I know a fair amount about the Civil War and Reconstruction monuments that I visit long before I go to photograph them. I started this project in 2022 after having heart failure, and some I have visited before and some I have heard about. I was surprised that a fairly large monument to Lincoln is over in Jersey City across the Hudson River from Manhattan. I live about fifty miles from Jersey City, but I never even heard of this monument until late in 2023. Typically, I don’t make special visits to an area to look at monuments. Instead, if I am going to go to a town or city for work or pleasure, I will stop by the local memorial. I used to go to Jersey City fairly frequently because my father-in-law lived there, however he just moved to Maryland. So, instead of abandoning all hope of visiting the statue, I left one cold January Saturday, while the weather forecasters were predicting an abysmal snow storm, to visit Jersey. I got there just after six in the morning, forgetting that sunrise was not for more than an hour. As the sun came up on the freezing cold cloudy morning I took some pictures with the dawning twilight.
This monument was unveiled in 1930. At the time, it was said to be the second largest statue of Lincoln. I can’t vouch for that!
The beardless Lincoln sits on top of a boulder, lost in thought.
The commission of the monument was by the Abraham Lincoln Association of Jersey City. This association began meeting in 1867 and it was dedicated to studying the president and making the public aware of his contribution to American society. $75,000 was raised as the country went into the Depression. That amount is worth over a million dollars today.
Sculptor James Earle Fraser got the commission to design and build the monument. Fraser sculpted many works during his life, most famously his Alexander Hamilton is outside the Treasury Building in Washington. He also designed the Indian Head Nickle.
The Association, in 1867, was made up of Lincoln supporters. Capt. Dunning, a local Whig and then a Republican, fueled the growth of the group. He served with the 11th New Jersey Volunteers during the war. When he died, the local newspaper published in his obituary (Evening Journal June 18, 1877) that he “…took great interest and pride in its patriotic cherishing of the memory and virtues of the lamented good President.”
While the statue depicts Lincoln as a “mystic” he looks very troubled and worried. I would think that while Lincoln was amused at times, and triumphant, a lot of the time he must have looked like he does on this rock in Jersey City.
While this excellent monument is in New Jersey, the state voted against Lincoln in 1864. George McClellan was a Jerseyite and the state backed him.
In 1860, the city had almost 30,000 people, but by 1870, there were 82,000 living there. Part of this came from incorporating nearby municipalities into Jersey City.
The statue is near where the Lincoln Highway ran through Jersey City. There is a duplicate statue at Syracuse University in Upstate New York near Maxwell Hall. Frasier’s intellectual property was donated to the university and in 1972 the school used the sand mold for the statue to cast a duplicate. According to the university, “The art critic Lorado Taft described the statue as showing Lincoln “in his younger days of poetic vision, of promise rather than fulfillment.””
“With malice toward none and charity toward all” is inscribed on a large bench behind the statue.
The June 15, 1930 New York Times covered the dedication.
Below is the dawning of the day.
Here is the park behind the monument.
“That government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
You may think that calling this “Mystic Lincoln” was made up by me, but here is the name of the work of art.
“Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
The fountain is another attraction at Lincoln Park. Go in the summer if you want to see it functioning.
Mystic Lincoln is in Lincoln Park, the first Hudson County Park in an urban landscape. There is also a Civil War monument right next to the fountain in the center of the park.
The park itself is quite large. The monument is on Lincoln Park Street where it intersects JFK Boulevard.
All color photos were taken by Pat Young unless otherwise noted. To see more sites Pat visited CLICK HERE for Google Earth view.
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I live in Bayonne which is not far from this park. Thanks for the research and history of the place in this entry. Sadly I think it’s lost on most people living here, as tends to be the case with many local monuments regardless of where they are located. Keep up the great work!
There is a second statue at the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoman City.
The Jersey City Statue was raised by funds from pennies saved from local school children, as the story goes. After further research, that was supposed to be the only statue of Lincoln. As stated, after Fraizers death, the family sold off the molds and copies of that statue and earlier studies were reproduced.
Down the block and into Lincoln Park and to the left of the fountain is a statue of a single common civil war soldier on the march. tThe monies for that statue was donated by a Sgt Ed Donnelly of the 5th NJ, which several companies came out of Hudson County, NJ.
Thanks.