Extra Credit Questions

[STS Lincolnite]

(05-20-2025 08:48 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Great job! You put a lot of work and skill into this project.

I checked one location. It was Hawaii. It was an excellent statue of Abraham Lincoln as a frontiersman - rugged young man with a long-handled axe in his hands, wearing boots, and ready to chop trees not far from Decatur, Illinois where I was born and raised.

It would be interesting to learn the reason this period in his life was the chosen subject. The statue was sculpted and dedicated during World War II.

Title: Lincoln, The Frontiersman
Sculptor: Avard T. Fairbanks
Location: Ewa Public School
Ewa Beach, Hawaii
Dedicated/Displayed: 2/12/1944

Thanks for checking out the map David! We are getting ready to do an update to our frequently asked questions page and to add some newly discovered (to us) sculptures to the map.

More on the Fairbanks statue in Hawaii per your request:

In 1939 a Katherine Burke, a former teacher and principal made a bequest to the Ewa Plantation school for the construction of a Lincoln statue. The money available was small and several sculptors declined due to this. Avard Fairbanks was contacted and was interested in spite of the small budget.

Fairbanks first thought of Lincoln in a frock coat as it along with trousers was appealing “from just the standpoint of the lines.” He also considered Lincoln wearing a shawl but then decided that just wouldn’t do in a tropical climate. The idea of Lincoln as a youth captured his attention when he considered that the benefactor was a school teacher who desired to inspire her students.

The idea of the young frontier Lincoln with ax in hand came to Fairbanks as he was clearing trees and stumps on his recently deceased father’s farm. There weren’t many sculptural depictions of Lincoln as frontiersman at the time. He sought some feedback and all was positive. From an article in the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association: “The concept of a young Lincoln, figure in action, for a school in a relatively young territory in the Pacific, a frontier, was received with enthusiasm.”

When the statue was finally nearing production it was war time in Europe (WWII), and there was some concern that there would be restrictions on non-military uses of metal that might delay completion. But it was in fact cast before restrictions were put in place. Delivery was delayed by the attack on Pearl Harbor so the statue was not actually delivered until 1943. I was dedicated on 12 February 1944 in honor of Lincoln’s 135th birthday.

From a newspaper article announcing the dedication of the statue:
“The statue cast in bronze is of a youthful Lincoln…a stalwart and capable worker, a symbol of physical strength as well as spiritual.” “The base upon which is the statue is placed is of rainbow granite. In ancient days the symbol of the rainbow was given to Noah that there should never again be such a deluge as the flood on the face of the earth. This base, now being so near Pearl Harbor, can also symbolize our hope that there will never again be the deluge of atrocities such as those which occurred there.”