Abraham Lincoln’s only known public appearance in Michigan took place in Kalamazoo’s Bronson Park, when he was invited to speak at a political rally.
And for over a decade, Kalamazoo’s Abraham Lincoln Institute has been designing and fundraising to erect a monument to commemorate this visit.
Gary Swain helped organize the project. He said he and other members of the institute traveled around the country visiting other Lincoln statues. Kalamazoo’s monument reveals a more youthful Lincoln in the years before his presidency.
“It represents what we've envisioned he looked like that day orating in this park, because he spoke several times,” he said. “Although there's no exact record, he probably spoke on every corner of this park.”
Cameron Brown is president of the institute. He said newspaper accounts of the rally estimate that as many as ten thousand people attended the event, though Lincoln was not well-known at the time of his visit. Some newspapers even mis-spelled his name.
Brown said the speech represents a transitional period in Lincoln’s life and work.
“He's developing his anti-slavery and anti-slavery expansion rhetoric, and developing it really, in part, here in Kalamazoo,” said Brown.
Brown said the life-size monument faces south as a symbol of Lincoln’s anti-slavery speech. It also features Lincoln’s signature cast in bronze.
“I've very seldom seen any statues of Lincoln that actually have his signature,” he said. “So it has some unique features, and is certainly the only statue commemorating his visit.”
Sunday’s ceremony will feature musical performances by singer Alfrelynn Roberts and the Dodworth Saxhorn Band, as well as remarks by Kalamazoo mayor David Anderson and other community leaders. It is free and open to the public. It takes place at 2 p.m.
