Abe Lincoln Will Be 200 Years Old February 12, 2009

The town that I live in has a statue in the center of town of Abe Lincoln. Many individuals would say," so what" Well this statue is rather unique. It is a statue of Lincoln in the standing position. Several years back, the editor of our city paper did some research and discovered that there are only two monument statues of Lincoln in the United States with him in the standing position. Our town is fortunate to have one of them. It sits right in the middle of town between the highway. You can view it both ways traveling north or south.

Recently, as our city was having a new highway paved as it passes through our town, the city council that I am a member of decided to put in new street lights in that section of town. To accent the statue, on several of the new street lights, we had lights put to shine on the statue from different angles.

This coming year will mark the 200th birthday of one of our great leaders. All across the United States, statues, museums, libraries, and communities are planning to celebrate his birthday. It is being called the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial. A Commission has even been established to keep track of the events. There have been grants set up for funds to clean up monuments and parks for the events. Our small community applied but was turned down and we are even located in his home State. Nevertheless, we have proceeded anyway. Cspan has already set up a calender of events in programming. It can be found at www.c-span.org . Another great web site is www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org . These two sites alone can lead you to many more web sites with lot's of information on the year coming up.

On September 7, 1904, The Lincoln Monument was donated to the city of Bunker Hill by Captain Charles Clinton of Company B 1st Missouri Cavalry Volunteers. A crowd of over 5000 individuals lined the street as a parade went through the streets to the spot of dedication in town. Resting at the bottom of the statue is a lady that is writing with a stylus that says "with malice towards none."

In 1948, the town was hit by a tornado measured to be about an F4. 19 individuals were killed as over 80 percent of the town was destroyed. The statues head disappeared. However, it was eventually found by another individual and returned it.

It is very ironic that the statue is here. The first settler here in 1830 was a man by the name of Elijah Lincoln. About a mile and half southwest of our town he had a mill and a rest area for travelers going from St. Louis, Missouri to Springfield, Illinois. It was called Lincoln.

The celebration of Lincoln's 200th birthday will have large celebrations in Springfield, Kentucky, his birth place, and of course Washington D.C.

Not to be outdone by the bigger cities, we too will honor our former President as well. Back in 2004 we had a ceremony for the 100th anniversary of the our statue dedication. At that time the city had a professional group come in and clean up the statue. The city has always been very proud of this statue and has taken good care of it over the years. The emblem of the statue can be found on different letterheads for the city and various businesses in our town. It is also located on the city billboard as well. Pictures of the statue are located hanging in different establishments and offices in the town.

This is a special year in our countries history about a special man that changed the way of life for many. Like our bicentennial in 1976, this is a special time.