By Ed Epstein
Chicago, Illinois
Monday, June 17, 2024
Can a major city have too much of Abraham Lincoln? There's a corner of Chicago that surely tests the theory.
In the 1800 block of North Clark Street, passersby can't help but notice this colorful multi-story mural of Lincoln, who spent considerable time in Chicago in the 1850s as his legal practice grew to include big corporate cases. He was nominated for president in Chicago by the Republican National Convention in 1860, although he was at home in Springfield at the time. The mural is on the side of the venerable Lincoln Hotel, now affiliated with the Hyatt chain.
The hotel and the mural are across the street from the expansive 1,200-acre Lincoln Park, a lakefront jewel on Chicago's North Side. The busy park is home to Augustus Saint Gaudens' famous statue of a standing Lincoln, dedicated in 1889. It also features the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Lincoln Park Conservatory, and the Lincoln Park Lagoon.
By the way, a copy of the Saint Gaudens stands in London's Parliament Square near the Houses of Parliament.
Back in Chicago, just a few blocks south of the hotel and mural is the Chicago History Museum, where on the second floor, two galleries are devoted to Lincoln. The museum's collection includes the bed on which Lincoln died in Washington, D.C., on the morning of April 15, 1865.
The Lincoln Hotel sits at the southern end of busy Lincoln Avenue, one of the main diagonal arteries that dot Chicago. For its first few miles, the avenue runs northwest through the Lincoln Park neighborhood. A few miles further along, the avenue comes to the Lincoln Square neighborhood, where in the small square there is another statue of a standing Lincoln. This one, designed by Lloyd Ostendorf and modeled by sculptor Avard Fairbanks, was done for a city competition and was erected in 1956.
As Lincoln Avenue makes its way further northwest, it gradually reaches Chicago's border. The first suburb it hits is Lincolnwood, a leafy village of about 14,000 residents. The avenue continues on for a few more miles before reaching another suburb, Skokie.
Skokie has hardly forgotten Lincoln. It is home to Lincoln Junior High.
Lincoln Avenue eventually ends in the next town, Morton Grove.
Illinois calls itself "The Land of Lincoln," the motto on the state's vehicle license plates. So, Lincoln is everywhere, but in this corner of the state's biggest city, his presence is ubiquitous.
Photo by Ed Epstein