Maxo-Park Statue in Jacksonville, Illinois
Situated beautifully on the Illinois College campus, this interpretation of Lincoln as a young man is called "Preparing for Greatness." The full-size bronze work was dedicated in October 2009, the bicentennial year of Lincoln's birth. On the same day, the college granted Lincoln a posthumous honorary degree (he received three other honorary degrees during his lifetime).Lincoln could not afford to attend Illinois College, which had begun operating about the time he moved to a village 45 miles away, but he studied intensively on his own. He often had a book in his hands, including some textbooks lent by the Greene brothers, who studied at the college.
The statue is the creation of Iowa artists Steven Maxon and Doris Park, and was donated by Paul and Almut Spalding, Axel and Loreli Steur, among others.
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