Lincoln statue “a huge addition to the courthouse”

Published 3:13 pm Wednesday, August 5, 2026

CARTHAGE — Abraham Lincoln is back in Hancock County — this time to stay.

Prior to his election as president, Lincoln made several trips to the county, most notably speaking at the county courthouse on the campaign trail during the 1858 Senate race against Stephen A. Douglas.

A statue of the circa 1858 beardless Lincoln, dedicated Wednesday morning, now stands in the courthouse rotunda.

“It brings the history of Lincoln back to the county,” Hancock County Board Chairman Mark Menn said. “It’s a huge addition to the courthouse.”

Utah-based artist Stan Watts created the seven-foot-tall statue, sculpted out of clay and cast in bronze.

“This statue is more than bronze and stone. It is a symbol of the ideas Lincoln lived for and died for — unity, freedom, and equality for all,” said Carthage Community Development Director Amy Graham, who coordinated the project after being approached last year by an anonymous donor interested in donating a Lincoln statue.

Graham soon found a home for the statue — in the middle of the rotunda on the ground floor of the courthouse, thanks to the Hancock County Board — then needed to find a sculptor.

“I got hold of my friends in Springfield with the Looking for Lincoln Coalition. They gave me contact information of a person in Beardstown, which just dedicated a Lincoln statue, and got in touch,” Graham said.

That contact led her to Watts, the owner, founder, and master sculptor with Atlas Bronze Casting, who “sculpts stories we ought to remember and history we must not forget,” according to the company’s website.

Watts and his associate Andrey Sledkov created the statue, bringing to life the spirit of a young politician in 1858, and Sharon Banner of Carthage didn’t want to miss the unveiling.

“Anything historical about Carthage or the Hancock County area is important. I’m also a big lover of Lincoln,” Banner said. “It’s beautiful. I think we’re very lucky to have it.”

Graham and Watts worked together to refine the design.

“Stan’s vision was to capture a defining moment in Lincoln’s political career, a chance to articulate his anti-slavery expansion stance, challenge the Democratic establishment, and gain a national platform that would later serve him in the 1860 presidential election,” Graham said.

“We were focusing on his time here in Carthage and decided he would be our young Lincoln,” she said. “Stan did his research, found several photos of that period of time, and designed his sculpture from there. It’s very unique. There’s no other Lincoln statue like it.”

For nearly 50 years, Watts has made bronze monuments installed across the U.S. and around the world from the Kearns, Utah-based foundry.

“The creation of the statue was the fun, easy part,” said Watts, who has created several Lincoln statues, has started work toward another one, and made sure the Carthage piece included the line that “all men are created equal.”

“We live in a very polarized America now,” he said. “What I would say is where he got ‘all men are created equal’ was out of the Declaration of Independence.”

The $84,000 donation covered the entire cost, with Graham crediting county officials, especially Menn and County Treasurer Kris Pilkington, for help with the project.

Hancock County Historical Society President Keith Bruns said it’s appropriate to have a Lincoln statue in the community.

“He spent time in Hancock County, not only as a politician but as an attorney and to visit friends and family that lived in Hancock County,” Bruns said.

“Very few people know his first legal case was here in Hancock County in 1839, a murder trial on a change of venue,” Bruns said. “He lost that case.”

The statue adds to the county’s Lincoln story — and highlights another side of the 16th president.

“This will be a remarkable educational opportunity for our kids all over the county and region to come to the courthouse and see this Lincoln statue,” Graham said.

Eleven-year-old Addie Tredo already has learned about Lincoln in school and said seeing the unveiling was “really cool.”

“You don’t see this every day,” said Addie, who lives in Washington, D.C., but was visiting her grandparents in Hancock County. “He was one of our better presidents.”