Lincoln Statue in Norway Funded/Dedicated by North Dakotans

[Eva Elisabeth]

Seems it's time for a cruise to Oslo...I just found out there is a Lincoln statue in Frogner Park. How exciting to learn! Strangely, I've never heard of this before!
   
I found the following info on this site:
http://history.nd.gov/events/lincolnconnections.html

"In 1914, as part of the 100th anniversary of Norway adopting its constitution and declaring itself an independent nation, a group of Norwegian-Americans in North Dakota collected enough money to erect a statue of Lincoln in Oslo, Norway. The idea for the heroic sized bust of Lincoln was inspired by a similar sculpture North Dakota Governor Louis Hanna had seen on a trip to Gettysburg to attend the 50th anniversary of that battle in July 1913.

A delegation traveled to Norway to present the bust as a gift from the people of North Dakota, with the unveiling taking place on July 4, 1914. The delegation included Governor Hanna, former Grand Forks Herald editor George B. Winship, who sent frequent reports via cablegram to the newspaper, and Smith Stimmel, a Fargo man who had once served as a bodyguard to President Lincoln. A poem was read, entitled Abraham Lincoln, written by North Dakota poet laureate James W. Foley, Jr., and Stimmel delivered a eulogy to the late President. Winship reported in a July 4 cablegram that “the presentation of the statue further cements the friendship between Norway and the United States, and especially North Dakota, about one-third of the population of which is Norwegian.” Governor Hanna's daughter, Dorothy, unveiled the statue, which still stands today in Frogner Park in Oslo. It was accompanied by two engraved bronze tablets. One featured an excerpt from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and reads “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” The other reads, “Presented to Norway by the people of North Dakota, U.S.A., July 4th, 1914.”

During Germany’s occupation of Norway in World War II, the Lincoln bust became the site of silent anti-Nazi protests. Each July 4 beginning in 1940 until the war ended in 1945, Norwegians gathered at the site by the thousands, their heads bowed in silence to pay tribute to the ideals of Lincoln and their bonds with Norwegian Americans. Typically, the Germans forbade any public gatherings or demonstrations, but did not halt this annual event.

The statue was done by 21-year-old Paul Fjelde (pronounced Fell-dee) (1892-1984), an artist living in Valley City who had a long and successful career as a sculptor and was known for his sculptures of famous Norwegian-Americans like Charles A. Lindbergh. Fjelde was selected by a committee chaired by Governor Hanna to create the bust of Lincoln, which was cast in bronze in Chicago. This is the only statue in Oslo’s Frogner Park that is not the work of Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943). A replica of the Lincoln bronze bust is located on the front lawn of the Traill County Courthouse in Hillsboro, where it was dedicated in ceremonies on September 8, 1918. A second bronze replica, now at the Geneseo Historical Museum in Illinois, was originally located at the Union Stockyards in Chicago. When the stockyards closed in 1971, it was moved elsewhere in the state before being purchased by a former resident of Geneseo and donated to the museum in 1998. The original plaster cast of the bust is housed in the Allen Memorial Library at Valley City State University. Fjelde was a student at then-Valley City State Normal School when he created the statue."

Here's another nice article and photo:
http://digitalhorizonsonline.org/cdm4/it...X=1&REC=20

[RJNorton]

Eva, thank you very much for posting this. My list now includes Norway, Scotland, England, Austria, France, Guatemala, Canada, Israel, and three in Mexico.

[LincolnMan]

Eva: is there a picture of the statue? We would love to see it.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Bill, it's rather a bust than an entire statue, and I only found the photo above and the one on the second link. I'm not so much in favor of cruises, but I think in summer I'll go to Oslo and take photos, it's round the corner, so to speak (there's a daily ferry connection which is also quite cheap unless you stay overnight in Oslo, but it's still a long journey).

[LincolnMan]

Eva: hope you are able to make the trip. We would love to see your photos.

