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 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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