The gleaming white marble. The massive columns. The huge statue of a man sitting straight up with purpose and solemn dignity. The face is wise and weary and staring resolutely ahead. The hands — one clinched and the other relaxed.Surely it’s been there forever, to remind, humble and guide.Yet the Lincoln Memorial is just 100 years old. It opened on the National Mall, the Potomac River flowing behind it, on May 30, 1922. That was 57 years after President Abraham Lincoln was felled by an assassin’s bullet scant days after the Civil War had officially ended.About 50,000 people attended the opening ceremony, according to the National Park Service. As many as 2 million people listened on the radio, the internet of its era.Since then, millions of visitors — U.S. citizens and people from around the world — come yearly to bask in the majesty of the ancient Greece-inspired temple and to glean some wisdom from the 16th president of the United States. The nation in 1922Lincoln was a controversial figure, especially in the defeated South.Just two years after his death, Congress passed the first of many bills to create a memorial, according to the National Park Service. But only in 1911, when Congress formed a new Lincoln Memorial Commission, did things really get moving.A groundbreaking took place in 1914, on land decried by some critics as a swamp.Finally, the memorial opened on May 30, 1922. Present were principal speaker Dr. Robert Moton, president of Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute, who addressed a mostly segregated crowd; Supreme Court Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft; President Warren G. Harding; and Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln’s only surviving son, according to the NPS. The memorial is of Neoclassical design and based on the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. According to the NPS, “It consists of a main level on a high raised basement with a recessed attic story above. The building stands in splendid isolation in a landscaped circle at the west end of the National Mall.”A colonnade of 36 Doric columns, representing the number of States in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death, surrounds the memorial chamber.”Inside, the 19-foot-high statue towers over the visitor, much as his legacy towers over the country.Americans in May 1922 were in a period of progress and pushback. The United States enjoyed victory with the Allies in World War I, but communists were on the verge of officially forming the USSR.Women had earned the right to vote less than two years earlier. And while slavery had been abolished, Jim Crow segregation had sunk deep roots into the country in its place.America was one nation again, but much work remained.The next 100 yearsIn the 100 years since it opened, the Lincoln Memorial has been the backdrop of national celebrations and witness to pivotal and emotional moments in U.S. history. That’s especially true in the realm of civil rights.It was there that contralto Marian Anderson sang in 1939 to a crowd of about 75,000 after the Daughters of the America Revolution denied her request to rent facilities at Constitution Hall.It was also there that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, electrifying the nation and inspiring generations. How to visit the Lincoln MemorialIt is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. The NPS says “early evening and morning hours are beautiful and tranquil times to visit.”The memorial is at the western end of the National Mall, a two-mile walk from the U.S. Capitol with the Washington Monument in between the two.The nearest metro stations are Foggy Bottom (23rd Street and I Street NW) and Smithsonian (12th Street and Independence Avenue SW). Click here for more details.
The gleaming white marble. The massive columns. The huge statue of a man sitting straight up with purpose and solemn dignity. The face is wise and weary and staring resolutely ahead. The hands — one clinched and the other relaxed.
Surely it’s been there forever, to remind, humble and guide.
Yet the Lincoln Memorial is just 100 years old. It opened on the National Mall, the Potomac River flowing behind it, on May 30, 1922. That was 57 years after President Abraham Lincoln was felled by an assassin’s bullet scant days after the Civil War had officially ended.
About 50,000 people attended the opening ceremony, according to the National Park Service. As many as 2 million people listened on the radio, the internet of its era.
Since then, millions of visitors — U.S. citizens and people from around the world — come yearly to bask in the majesty of the ancient Greece-inspired temple and to glean some wisdom from the 16th president of the United States.
The nation in 1922
Lincoln was a controversial figure, especially in the defeated South.
Just two years after his death, Congress passed the first of many bills to create a memorial, according to the National Park Service. But only in 1911, when Congress formed a new Lincoln Memorial Commission, did things really get moving.
A groundbreaking took place in 1914, on land decried by some critics as a swamp.
Finally, the memorial opened on May 30, 1922. Present were principal speaker Dr. Robert Moton, president of Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute, who addressed a mostly segregated crowd; Supreme Court Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft; President Warren G. Harding; and Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln’s only surviving son, according to the NPS.
The memorial is of Neoclassical design and based on the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.
According to the NPS, “It consists of a main level on a high raised basement with a recessed attic story above. The building stands in splendid isolation in a landscaped circle at the west end of the National Mall.
“A colonnade of 36 Doric columns, representing the number of States in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death, surrounds the memorial chamber.”
Inside, the 19-foot-high statue towers over the visitor, much as his legacy towers over the country.
Americans in May 1922 were in a period of progress and pushback. The United States enjoyed victory with the Allies in World War I, but communists were on the verge of officially forming the USSR.
Women had earned the right to vote less than two years earlier. And while slavery had been abolished, Jim Crow segregation had sunk deep roots into the country in its place.
America was one nation again, but much work remained.
The next 100 years
In the 100 years since it opened, the Lincoln Memorial has been the backdrop of national celebrations and witness to pivotal and emotional moments in U.S. history. That’s especially true in the realm of civil rights.
It was there that contralto Marian Anderson sang in 1939 to a crowd of about 75,000 after the Daughters of the America Revolution denied her request to rent facilities at Constitution Hall.
It was also there that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, electrifying the nation and inspiring generations.
How to visit the Lincoln Memorial
It is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. The NPS says “early evening and morning hours are beautiful and tranquil times to visit.”
The memorial is at the western end of the National Mall, a two-mile walk from the U.S. Capitol with the Washington Monument in between the two.
The nearest metro stations are Foggy Bottom (23rd Street and I Street NW) and Smithsonian (12th Street and Independence Avenue SW). Click here for more details.
