A BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION - FEBRUARY 12, 2009
RELOCATING AND REDEDICATING
IDAHO'S ABRAHAM LINCOLN STATUE
THE OLDEST LINCOLN MONUMENT IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
Alphonse Pelzer was a German immigrant who came to America in the 19th century and relocated to Salem, Ohio. He established a wood carving business and became a sculptor. In 1897, Pelzer designed and executed a monumental, life-sized statue of Abraham Lincoln as the "Emancipator." Standing six feet four inches tall, seven bronze replicas were made between 1898 and 1919 of the statue by the Mullins Manufacturing Corporation. All models made after 1899, were produced by sculptor John G. Segesman, Swiss born artist, who used the Pelzer concept but added his own variations.
Around the time of Lincoln's 100th birthday celebration in 1912, the Idaho ladies auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic probably began discussing the erection of a memorial to the Sixteenth President. Because Lincoln had created Idaho Territory in 1863 and had been Commander in Chief of the Union Army in which their husbands fought during the Civil War, such a tribute seemed especially fitting here. At some point, funds were raised, a local sandstone base was shaped, and a bronze plaque procured. Thus, the first plan for a now existing Lincoln monument in the West was put in motion.
On February 12, 1915, Governor Moses Alexander, other state officials, many Civil War veterans and their wives in attendance, with a band, songs, speeches and flags flying, the sandstone base was officially dedicated. Apparently the statue, intended for mounting on the base was not yet purchased, ready or received. However, the ceremonies went forward with great fanfare. At least six major speeches were given by the politicians and soldiers in attendance. The “big” crowd likely contained several hundred listeners. Idaho Secretary of State Baker called our monument “the shrine of the nation’s political saint.”
According to a letter then published in the Idaho Statesman, the Commandant of Idaho's Soldiers Home, R.W. Barton made a trip to the East in April 1915, and while in Detriot made contact with Mullins Manufactory representatives to purchase "a life-sized bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln to surmount a beautiful shaft as already enacted and presented.
After the statue arrived later that Spring, the G.A.R. Ladies and other patriotic groups held a second ceremony on Monday, July 12, 1915. With “Lincoln the Emancipator” now atop the pedestal, a crowd of citizens gathered once more on the lawn of Soldiers Home off State Street in Boise. American flags covered the statue until the moment of unveiling. The Idaho Review reported:
It was an inspiring moment when the flags fell apart and the kindly and well known features of the martyr stood revealed. It was little wonder that a cheer went up with many a quaver in the voice and that tears stole down the cheeks of many who, as young men and women, had lived and loved and labored in Lincoln’s day.
It was a beautiful sight. The flags were drawn aside by Miss Grace Eagleson and Miss Myrtle McGuffin. Then 37 pretty young girls dressed in white and bearing the national colors, led by Miss Faith Barton representing the state, marched past the statue and as they did so each placed a bouquet of fresh flowers at its base.
While this beautiful ceremony was in progress the National Guard band rendered patriotic music and the great crowd banked against the hall and scattered over the lawn looked on and cheered.
The statue and base together stand 17 feet tall. When the Old Soldiers Home was torn down in the 1970’s, the Lincoln monument was moved to the new Idaho State Veterans Home located in Fort Boise.
Research has shown that Idaho’s statute is the oldest existing public monument dedicated to Abraham Lincoln in the Western United States. An earlier one, dating to 1866 in San Francisco was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Statues in Ashland (1915) and Portland, Oregon (1928), Spokane (1930) and Tacoma, Washington (1918), Long Beach (1915), Redlands (1932) Los Angeles (1926) and San Francisco, California (1928), were all dedicated later than our Idaho monument. The other six Pelzer Lincoln statues are located in the states of New Jersey, Michigan (two), Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska.
With the full support of the Idaho Division of Veterans Services, the Lincoln monument has now been moved again from a low-visibility location to expand their parking lot. Over nearly a century, the sandstone base had developed cracks which threatened to destroy its corners and efface some of its text. The bronze statute also needed cleaning, refinishing and conservation. The new site, one hundred yards in front of the Statehouse, is located in Steunenberg Park at the end of Capitol Boulevard at Bannock Street. It is a prominent high-visibility location worthy of the oldest Lincoln monument in the West. The roles of school children and veterans in supporting the rededication will be emphasized in the text of a new bronze plaque to be mounted on the East side of the base.
The rededication ceremonies will take place at noon, Thursday, February 12, 2009, the day which marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. Idaho veterans and school children will be recognized during the program, which will be marked with appropriate speeches, music, and, as was the case in 1915, the dramatic undraping of the Lincoln statue at its new, permanent location.