MOUNT  PULASKI  COURTHOUSE

Illinois Historical Site  

Hours

 Tuesday - Saturday   

12:00 - 4:00 pm

 

Mt. Pulaski Township
Historical Museum
< across the street >

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     The Mount Pulaski Courthouse (shown here along with pictures of two rooms containing Windsor chairs) is a Illinois State Historic Site on the village square in Mount Pulaski, Illinois.  Abraham Lincoln practiced law in this courthouse as a member of the Illinois 8th Judicial Circuit during the years: 1849 - 1854.  The courthouse was built in 1847 and served as the county seat of Logan County from 1848 to 1854.  Mr. Lincoln was an United States Representative [1847-1848].
     At the time Mr. Lincoln first came to the Mount Pulaski courthouse, he was a senior partner to associate William Herndon in their Springfield law firm.  Among other cases, young Lincoln handled two patent cases in the Mount Pulaski courthouse:  The 1853 "Horological Cradle"case and the 1854 "Cast Iron Tombstone" case..  In 1853, the city of Lincoln, Illinois, was founded.  It was just 10 miles to the NW and more centralized in Logan County.  In addition, the new railroad from Chicago to Springfield and onto St. Louis was finished.  In 1855, the county seat was moved to the new courthouse in Lincoln.
     In 1857, a fire destroyed the Lincoln courthouse.  Unfortunately, the court records of most of Lincoln's cases were destroyed.  Court records of several Mount Pulaski courthouse cases that had gone on to the state Supreme Court on appeal were not destroyed.  Therefore, there is not a complete record of Lincoln's legal work at the Mount Pulaski courthouse. 

INSIDE Pictures 
of 
Mount Pulaski Courthouse

Courthouse - 1st Floor

Courthouse - 2nd Floor

Landmarks Preservation
Council of Illinois

 
Mount Pulaski
Historical Museum
 (217) 792 3719

Mount Pulaski Courthouse
(217) 792 3919

Wallace Kautz 
       Director         
(217) 792 5430  

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Feb 12 Courthouse Replica "Bank" Give-away
draws a crowd on Abe's Birthday

NEW-->

< The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln incorporates
  Lincoln Day-by-Day: A Chronology, compiled by the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission with 
the cooperation and support of the Abraham Lincoln Association and published by the Government 
Printing Office in 1960. The text presented here includes all entries from that publication, with 
corrections and additions by the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a project of the 
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.>

Apr 14, 2006    16th President Abraham Lincoln slain 141 years ago

Apr 13, 2006   The assassination of Abraham Lincoln - a great 
                            deal of what most Americans "know" is wrong