In this artwork, how is the History discussed?
The idea for a statue was first proposed by Alderman John Hoellen in 1951 as a memorial to Abraham Lincoln.  This proposal was later submitted as a bill to the Illinois General Assembly and signed by Governor William Stratton.  The proposal created a committee to plan how the structure was to be created.  The committee decided to organize a nationwide contest, allowing individuals to submit designs and ideas for the new statue.  A collector of Lincoln images, Lloyd Ostendorf, was declared the winner; Ostendorf won a $500 prize for his submitted sketch of Lincoln without his beard and standing up.  The statue was sculpted by Avard Fairbanks at a cost of $35,000.The statue was originally placed in the street at the intersections of Lincoln, Lawrence, and Western Avenues in a triangular traffic island.  However, the three-street intersection coupled with its heavy traffic load and the statue's presence was problematic, and made it among Chicago's three most dangerous intersections: in 1975 alone, the intersection accounted for 109 automobile accidents. Late in 1978 or early in 1979, the statue was moved approximately 50 feet east to its present location, which is at, but no longer in, the redesigned intersection of Lawrence and Western Avenues: it now sits in front of a local Walgreens.In 1992, the statue was considered to be urgently in need of treatment after an assessment from the Smithsonian Institution. It was later treated and restored in 1996 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its unveiling.
Illinois General Assembly Lincoln John Hoellen Western Walgreens traffic island Smithsonian Institution Governor William Stratton Chicago Abraham Lincoln Avard Fairbanks Lawrence Alderman