The marble statue of President Abraham Lincoln by Irish sculptor Lot Flannery, located in Washington, DC, is the nation’s oldest memorial to the president. Flannery had known Lincoln and was at Ford’s Theatre the night of the assassination. This is the only statue of Lincoln created by someone who knew him.
Due to Washington, DC’s geographical location, the city was often accused of being sympathetic to the Confederacy during the Civil War. Fearing revenge on their hometown by Republican party leaders for the murder, business owners decided to erect a monument honoring the slain president, in an attempt to show their loyalty. Costing $25,000, residents of Washington, DC made most of the donations, the largest coming from John T. Ford, the manager of Ford’s Theatre, a result of a benefit held at his Baltimore theatre.
Installed in front of the old District of Columbia City Hall (now the Court of Appeals), the statue was unveiled on April 15, 1868, the third anniversary of Lincoln’s death. The city’s offices were closed at noon, and all flags were flown at half-staff. An estimated 20,000 people, around 20% of Washington’s population, attended the dedication. Dignitaries at the ceremony included President Andrew Jackson and General Ulysses S. Grant. (Click here for Ulysses S. Grant House.)
The statue measures over 7 feet high, almost 3 feet wide. Its granite base is over 6 feet high and 7 feet wide. The statue originally stood on an 18-foot high marble column atop a 6-foot high octagonal base, because, Flannery said, “And when it fell to me to carve and erect this statue I resolved and did place it so high that no assassin’s hand could ever again strike him down.”
The first Lincoln memorial commissioned after his death, it was not the first one built. In 1866, a plastic statue of Lincoln, subsequently replaced by a metal version, was put up in San Francisco, but it was destroyed in that city’s 1906 earthquake.
Flannery’s Lincoln has also had its trials. Praised initially, decades later it fell out of favor. With the construction of the new Lincoln Memorial in January 1920, the statue was taken down. Officials suggested it would be better off moved elsewhere, destinations discussed included Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.
The people of Washington, DC were upset, which quickly turned to anger, when the Lincoln statue was later found in a basement, then packed in an outdoor crate surrounded by weeds.
DC officials returned the carved figure of Lincoln in October 1923, moving it just a few feet away from its original spot. His right hand later fell off and was replaced by one that is slightly too large, and his 18-foot-high pillar was changed to a lower pedestal. Otherwise, this 157-year-old statue of President Abraham Lincoln still stands . . . a tribute to the man, his sacrifice and enduring beliefs.
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