Abraham Lincoln's statue: the peripatetic beardless aesthetic

Commemorating the 43^rd anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, the children of Omaha unveiled a statue of the 16^th President on Sunday, April 6, 1908. On a warm Spring afternoon, Central High sophomore Mona Cowell pulled on the sturdy cord, and with some assistance from the Superintendant, the stars and stripes covering the Viennese statue fell away to reveal the bronze statue of a beardless Abraham Lincoln. The ceremony that Sunday afternoon began at 2:30 at the First Methodist Church with an invocation by the Rev. Frank Loveland. The Omaha High School glee club sang a patriotic song, Omaha World-Herald and Omaha Bee) and Principal Waterhouse gave a brief address about the history of the efforts to raise funds for the statue. General Charles Manderson recollected that as a member of the Canton (Ohio) Zouaves, he recalled escorting a beardless Lincoln to the inauguration and that the statue was a good likeness of the man he remembered. The principal address was given by W. F. Gurley. Frederick McConnell, Chairman of the soliciting crew for the sophomore class, was introduced and made a speech presenting the statue. With that, Mona Cowell and Davidson jerked on the cord, and the statue was unveiled to the cheers of those present (April 8, 1908, Omaha Bee and Omaha World-Herald).

Sophomore Mona Cowell unveils the
statue, April 8, 1908 (Omaha Bee)

The idea of a statue of Abraham Lincoln had been floating around for a while. As Principal Waterhouse recalled, he approved of the idea of a statue when it was first proposed by Assistant Principal J. F. Woolery. Waterhouse broached the idea to the students, who enthusiastically supported the idea of a statue. While Omaha had statues, this would be the first of an American President in the city. (April 8, 1908 Omaha Bee)

Mona Cowell, Central
High School yearbook, 1910

Visiting Vienna later, Woolery visited several sculptures and found that $2,000 was the lowest bid for a statue. Mr Waterhouse called on the art committee of the Woman’s Club, asking for their support for the project. After some debate, the Woman’s Club voted at the December 1906 meeting to support the statue “to stand as a monument to the work of the Omaha Woman’s Club in the years to come,” but that the money should come from subscriptions rather than from their treasury. (December 11, 1906, Omaha World-Herald)  Hearing of the pledge, a delegation of students replied, “This is our statue, not the Woman’s Club, and we want to do it alone,” taking on the task of raising the funds themselves. Within a week, the $2,000 was raised. (April 8, 1908, Omaha Bee) “Members of the Woman’s Club have shown no spirit to interfere with the plans of the pupils, but are enthusiastic in their plans to help them,” Principal Waterhouse said. (February 9, 1907, Omaha Bee)

Abraham Lincoln statue, 1925

The sculptor was Austrian Franz Zelezny (1866-1932), the leading sculptor of Vienna who had won several gold medals, and had several bronzes purchased by the Kaiser. (March 24, 1907, Omaha Bee). The statue was to be seven feet tall and the pedestal eight feet, with the statue costing an estimated $1,200 and the pedestal costing an estimated $400, and made of Barre granite and weighing 20,000 pounds. (February 9, 1907, Omaha Bee) 

From the beginning, however, there was considerable objection from the art work about the statue. Professional painter and artist J. Laurie Wallace spoke before the School Board, calling the statue “The worst work of so-called art perpetrated on a long suffering public.” Citing previous artwork, Wallace said, “The Schiller bust in Riverview Park is bad, the caryatids on the Young Men’s Christian Association building are disgraceful, the sculpture on the high school pediments are vile, but this proposed statue of Lincoln is worse than any.” The Board ignored his pleas to form a commission, and decided to rely on the students and teachers to decide on the final statue. School Superintendent W.M. Davidson reminded people that they could not expect to get a statue of Lincoln “of the St. Gauden’s type” for $2,000. The statue of Lincoln in Chicago by St Gaudens cost $50,000, said Davidson. “I appreciate the defects the same as Mr. Wallace, but repeat that we can not expect too much for the price paid. (March 18, 1908, Omaha Bee).  School board member J.C. Lindsay insisted that the Board ought to have the right to reject the work if it proved unsatisfactory. “No man can force me to accept the gift of a groundhog if I do not want it,” he said. “I have not seen the statue, and as far as I know it may be all right,  but if reports are true, we had better not have any statue at all than to have one that will be an eyesore,” said Board member G. D. Rice. (March 20, 1908, Omaha Bee)

