This is an exact replica of the original Postville Courthouse - down to the nails used for its construction.

Postville was a frontier settlement founded in 1835 by Russell Post. When the county was chartered by the State of Illinois, it was named Logan County. Since Postville was located near the center of the county, it was chosen to be the County's first county seat.

The original courthouse was built in 1840 and only used until 1848. In 1848, the town of Mount Pulaski, Illinois, offered to take over as the county seat. They offered to build a brick courthouse to better protect the County's records from fire. 

In 1855, the county seat was moved again. It was placed near the railroad tracks here in Lincoln, Illinois. As Lincoln, Illinois grew, Postville was annexed into the City of Lincoln, and the small, original county seat ceased to exist.

The Postville Courthouse State Historic Site is a replica and was built in 1953.

The original was purchased by inventor Henry Ford in 1929 for a cost of $8,000. He moved it to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, where it still stands today.