Abe Lincoln's next chapter

Amid the many expensive challenges facing the Portland City Council these days, one problem has a quick, easy solution: Put the Abe Lincoln statue back on its original pedestal in the South Park Blocks.

Alas, the city’s Office of Arts and Culture wants to reduce Lincoln to ground level for reasons it reached after largely isolated meetings with special-interest groups dating to 2024.  The general public has never been invited to express its views. Responses to social media posts about the proposed demotion of Lincoln suggest that a massive majority of Portlanders want to see Lincoln returned to his original setting, where he stood from 1928 to 2020.

Citizens might – or might not – have a chance to express their views on Sept. 8 when the Office of Arts and Culture hosts “Lincoln’s Return: A Public Conversation” at the Mark Building, 1219 SW Park Ave. 

Whether citizens will be able to respond appears questionable, given the city’s explanation of the event.  It will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. and is scheduled to include presentations on public art, history, place keeping and conservation.  Then a panel of experts will undertake a discussion.  A promotional description says the agenda will include “a chance to ask questions of the panelists and other Portlanders who care about history and public art.”  A cynic might suggest the program sounds like a sales pitch for an unpopular product.

Though there is no fee to attend, guests are encouraged to register in advance at: Lincoln’s Return: A Public Conversation | Portland.gov  Registration would assure one’s attendance even if the crowd is too large for everyone to sit inside. Interest in the statue’s fate suggests that a large crowd is possible.

 Sales pitch or not, supporters who favor returning Lincoln to his original 32-inch-tall pedestal are planning on ways to make their wishes known at the meeting, even if time runs short.  As an added bonus, a Lincoln impersonator with an extensive knowledge of Lincoln history will entertain early attendees in the South Park Blocks starting at 5:15 p.m.

 As many readers will recall, the Lincoln statue and a few other historic statues were toppled by political protesters in 2020.  The City Council subsequently decided that several of them should be restored.  The first successful restoration, the historic Elk Statue and Fountain funded by the estate of David P. Thompson, an early Portland mayor, occurred earlier this year.

----Fred Leeson

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