[missrita]

My great aunt's father, Smith Stimmel, was a member of the delegation which presented bust of Lincoln to the Norwegians. He penned a book, "Personal Remembrances of Lincoln," complete with a photo from the presentation ceremony. Smith Stimmel is buried in Fargo. The book is rare and seems to have gotten rather expensive on the secondary market. If I can find my copy, I will scan this photo and share it with you.

[RJNorton]

Thank you, Rita, and welcome to the forum!

[HerbS]

Two fantastic areas of the World-Norway and North Dakota!-I have visited both of them in my lifetime.They both have tremendous landscapes that are"Must-See's".

[Anita]

Welcome Rita. How exciting to have a relative, Smith Stimmel, who was chosen in 1863 to be one of a Company of 100 men to to be known as the Lincoln bodyguard. You can read his "Personal Remembrances of Lincoln," here for free.
https://archive.org/details/personalreminisc00stim There's also a copy on Amazon but it's a bit pricey at $85 hardcover.

[Thomas Kearney]

Hopefully I can make it there (if I apply to renew my Passport).

[Eva Elisabeth]

(03-23-2015 06:31 PM)Thomas Kearney Wrote:  Hopefully I can make it there (if I apply to renew my Passport).

..don't forget to take enough pocket money to Oslo, it ranks #2 amongst the most expensive cities worldwide:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/prope...-pics.html
The best time is around June 21 as the sun won't set then.

[Jim Page]

(03-23-2015 04:52 PM)Anita Wrote:  Welcome Rita. How exciting to have a relative, Smith Stimmel, who was chosen in 1863 to be one of a Company of 100 men to to be known as the Lincoln bodyguard. You can read his "Personal Remembrances of Lincoln," here for free.
https://archive.org/details/personalreminisc00stim There's also a copy on Amazon but it's a bit pricey at $85 hardcover.

Thanks for that link, Anita; I downloaded and read that book tonight. Most interesting. The battle of Fort Stevens was especially vivid as related by Sgt. Stimmel. That little fort is just inside the District of Columbia border, near what is now Takoma Park, Maryland; only a few miles from my house.

--Jim

[RJNorton]

As folks on the forum know I am an (near insane) animal lover, and the tragic White House stable fire has been of particular interest to me. It happened on the night of February 10, 1864. Sgt. Stimmel was at the White House that terrible night and wrote as follows:

"An incident which brought out an expression of the President's tender feeling for his children was the burning of the White House stables. One evening in the month of February, 1864, while on duty at the front door of the White House, I heard an alarm of fire. I looked around in different directions to see if I could discover any indication of fire in that vicinity. In a moment or two I saw a flicker of light around to the east and south of the building. It seemed to come from somewhere between the south end of the Treasury Building and the White House, where the White House stable was located at that time. I was debating in my mind for the moment as to whether or not I ought to go and try to render some assistance (there was nothing in my instructions as to my duties that would forbid my doing so, if I thought best), but about the time I located the fire, I heard the fire department coming, and I concluded they could fight a fire better than I could, and that I had
better stay where I was.

Just then the front door of the White House flew open with a jerk, and out came the President buttoning his coat around him, and said to me, "Where's the fire, what's burning?" I said, "It seems to be around in the vicinity of the stable." With that he started off on a dog-trot down the steps and along the way leading to the stable. When he started to go to the fire, I thought to myself, "Old fellow, you are the man we are guarding, guess I'll go along." So I struck out on the double-quick and went with him, keeping close to his side; but he took such long strikes that his dog-trot was almost a dead run for me.

As soon as we got around where we could see what was burning, we saw that, sure enough, the White House stable was on fire. Quite a crowd had gathered by the time we got there, and the fire department was at work. Mr. Lincoln asked hastily if the horses had been taken out, and when told they had not, he rushed through the crowd and began to break open one of the large doors with his own hands; but the building was full of fire, and none of the horses could be saved. The ponies belonging to the little boys and the goats were all lost in the fire. It was a brick stable, and evidently had been burning for some time before it was discovered."

[Eva Elisabeth]

I forgot - welcome, Rita!

[Gene C]

Thanks for posting that Roger & the book link Anita. My coffee hadn't kicked in, and I had failed to make the connection as to who Sgt. Stimmel was