Lincoln Tomb
Lincoln Tomb and War Memorials State Historic Site | |
Illinois State Historic Site | |
Location | Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois |
---|---|
Built | 1868–1874 |
Architect | Larkin Goldsmith Mead |
NRHP reference No. | 66000330 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966[1] |
Designated NHL | December 19, 1960[2] |
The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.
Constructed of granite, the tomb has a tall, story-and-a-half base in
A bronze recasting of
At the close of the ceremonies and events marking Lincoln's death, his body was placed in a nearby receiving tomb and later in the state tomb. The mausoleum is owned and administered by the State of Illinois as Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. It was designated one of the first National Historic Landmarks in 1960, and thus became one of the first sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, when that designation was created.
History
On April 16, 1865, the day after President Lincoln
In 1874, upon completion of the memorial, which had been designed by Larkin Goldsmith Mead, Lincoln's remains were interred in a marble sarcophagus in the center of a chamber known as the "catacombs," or burial room.[3] In 1876, however, after two Chicago criminals failed in an attempt to steal Lincoln's body and hold it for ransom, the National Lincoln Monument Association hid it in another part of the memorial, first under wood and other debris and then buried in the ground within the tomb. When Mrs. Lincoln died in 1882, her remains were placed with those of Lincoln, but in 1887 both bodies were reburied in a brick vault beneath the floor of the burial room.[4]
By 1895, the year the State acquired the memorial, it had fallen into disrepair. During a rebuilding and restoration program from 1899 to 1901, all five caskets were moved to a nearby subterranean vault.[3] Following completion of the restoration, State officials returned them to the burial room and placed that of Lincoln in the sarcophagus it had occupied in 1874–1876. Within a few months, however, at the request of Robert Todd Lincoln,[4] the President's only surviving son, Lincoln's remains were moved to their final resting place – a concrete vault 10 feet (3.0 m) below the surface of the burial room. In 1930–31 the State reconstructed the interior of the memorial in an Art Deco style. Rededicated in the later year by President Herbert Hoover, it has undergone little change since that time.[3]
The Lincoln Tomb was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960.
Design and layout
The tomb is in the center of a 12½ acre (51,000 m2) plot.[3] Constructed of granite from Biddeford, Maine,[5] dressed at Quincy, Massachusetts, it has a rectangular base surmounted by a 117-foot (36 m)-high obelisk and a semicircular entranceway. A bronze reproduction by sculptor Gutzon Borglum of his head of Lincoln in the U.S. Capitol rests on a pedestal in front of the entranceway. Four flights of balustraded stairs—two flanking the entrance at the front and two at the rear—lead to a level terrace. The balustrade extends around the terrace to form a parapet. Originally open to the public, the terrace has since been closed due to safety concerns.
In the center of the terrace, a large and ornate base supports the obelisk. On the walls of the base are 40 hewn stones, cut to represent raised shields, 37 are engraved with the abbreviation of a State at the time the tomb was built. The remaining 3 are marked U, S, A. Each shield is connected to another by two raised bands, and thus the group forms an unbroken chain encircling the base. Four bronze statues adorn the corners of the latter. They represent the infantry, navy, artillery, and cavalry of the
The interior of the memorial, constructed of marble from Minnesota, Missouri, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Utah, Italy, Spain, France, and Belgium,
Corridors lead from the rotunda to the burial room at the rear of the memorial. Located in niches along the corridor walls are eight statues by prominent sculptors depicting various phases of Lincoln's life. Four bronze tablets on the walls are engraved with the
The tomb was built with additional crypts for members of Lincoln's family in addition to the four spaces already used. However, as the remaining members of Lincoln's family chose to be buried elsewhere, the other crypts remain empty.
The original landscaping for the site was designed by William Saunders, a prominent landscape designer and federal employee who had previously designed the Oakridge Cemetery and the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg where Lincoln had delivered his famous speech.[9]
Adjacent memorials
Also part of the site overseen by the State of Illinois, and a short distance from the tomb, three war memorials have been erected:
- The World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial was dedicated in December 2004. This memorial honors the 987,000 Illinois men and women who served in World War II and the 22,000 who gave their lives.[10] Its focal point is a white 22-ton concrete globe flanked on two sides by black granite walls. Stainless steel buttons on the globe identify major battles, and quotations from military leaders, and Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman are engraved on the wall.
- The Korean War Memorial honors 1,748 Illinoisans killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. This memorial was dedicated on June 16, 1996. The memorial consists of a twelve-foot-tall bronze bell, with a diameter of twelve feet, mounted on a granite base. At the circumference of the bell are four niches, each with a larger-than-life figure representing a branch of the armed services. Inscribed on the base are the names of Illinoisans killed in Korea. A carillon system in the Memorial plays brief musical programs at regular intervals.
- The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors the almost 3,000 Illinoisans killed during the Vietnam War, and was dedicated in 1988. The memorial has a circular layout allowing visitors to enter the interior courtyard from any direction. The names of those killed or missing in action are on five granite slabs, each slab representing one of the branches of the United States Military.
See also
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ "Lincoln Tomb". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on December 26, 2007. Retrieved October 11, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j National Park Service: Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings Archived August 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d "Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site". Abraham Lincoln Online. Archived from the original on August 23, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
- ^ "Quarries in Maine & Quarry Links, Photographs, and Articles". Stone Quarries and Beyond. May 21, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
- ^ The National Register of Historic Places. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. 1976. p. 211.
- ^ Reger, John (February 27, 2018). "Out 'N About: The Marble of Lincoln's Tomb". News Channel 20. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- ^ "Lincoln Tomb". Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. Archived from the original on July 14, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
- ISBN 0-16-048060-4.
- ^ "World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial". The Official Springfield Illinois Area Travel Information Site. May 21, 2014. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
- Information taken from a National Park Service website.