RETRO FILES / ALL THINGS LINCOLN

Friday is President Abraham Lincoln's birthday (Feb 12).  To honor his 207^th birthday (Feb. 12, 1809), Pillar to Post Daily Online magazine in its weekly Retro Files presentation has compiled a roster of all things Lincoln.

Lincoln, Washington, T.Roosevelt and Jefferson at Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota

The Lincoln Highway was the first automobile road across the United States from Atlantic to Pacific coasts.  There are a total of 14 states, 128 counties, and more than 700 cities, towns and villages through which the highway passed at some time in its history. The first officially recorded length of the entire Lincoln Highway in 1913 was 3,389 miles (5,454 km).  The route runs from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco

Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) nears its homeport of Norfolk VA.  It was built in 1982 and is currently undergoing modernization.  It was aboard the USS Lincoln that President George W. Bush announced the end of the second Iraq war

Originally known as Lancaster, the town was first settled in 1864 and renamed Lincoln, Nebraska in 1867 when it was designated the state capital.

Lincoln Theatre in Cheyenne, Wyoming

In 1916, the architect John Lloyd Wright invented Lincoln Logs, a building block toy to entertain his children.  Lincoln Logs are 100 years old this year and are still available to purchase on the Internet.  John Lloyd Wright’s father was Frank Lloyd Wright.

1958 Lincoln-Douglas debate postage stamp

The last known photograph of President Abraham Lincoln was taken by Alexander Gardner on February 5, 1865.

The Lincoln Lawyer is the name of a novel (and later movie of the same title) by author Michael Connelly.  The reason for the title was the fact the main character, Mickey Haller, practiced law out of the back seat of his Lincoln Towncar. The film starred Matthew McConaughey (pictured).

President Warren Harding dedicated the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. The architect was Henry Bacon; the designer of the primary statue – Abraham Lincoln, 1920 – was Daniel Chester French; the Lincoln statue was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers;[2] and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin.

In 1917, Harry Leland founded the Lincoln Motor Car Company in honor of Abraham Lincoln.  It was sold later to the Ford Motor Co. (1922).  Lincoln 1930 show.

1950s U.S. Postage Stamp

George Washington may have come first and FDR may have served the longest, but Abraham Lincoln is clearly the most popular U.S. president when it comes to naming schools. From Honolulu to the Bronx and his native Hardin County, Ky., Lincoln's name is emblazoned on an estimated 667 schools nationally.  Lincoln High School in San Diego is pictured.

“Abraham Lincoln: The Man” stands in Parliament Square, London. It was created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887.  It was unveiled in 1920

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, includes theatres, a library, and a school.  Architect for Philharmonic hall (1962) is Max Abramovitz and fountain by architect Philip Johnson.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois has life size representations of the Lincoln Family in the main gallery of the museum.  It is also very eerie to see at the far left of the image, above, a statue of Assassin John Wilkes Booth casually observing the Lincoln Family from the porch of the White House replica. Frankly, Booth’s presence is offensive and it disrespects our nation’s loss.  Polite history be damned. Booth should be remembered as a murderer. Having his wax museum image loitering inside Lincoln’s Presidential Library is an abomination.  Would this nation stand for a statue of Lee Harvey Oswald inside the JFK Presidential Library?  Suggestion to the State of Illinois: Take the Booth statue and place it in the garbage can where it deserves to be.

Then there's always the Lincoln Brewing Co. in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The United States Mint’s new design of the one cent coin was launched in 1909 in honor of the 100^th birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  The new Lincoln cent replaced the Indian Head penny.  The new cent was designed by Victor D. Brenner, an American sculptor.