Flint & Co. Pork House Site

In Abraham Lincoln's day, the spot now occupied by the Court Place Apartments high rise was the site of the Flint & Co. Pork House, which was owned and operated by Thompson J. S. Flint and Watson Matthews. Flint and Matthews sold the pork house to Benjamin Kellogg Jr., but in the process of the sale Flint and Matthews lost track of 2,000 gunny sacks. Kellogg found them and converted them for his own use, and refused to return them to Flint and Matthews.

In October 1854, Flint and Matthews sued Kellogg in Tazewell County Circuit Court in an action of trover, seeking $200. Kellogg retained Lincoln as his attorney and argued that the gunny sacks were part of his purchase of Flint's and Matthew's pork house. A jury found Kellogg guilty and awarded Flint and Matthews $54.05 in damages.

The site of the Flint & Co. Pork House is shown at the center of the accompanying image, which comes from an 1877 aerial depiction of Pekin.