Tazewell House Hotel

This was the location of the Tazewell House hotel (later called Bemis House). Abraham Lincoln and other attorneys often stayed here when court was in session in Pekin. It was probably in the lobby of Tazewell House where Lincoln first encountered a new invention called the telegraph.

Under the name of Tazewell House, this hotel was owned and operated by "Uncle" Bill Tinney, a veteran of the Mexican War who also served as Tazewell County Sheriff. Tinney and his deputies personally escorted Pekin's black men to the polling place after their right to vote was secured by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution following the Civil War.

Bemis House/Tazewell House was razed in the early 20th century, but the old stone threshold of Tazewell House was salvaged and moved to the Tazewell County Courthouse. There it is displayed with the inscription, “Hereon trod the great Abraham Lincoln – Stephen A. Douglas – John A. Logan – Robert G. Ingersoll – David Davis – Edward D. Baker and others.”