When we think of monuments to Abraham Lincoln we look to Washington, DC and the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, or perhaps to Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln lived and worked before he became President. But we don’t think of Redlands, California, a small city surrounded by orange groves in the heart of the “Inland Empire” as a special place to honor Lincoln.
The Lincoln Memorial Shrine, constructed in 1932 by British-born businessman Robert Watchorn in honor of Lincoln, sits in a tree-filled park adjacent to downtown Redlands' main street. It houses Watchorn’s personal collection of Lincoln memorabilia ranging from artworks, manuscripts, copper pennies, Civil War weapons, to a lock of Lincoln’s hair. A history of Watchorn’s family and his career before building the shrine are also part of the exhibits. But most of the items on display are objects he collected in connection with his fascination and admiration of Lincoln.
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| Robert, Emory Ewart, and Alma Watchorn, donors of the Lincoln Memorial Shrine, a gift honoring Abraham Lincoln and memorializing their son. |
In early March I attended a conference held at The University of Redlands, and when it was over had the chance to explore the historic downtown, visiting the Lincoln Memorial Shrine and Smiley Library with my friend and fellow author Alexis O'Neill and her husband David Boeshaar.
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| Bust of Lincoln. "He being dead, yet speaketh." |
A bust of Lincoln mounted on a pedestal is the first thing you see as you enter the building. The formal setting and darkened room give it almost a religious aura. More than 3000 books are in the shrine collection and are available to researchers. Here are just two examples of the hundreds of items on view in the shrine.
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| Examples of the Lincoln penny. |
In 1909, the centennial of Lincoln’s birth, he became the first person to have his portrait featured on an official United States coin, the copper penny.
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| The President's Emancipation March. |
President Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September, 1862 after the Battle of Antietam. Composer George Fawcett was so moved that he wrote a piece he called “The President’s Emancipation March” dedicating it to Abraham Lincoln.
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| Caroline and Alexis at entrance to the Smiley Public Library |
After viewing the Lincoln Shrine, we crossed the street to tour the Smiley Public Library, a magnificent structure featuring a tower over the front entrance.
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| Reading room of the library. |
The large rooms inside are filled with light coming through beautiful stained glass windows. I couldn’t resist checking the card catalogue (now online) to see if they had any of my books on their shelves and discovered that they had quite a few.
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| Winnie the Pooh window in the children's room. |
I especially enjoyed touring the children’s room and seeing the windows depicting characters from some of my favorite children’s books such as Winnie the Pooh and Charlotte’s web.
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| Smiley brothers, Albert K. and Alfred H., and library. |
Redlands, California, a city of 71,000 people lies about an hour and a half east of Los Angeles, at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. The Lincoln Memorial Shrine is at 125 West Vine Street, Redlands, CA 92373. The Smiley Lib rary is across the street from the shrine.
