The buildings became a gathering place for local lawyers such as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.

Future Illinois Treasurer James T. Miller, a local businessman and land speculator, financed their construction.

They are the oldest buildings in the Bloomington Central Business District and the only examples of non-residential 1840s architecture in McLean County.

Asahel Gridley and John M. Scott practiced in the Miller offices starting in 1848.

Among the lawyers known to have met with Davis, Scott, and Gridley are Joshua R. and Jesse W. Fell, William W. Orme, Ward Hill Lamon, James T. Miller, Leonard Swett, Stephen A. Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln.