Property Record
KANE & STATE STREETS
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | ABRAHAM LINCOLN STATUE |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 221280 |
| Location (Address): | KANE & STATE STREETS |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Burlington |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
| Section: | |
| Quarter Section: | |
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| Year Built: | 1913 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2011 |
| Historic Use: | statue/sculpture |
| Architectural Style: | NA (unknown or not a building) |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | |
| Architect: | GEORGE ETIENNE GANIERE & R. H. FITCH (BUILDER) |
| Other Buildings On Site: | N |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Kane Street Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 7/25/2014 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 11/22/2013 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | Dr. Francis W. Meinhardt donated funds for a statue of Abraham Lincoln to the City of Burlington before his death in 1912. The following year, George Etienne Ganiere was commissioned by Dr. Meinhardt’s sister, Eda Meinhardt, to sculpt the statue with a stipulation that the statue be an original and never copied. The Abraham Lincoln Statue is located on a triangular median at the intersection of Kane and State Streets. The eight-foot-tall statue was cast in bronze at the Florentine Brotherhood Foundry in Chicago and erected in Burlington on a Vermont granite pedestal produced by R. H. Fitch, a Burlington monument dealer. The pedestal itself is eight feet high and tapers from four feet wide at the base to slightly less than three feet at the top. Near the base of the pedestal, a brass plaque commemorates words from the president’s second inaugural address. On the back of the statue, a plaque acknowledges the donation of Dr. Meinhardt. During the early 1990s, the original bronze finish was restored by Venus Bronze Works of Detroit with funds raised by the Burlington Historical Society. A rededication of the statue was celebrated in the fall of 1995. George Etienne Ganiere, of Chicago, studied and also taught at the Art Institute of Chicago. During the early 1910s, he worked in the studio of Lorado Taft. By the time of his Burlington commission in 1913, Ganiere was one of 43 professional sculptors who had previously rendered President Lincoln. A second original statue of Lincoln produced by Ganiere in 1913 is located in Webster City, Iowa. Ganiere’s work can be found in cities throughout the United States. Three years before his death in 1935, Ganiere was named the official sculptor for the State of Florida. |
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| Bibliographic References: | General Files. On file at the Burlington Historical Society, Burlington, Wisconsin. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |