General Information

Our History

The practice of law in Allen County was established by the activities of the Allen Circuit Court in 1824. The first court was held in Alexander Ewings’ tavern on August 9, 1824. The circuit judge Miles Eggleston was not present and the first  court was before two locally elected non-lawyer side judges, Samuel Hanna and Benjamin Cushman. Circuit Judge Bethuel F. Morris, a resident of Indianapolis, “rode circuit” and presided over the next session of the court on June 6, 1825. A courthouse would no be built until 1831. Until then,  court would be held in various private homes and taverns. The bar grew from a prosecutor, Charles Ewing and his brother William, in 1824; to three attorneys by 1830; twelve by 1840; and twenty-one by 1850. Today the Allen County bar numbers are over eight hundred. In 1875 the bar association became formal with officers. The Allen County Bar Association (ACBA) was established in 1890. In 1922 the ACBA reorangized with requirements for membership and, in 1959 incorporated. The elected presidents administered the Bar Association from their personal law offices until 1956 when the Association established its own office. In 2000, the Association moved into their current headquarters located at 924 South Calhoun Street.