincoln.”

A Short-Lived County Seat
When the Postville Courthouse was built in 1840 to serve as the county seat for Logan County, the man who would later be elected the 16th president of the United States visited Postville twice a year—for spring and fall court dates—as he made his way through the Eighth Judicial Circuit.

Although the time Lincoln and his fellow traveling lawyers spent in the courthouse was relatively short-lived, a crowd of Postville officials—including the sheriff, coroner, recorder, surveyor, county clerk, commissioners, and justice of the peace—all operated out of the building year-round.

Information on Lincoln’s legal work in the area is slim because an 1857 fire destroyed records from the time. However, stories have survived about his visits—and his time in Central Illinois is said to have propelled him to success as a four-term state legislator, a one-term Congressman, and later president of the United States. (In fact, according to a sign outside the Postville Courthouse, it was here that the young lawyer first earned the moniker “Honest Abe.”)

Just eight short years after the Postville Courthouse was finished, Mt. Pulaski (eleven miles southeast of Postville) became the new county seat, and all records were moved. Soon thereafter, the growing town of Lincoln took over the rapidly declining area known as Postville.

After the county seat moved, the Postville Courthouse was sold for a mere $300 and was used as a store, a post office, and later a private home. Even as interest in preserving the building and its history grew in the 1920s, no one in the community offered to purchase the building to preserve it until a certain car king named Henry Ford stepped in. Ford purchased the original structure for $8,000, dismantled it, and moved it to his Greenfield Village Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1929—where it still sits today.

After Ford hauled a nearly lost piece of American history away, the land on which the courthouse previously stood remained unoccupied. Then, in 1953, a reproduction was constructed as part of the city of Lincoln’s centennial celebration.

Today, onsite tours of the courthouse are available from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission and tours are free, although donations are appreciated. The Postville Courthouse is also the site of special events, such as the 1800s Craft Fair held each year at the end of August.

Get There
Postville Courthouse State Historic Site  
914 Fifth St.
Lincoln, IL
217.732.8930

Tags: Central Illinois | Lincoln | Postville Courthouse | Abraham Lincoln | Route 66 |

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