Pinkerton's Early Home
CITY:
West Dundee
COUNTY:
Kane
DEDICATED BY:
Troop 35 of the Boy Scouts of America, Dundee Township Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
January 1, 1968 at 6:00:00 AM
The marker is located in West Dundee on the southeast corner of South Third Street and Main Street (IL Route 72). The marker faces west toward South Third Street.
Allan Pinkerton, famous detective, had his home and cooperage on this lot, 1844-1850. 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.