Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln
Lot Flannery

Judiciary Square
C Street & 4th Street, NW

This was the first public monument to President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). The citizens of the District of Columbia began raising funds just days after his assassination.

The statue was placed into storage in 1920 when the DC City Hall was undergoing renovation. While it was away, construction on the Lincoln Memorial in Potomac Park began in earnest. It was suggested that there was no need for this statue since the newer version would honor the President adequately, but the public outcry was great enough to make the Federal Government relent and return the DC Lincoln to its accustomed place in 1922.

Standing portrait of Lincoln wearing a waistcoat, bow tie, and a long coat. He stands with his proper left hand resting on a fasces, a bundle of rods tied together with a ribbon of stars, the Roman emblem of authority. His proper right arm is at his side, his proper right hand is partially open and pointing out toward the ground. Lincoln looks off into the distance toward his proper left. On his proper right side, a sword or scroll once hung, but is now missing. The sculpture rests on a two-tiered granite base consisting of a short rectangle on top of a low, square foundation.