The Lincoln Memorial

This seated statue of Lincoln is 19 feet tall. Can you spot the worker?

Cvandyke/Shutterstock.com (Lincoln Memorial); George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images (Lincoln statue)

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The Lincoln Memorial Turns 100!

Opened in 1922, this building in our nation’s capital honors President Abraham Lincoln.

February 14, 2022
By Kathryn Satterfield

Presidents’ Day is February 21. That’s a day when America celebrates its current and past leaders. One of those presidents is Abraham Lincoln—and he has a memorial in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.

Take a Tour of the Capital
Watch a quick video tour of the National Mall.

Who Was Lincoln?

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, from 1861 to 1865. While Lincoln was in office, the country was fighting the Civil War. Northern and Southern states fought each other. Lincoln worked hard to bring the states back together as one country. 

In 1863, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. That was an order to free people still enslaved in the South.

Library of Congress (Lincolns); Lukas Gojda/Shutterstock.com (cake)

Tad Lincoln and his dad, Abraham, in 1865. (We added the cake!) 

A Symbol of Hope

After Lincoln was killed in 1865, people started thinking about his memorial. Work on the building started in 1914. 

A spot for it was picked on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Mall is a park with monuments and buildings that honor American heroes. For example, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is there. 

The plan for Lincoln’s memorial called for materials from all over the country. Special kinds of stone were brought from Massachusetts, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia, and other states. 

The builders used materials from the North and the South as a symbol of the unity of the U.S. 

Words from Lincoln’s famous speeches were written on the walls.

iStockPhoto/Getty Images 

This view of the Mall shows the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and U.S. Capitol. 

A National Treasure

The memorial was finished in 1922, and 50,000 people came to see the opening. And visitors have continued to come ever since.

“The Lincoln Memorial is the most visited of the Mall’s memorials,” says Mike Litterst, who works for National Mall and Memorial Parks. “It gets around 8 million visitors a year!”

Map It Out

The Lincoln Memorial is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. This special place has many of our country's most important buildings.

Which direction would you travel to get from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol? Which direction would you take to go from the Washington Monument to the White House?

Note: Locations of sites are approximate.

Jim McMahon/Mapman®
  1. What were two main things Abraham Lincoln did as president, according to the article?
  2. Why did builders of the Lincoln Memorial use materials from both the North and the South?
  3. What is the purpose of the map on page 5?
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