Postville Courthouse State Historic Site

The building's unusual history is derived from its status as one of the courthouses used by lawyer Abraham Lincoln as he traveled the circuit of courtrooms in central Illinois.

After seven years in Mount Pulaski from 1848 until 1855, the county seat was moved to a site by the newly built Chicago and Alton Railroad tracks.

The new town of Lincoln grew so fast that by the 1860s, it had swallowed up nearby Postville, which was annexed and ceased to exist as an autonomous municipality.

One well-corroborated tale says that the field across from the courthouse, then a vacant lot, was used by Lincoln and other young lawyers as a place to play town ball, a 19th-century variety of baseball, while the counselors were waiting for their cases to come up on the docket.

The people of Lincoln were troubled by losing this item from their heritage, and asked the state of Illinois to try to make up part of the loss.

This replica, furnished as a courtroom of the 1840s, serves as the current Postville Courthouse State Historic Site.