In 1838, Abraham Lincoln practiced law in Macon County's first courthouse and took part in five court cases. According to Lincoln biographer Ms. Ida Tarbell, this was probably the only log courthouse in which Lincoln ever practiced law during his career, because the rest were already made of planked wood or brick. Shortly after Lincoln participated in those five cases, Macon County replaced the log courthouse with a brick structure. In 1830, Lincoln and his family arrived in Illinois to make Macon County and Decatur their first home, and he had many opportunities to view the courthouse, built in part by his second cousin, John Hanks, who had been hired to do the chinking and daubing of plastering for the log courthouse. Many also claimed that Lincoln probably attended court sessions there when he was in Decatur during 1830. After the log courthouse was replaced, it was rented out for offices and later moved to a farm for use as a meeting house, a school, a stable, and a corncrib. The building was in danger of becoming a forgotten piece of Lincoln history until it was purchased and given to the Macon County Old Settler's Association. It was later owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Decatur Park District before being obtained by the Macon County Historical Society and moved to its present location in 1992. The Macon County Historical Society began on May 25, 1916, when twelve people met in the Decatur Public Library, adopted a constitution, and elected officers. Later that year, the public was asked for items of historical interest, as the Society planned to establish a library of local and state history, maintain a museum, and cultivate and diffuse knowledge of those subjects through meetings and publications. The Society became inactive and was reorganized several times over forty years. In 1962, several local citizens met to discuss reactivating it, and meetings were held in Decatur's old Carnegie Public Library until the Society could purchase the north Cumberland Presbyterian Church for its meetings. Today, the Society maintains its museum and Prairie Village, highlighted by the Lincoln Log Courthouse.