The Lincoln Memorials

America’s 16th President has one of the world’s most recognized faces, nearly two centuries after he lived. There are countless remembrances for Lincoln. There are numerous cities and counties named for him – including the capital city of Nebraska. There is a Lincoln peak in Colorado, a Lincoln Island near Juneau, Alaska, and a lake named for him in Utah.

Lincoln is especially personified in statues and memorials across the globe, from the Americas to parts of the Old World.

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. is probably the best-known of the tributes to the Great Emancipator. There are, however, many, many more throughout the United States and the world.

From New England to the West, Lincoln’s likeness is seen in cities, parks, and within (or on the grounds of) capitol buildings. Lincoln memorials can be found in Boston and Cambridge in Massachusetts, in Cornish, New Hampshire, and two New Jersey cities. There are three Lincoln statues in New York City – standing at Union Square, Prospect Park, and outside the New York Historical Society on Central Park West. There are three in Washington D.C. – including inside the U.S. Capitol and at city hall in addition to the famous memorial shrine near the Potomac River.

The inhabitants of the three states where Lincoln lived – Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois – were proud of their famous son, and demonstrated it with myriad statues to the 16th President. A statue stands in the town square of Hodgenville, Kentucky, where Lincoln’s birthplace is preserved. There is a park named for Lincoln, replete with his likeness, in Louisville.  A Lincoln statue stands in the state capitol in Frankfurt, and yet another in the town of Stanville, Kentucky. The state capitol in Indianapolis, Indiana boasts yet another Lincoln statue, entitled Young Lincoln, as he spent his formative years in that state. A sizable memorial is located in southern Indiana demonstrating his boyhood years in the area near Pigeon Creek. There is a Lincoln portrait statue at the Wabash, Indiana courthouse, and still another in Fort Wayne. Illinois, called The Land of Lincoln, boasts numerous likenesses of their political prodigy. There are three Lincoln monuments in Chicago: in Grant Park, in Lincoln Square, and Lincoln Park. In Springfield, where the tomb of Lincoln rests, a large monument guards the immense gravesite. There are further Lincoln statues in the towns of Urbana and Dixon.

Other cities that have demonstrated their gratitude for Lincoln by erecting statues to him include Cincinnati, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Ypsilanti, Michigan; Clermont, Iowa; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; even in Richmond, Virginia – where the entitled “To Bind Up the Wounds of the Nation” shows Lincoln with his son, Tad.

Since the capital city of Nebraska is named for the 16th President, it is only fitting that a statue of Lincoln is found at its state capitol.

The first national highway, finished in the early 20th century, was also named for Abraham Lincoln. At the highest point of the highway in Wyoming, there is a massive marble likeness of Lincoln’s head. It is impossible to miss the enormous monument while driving along Interstate 80 – which in part converges with Route 30 – the original Lincoln Highway.

Anyone visiting Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota sees the likeness of Lincoln next to three other U.S. Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt.

There are several Lincoln memorials located outside the United States, as Lincoln’s influence and love of liberty for all has captured the attention of the entire world. Mexico offers three monuments to Lincoln: in Parque Lincoln in Mexico City, in Ciudad Juarez, and in Tijuana.  A statue of Lincoln graces Parliament Square in London, England, and another is found in Albert Square in Manchester farther north in Great Britain. There are monuments to Lincoln in Edinburgh, Scotland, in Oslo, Norway, and even in Moscow, Russia.

There is no town, though, which shows more admiration for America’s most famous President than Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The small town has an inexorable link to Lincoln because of his visit in 1863, culminated by his greatest speech, the Gettysburg Address.

There are six statues to Lincoln easily available for public viewing in Gettysburg. In Lincoln Square, a statue of Lincoln stands in front of the David Wills home, where Lincoln stayed during his brief visit. At Gettysburg College, the statue entitled The Great Emancipator can be seen in front of Stevens Hall, visible from Carlisle Street. Just south of the Square, the statue known as The Gettysburg Address stands in front of the public library. Another likeness of Lincoln sits just outside the entrance to the visitor’s center. Lincoln also stands at the front of the Pennsylvania Memorial on Cemetery Ridge. Finally, in the National Cemetery where Lincoln uttered his famous address, there is The Lincoln Speech Memorial, with a bust of the 16th President front and center.

While President Lincoln endured great animosity during his tenure, and a war that erupted because of his election, his memory is fondly perpetuated in bronze, rock and marble throughout the nation and the world. His hope for the endurance of a government of the people has also been realized – and that likely would mean more to him today than the multitude of memorials to him.

The Lincoln Monument, Rt. 30 (Interstate 80) Wyoming

(Author Photo)