Allan Pinkerton, famous detective, had his home and cooperage on this lot from 1844 to 1850. Here he sheltered and employed slaves escaping to freedom. After helping to capture some counterfeiters, he became deputy sheriff of Kane County in 1848. In 1850 he founded his detective agency in Chicago. In February 1861 he was the bodyguard of President-Elect Abraham Lincoln on the train trip to Washington. Early in the Civil War he directed the spy service of the Union Army.