Abraham Lincoln statue at Lincoln Elementary
(11th and Center) - date unknown

While the statue was ultimately dedicated and accepted, it never met with universal acclaim. When the statue had to be moved for the regrading of Dodge Street in 1920, opponents of the statue used the opportunity to relocate the statue to Lincoln School (originally Center School, built in 1883) where students welcomed the statue. A teacher at Central High was asked if he felt "personally sorry that the statue is gone." He replied, "I'll be personally sorry if it comes back." (May 11, 1941, April 20, 2008, Omaha World-Herald).

August 28, 1937
Omaha World-Herald

While the children of Lincoln Grade School at 11^th and Center celebrated the arrival of their statue, it continued to be met with scorn or indifference in the greater community. “We don’t mind it anymore. We are used to it now. At first, it reminded me of a graveyard,” one neighbor across the street from the Lincoln school later said of the statue, as it stood partially obscured by tree limb and litter in the base (April 6, 1930, Omaha World Herald).  By 1937, neighbors complained that the corroded statue was an eyesore and some called for its repair or removal. (August 28, 1937, Omaha World-Herald) That same year, under protests from neighbors tired of the uneven “splotchy green” corrosion, the statue was given a coat of black paint, much to the distress of Principal Bess Bedell (June 26, 1942 and October 21, 1937, Omaha World-Herald).

No respect for the statue 
January, 1920 Omaha World-Herald

Abraham Lincoln resisted calls for the statue to be melted down to support the war effort in 1942. School Board Peter Behrens member threatened to go to court to prevent the statue’s removal, though he lost his earlier bid to have the statue removed to the court house lawn (July 7, 1942, Omaha World-Herald).
Despite a few champions, the statue continued to receive little respect. Superintendent H.M. Corning reported that Joslyn Memorial Museum Director Paul Grummann had branded the statue “the most atrocious statue ever seen.” (June 14, 1941, Omaha World-Herald). Critics continued to point to the ungainly proportions of a medium-short man with a head too large for the body.

Yet Abraham Lincoln endured year after year. An eighth of an inch of oxidation was removed in 1950 during the statue’s first cleaning since it was installed 42 years earlier, for the statue’s rededication before Lincoln’s birthday. The cleaning was paid for Epstein-Morgan Post 260, a Jewish war veterans group (February 7, 1950, Omaha World-Herald). Lincoln’s memory continued to endure, and the children of Lincoln School placed a wreath at the statue in 1961, sang patriotic songs, and remembered the ideals the President stood for (February 12, 1961, Omaha World Herald)

Abraham Lincoln statue at
Bancroft Grade School today.

The statue continued to have its defenders. Year after year, an unknown stranger left a wreath on Abraham Lincoln's birthday. A neighbor believed it was an ex-principal, but the tradition continued after she died. One year, February 12th came and went with no wreath. Nearly two weeks later, a neighbor saw an elderly man stop his car, get out and lay a wreath, and kneel in prayer. He would not give his name but he said he "loves Lincoln," and was "just a little late this year." He got back in his car with out of state plates and drove away, unaware that his annual tradition had been noticed. (February 24, 1981, Omaha World-Herald).

The statue made another trip, this time escorted by students and parents from Lincoln Elementary School, which was to be closed, to its new home at Bancroft School during a parade in 1984. The 7 foot statue was placed on a flatbed truck, followed by the students and parents. The statue had stood outside for 76 years, but would be placed inside at Bancroft Elementary School (May 29, 1984, Omaha World-Herald).

Lincoln still stands at Bancroft School, but if his past travels are any indication, his adventures are from over. Will he come full circle and return to Central High School, or will he be moved some day in the future if Bancroft School is closed? Will Zelezny’s sculpture find respect, or will it continue to face the criticism from the public? What would Lincoln himself have said at his own much-maligned statue? Perhaps he might have said he was too old to cry but it hurt too much to laugh?