The Dewenter's Building

The Dewenter's Building. Lincoln Era Attorney's Offices. , Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1983, The Dewenter's building has been the site of commercial and professional activity since 1856. Dewenter's, a men's clothing store, was in business here from 1870 to 1988. The building is known for the attorneys listed below, who practiced here from 1856 to 1861. When the old Eighth Circuit Court was in session these lawyers were privileged to work with Abraham Lincoln. In the offices above were heard political discourses concerning freedom and slavery, speculations on the frailty of mankind and ever-present land dealing. The building was restored by Russel Francois, architect, in 1996., William Ward Orme was Colonel of the 94th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. A superb administrator, he served in the government of occupied Tennessee. An early death kept him from a promising post-war career in Illinois., Ward Hill Lemon, law partner to Harvey Hogg, served as Lincoln's body guard for his trip to Washington as President-Elect. During the Civil War, Lamon was U.S. Marshall for the District of Columbia., Harvey Hogg, opposed slavery and enlisted in the Second Illinois Cavalry at the outbreak of war. He was elected Colonel of the Regiment. During the course of a campaign he said, "…don't use your pistols but give them cold steel, the saber is the weapon for the cavalry to rely upon." While engaged in a raid on his hometown, Bolivar, Tennessee in August 1862 Hogg led a saber charge and was shot down and killed. , Leonard Swett was partner with William Ward Orme. In Wyant vs. The People, he defended an accused murderer and was one of the first attorneys to use the plea of temporary insanity. After the war Swett provided legal counsel during the "Whiskey Ring" case and the Haymarket case in Chicago in 1887.