The Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices State Historic Site is a historic

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

building built in 1841 in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. It is located at 6th and Adams Streets in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

. The law office has been restored and is operated by the

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of m ...

as a state historic site. The office building is a surviving portion of what was the ''Tinsley Block'', a brick structure built by local developer Seth M. Tinsley in 1840–1841 to provide office space for professionals working in the newly chosen state capital city. The

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...

had moved the capital from

Vandalia, Illinois Vandalia is a city in and the county seat of Fayette County, Illinois, United States. At the 2020 Census, the population was 7,458. Vandalia is northeast of St. Louis, on the Kaskaskia River. It served as the state capital of Illinois fro ...

to Springfield in late 1839, and local workers had begun to build a new limestone state house, now the

Old State Capitol State Historic Site The Old State Capitol State Historic Site, in Springfield, Illinois, is the fifth capitol building built for the U.S. state of Illinois. It was built in the Greek Revival style in 1837–1840, and served as the state house from 1840 to 1876.

, on the parcel of land just north of the Tinsley Block. Lawyer

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

and his partner Stephen T. Logan moved their partnership law offices to a third-floor office in the Tinsley Block in 1843. The

Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ...

, where the partners often pleaded cases, met in the State Capitol across the street, and the U.S. District Court rented space on the Tinsley Block's second floor. The firm of Logan & Lincoln broke up in 1844. Lincoln continued to practice law in the Tinsley Block office and accepted a younger lawyer,

William H. Herndon William Henry Herndon (December 25, 1818 – March 18, 1891) was a law partner and biographer of President Abraham Lincoln. He was an early member of the new Republican Party and was elected mayor of Springfield, Illinois. Early life Herndon ...

, as his junior partner. The firm of Lincoln and Herndon practiced from the Tinsley Block office from 1844 until about 1852.

Lincoln's law work

The casual visitor to the Lincoln & Herndon office in 1844–52 might not always have run into the firm's senior partner. Lincoln's duties often demanded that he ride the judicial circuit of counties in central Illinois, trying cases in more than one dozen county courthouses. In addition, Lincoln served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849.

The law office today

The Lincoln & Herndon firm moved from the Tinsley Block to a new office (since demolished) on the west side of the Old State Capitol square about 1852. In 1872 part of the building was torn down, but the section that had contained Lincoln's law office was preserved. After the building had undergone many further changes, in 1985 it became a state-owned historic site managed by the

(IHPA). The IHPA has since restored the surviving portion of the Tinsley Block to resemble its operations in the 1840s, with the federal court and the Lincoln and Herndon law office both operating within the building.

References

External links

Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices
- Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

- Abraham Lincoln Online {{Protected areas of Illinois, collapsed Commercial buildings completed in 1841 Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois Illinois State Historic Sites Museums in Springfield, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Illinois Presidential museums in Illinois Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area Historic district contributing properties in Illinois Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Law offices Legal history of Illinois