Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices State Historic Site
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The Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices State Historic Site is a historic brick building built in 1841 in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located at 6th and Adams Streets in Springfield, Illinois. The law office has been restored and is operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
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 had moved the capital from Vandalia, Illinois 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, on the parcel of land just north of the Tinsley Block.
Lawyer Abraham Lincoln 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, where the partners often pled cases, met in the State Capitol across the street, and the U.S. District Court rented space on the Tinsley Black'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, as his junior partner. The firm of Lincoln & Herndon practiced from the Tinsley Block office from 1844 until about 1852.
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[edit] 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 in 1847-1849.
[edit] 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 Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (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 & Herndon law office both operating within the building.
[edit] Seth M. Tinsley / Seth Tinsley Sr. / S. M. Tinsley
Abraham Lincoln had several key relationships with Seth M. Tinsley. (1) Between 1843 and 1852, Tinsley was the Tinsley Building Landlord who rented out offices for Lincoln to practice law. (2) In 1844 Tinsley was the Banker / Escrow Agent to Lincoln in Abes purchase of a home at Eighth & Jackson from Rev. Charles Dresser, pastor of St. Paul's Epispocal Church in Springfield and also the minister who married Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd in 1843. (3) Starting in 1840, Tinsley was the Owner of Tinsley Dry Goods where Abe and his family shopped. There are also numerous other Lincoln / Tinsley relationships dating back to the 1830s in Postville / Lincoln Illinois where Tinsley built the first courthouse and owned a Dry Goods Store.
This Escrow Receipt for Abraham Lincolns 1844 home purchase says: "Received of A. Lincoln on the within seven hunderd fifty dollars on which he is allowed interest at the rate of twelve per cent per annum, until the within contract is complied with, or performmance offered by said Dresser; and in the case Dresser shall fail to comply with the within, we hereby bind ourselves to refund seven hunderd and fifty dollars to said Lincoln with interest at the rate of twelve per cent per annum from date February 5, 1844. Signed Charles Dresser Signed S. M. Tinsley
On May 2, 1844 Dresser gave Lincoln a warranty deed for the property at Eighth and Jackson streets, completing the transaction initiated on January 7, 1844. Lincoln paid Dresser $1200 plus a $300 Adams street lot for his new home.
The Eighth & Jackson home was built in 1839 as a one story home. Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary and first son, Robert Todd moved into the house in 1844. With a growing family, the Lincolns expanded their house by adding a second story by 1856. In 1972 the Lincoln Home in Springfield came under the stewardship of the National Park Service.
