In 2018, the American Veterans Heritage Center, in partnership with the Lincoln Society of Dayton, began a project to create the bronze statue of Lincoln at the Dayton VA.
“It’s important to keep Lincoln’s legacy alive,” said Teena Baldrige, the president of the Lincoln Society of Dayton.
American Veterans Heritage Center president Bill DeFries said the statue will be a place for reflection and create a location to attract tourists that travel to see the National VA History Center and the Dayton National Cemetery on campus.
“With this, we’re carrying on a meaningful message,” DeFries said.
The new Dayton VA statue honors the promise Lincoln made to the country’s Civil War veterans. Just over a month before Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, he made a speech promising “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan,” according to DeFries.
The sculpture was created by artist Mike Major, who owns a studio in Urbana. Major also created the Lincoln statue that was installed in Dayton Courthouse Square in 2016.
To create the statue, Major said he not only studied hundreds of photos of the 16th president throughout his life, but read about the man’s upbringing, career and more.
Major’s work depicts Lincoln, pen in hand, with legislation he signed establishing the National Soldier’s and Sailor’s Asylum to care for Civil War veterans. The president is seated in a favorite wooden chair he traveled with that would accommodate his height.
Lincoln’s thoughtful expression, Major said, is a result of a sense of relief from fulfilling a promise to thousands of soldiers and their families.
Dayton was the location for one of the first three soldier’s homes in the country, which is now today’s Dayton VA Medical Center.
Officials behind the statue project hope to unveil the installed statue in late May, but until then, Abe takes up space at a Dayton-area storage facility.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Kim Frisco, the executive director of the Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission. “But we’re so grateful for everyone involved with this.”
The American Veterans Heritage Center is continuing its fundraising efforts for the project.
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