After Lincoln’s assassination many localities wanted an outdoor sculpture of the martyred president. As far as I can tell, the first that was actually unveiled in 1869 was at what is now Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. That statue was later moved into Prospect Park. Since then, scores of other Lincoln statues have been unveiled. Yonkers, in New York’s Hudson Valley, dedicated its Lincoln statue in 1929.
Isidore Konti was the Vienna-born sculptor who created the statue. Born in 1862, he moved to the United States in the early 1890s. From 1893 until 1931 he was steadily employed designing public sculptures. His Lincoln statue is larger than life, standing eight and a half feet tall, and cast in bronze. It rests on a six and a half foot tall granite base. It was unveiled on October 12, 1929.
I found out that the unveiling was five months later than planned. A strike, reported on by the New York Times, held up production of the bronze needed for the statue and its original unveiling date on Memorial Day 1929 had to be pushed back.
The statue is a nice depiction of Lincoln as an advocate. He is dressed for business and he is moving ahead.
The statue is on a busy little plaza that is a dining area with local Latino restaurants. You can see that behind Lincoln is his famous top hat resting on his cloak.
If you visit Yonkers, you can stop by and see this statue at the intersection of McLean Ave. and Route 9 (South Broadway). I found free parking on McLean Ave. The 0001, 0002, 0003, and 0004 buses all have stops at Lincoln Plaza, where the statue is.
Overall, I found this an interesting statue. The depiction is life-like and pretty accurate. The plaza is adequate, but not memorable, and there are places nearby to buy lunch.
