Lincoln Memorial

Memorial Design

Home Page

The Lincoln Memorial at Waterfront Park - Louisville, KY

The Lincoln Memorial at Waterfront Park was dedicated on June 4, 2009. Louisville Waterfront Park celebrated the opening of the Lincoln Memorial with a sunset dedication that featured a program of orchestral music and readings, culminating with a dramatic performance of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” narrated by actor and Louisville native William Mapother.

The Lincoln Memorial at Waterfront Park was funded by the State of Kentucky, the family of Harry S. Frazier, Jr., and the Kentucky Historical Society/Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission as part of the two-year national celebration of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth.

This memorial tells the story of how, as a young man, Lincoln began developing his abhorrence of slavery while watching slaves being loaded onto riverboats on the Ohio River in Louisville. The memorial features a 12' statue of Lincoln seated on a rock and looking out over the river. Four bas reliefs (stone sculpture made by chipping away from a flat surface to make a picture that stands out) illustrate four scenes that represent stories of Lincoln’s life-long ties to Kentucky.

Bronze sculpture by Ed Hamilton.