Considering Idaho's long ties to Abraham Lincoln, it's appropriate that a statue of Honest Abe, the nation's 16th president, should have such a prominent spot at the heart of the city.

The statue's first home in Boise was on the grounds of the Old Soldiers Home. It was placed there in 1915. When the home was torn down in the 1970s to make way for Veterans Memorial State Park, the statue moved to the grounds of the Veterans Administration at Old Fort Boise. And when the VA expanded in 2009, Lincoln moved again, this time to the Capitol Mall.

The pedestal features a plaque with the words of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address from the Civil War and an engraving of the last paragraph of his second inaugural address.

Also note the small marker not far from the statue's base. It's an old surveyor's benchmark, preserved in recognition of Lincoln's early vocation: land surveying.

Anna Webb: 377-6431