Tuesday, August 13, 2013
 
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State Bank of Lincoln unveils new Lincoln statue

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[August 13, 2013]  Monday morning, the State Bank of Lincoln was the scene of the unveiling of a new statue for the bank's collection of Abraham Lincoln art.

The 22-inch bronze is a signed replica of the statue that will someday stand on the lawn of the Logan County Courthouse.

In December of 2008, a fierce wind and chilling temperatures brought the granite Civil War soldier statue on the Logan County Courthouse grounds tumbling to the ground. The statue had been a landmark of the courthouse square for more than a century.

Soon afterward, a committee was formed, starting with members of the Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society, to raise the money to erect a new soldier statue on the courthouse lawn.

In April of 2011 the committee's hard work was realized as they held a special dedication ceremony and officially unveiled a new bronze version of the Civil War soldier.

Later, the committee would hold another service, laying to rest the remains of the old soldier in a proper grave with marker in Postville Park, which is across the street from the site of the first courthouse in Logan County, the Postville Courthouse, where Abraham Lincoln once practiced law.

With the work on the project completed, the committee decided that rather than disband, they would enter into a new project, a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, modeled after a painting depicting his great speech on the courthouse steps in Lincoln in October of 1858.

In February the committee hosted a meeting with the sculptor who would create the new statue. David Seagraves spent an evening at the historical society storefront on Chicago Street. He brought with him a clay model of the statue that he will eventually sculpt for the city.

During that evening, Seagraves, who also did the Civil War statue and worked on restoration of the Indian mother statue on the south lawn of the courthouse, talked about how he created the model.

Guests that night marveled at the tremendous detail that had gone into the model and were assured that the life-size project would be equally detailed.

Last week, the committee announced that they were going to sell a limited number of bronze sculptures, exact replicas of the clay model introduced in February.

To date two of the sculptures have been purchased. The first one was bought by Joe Mintjal, who is a member of the committee and a serious collector of Lincoln art. The second statue was purchased by the State Bank of Lincoln.

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Monday morning, as part of the unveiling, Paul Gleason of the committee spoke briefly about how the statue came to be. Steve Aughenbaugh, State Bank president, spoke briefly, saying that with the vast collection of Lincoln art at the bank, it seemed only reasonable that the bank would be among the first to purchase this new, limited edition piece. He congratulated the committee on their work and commitment to the statue project, and he wished them good luck in their efforts.

Asked where the 22-inch statue would be placed, Aughenbaugh said that was yet to be determined, but the options would be explored and the piece given a permanent home in the very near future.

The statue is signed by the artist and numbered. There is also a small plaque that will be attached to the base, noting that it is a depiction of Lincoln during that 1858 speech on the Logan County Courthouse steps.

The small statues are being sold as a part of the fundraising efforts for the completion of the larger one for the courthouse lawn. The cost of the full-size statue will run approximately $45,000. Anyone who wishes to purchase one of the special edition pieces can do so by contacting the historical society.

[By NILA SMITH]

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