Redlands Lincoln Memorial Shrine is a lesser-known history treasure
There's an American history hidden gem in Redlands, and it's the only institution dedicated to Abraham Lincoln in the western United States.
The Lincoln Memorial Shrine is a house of artifacts, devoted to the nation's 16th president, run by the public library.
The museum's director, Don McCue, explains the origins. "When the Watchorn family lost their only child as a result of World War I, he dedicated this building and dedicated his collection to us in 1932."
Robert Watchorn built the small octagon building a hundred years ago to house a Carrara marble bust of President Abraham Lincoln.
"It's one of two identical copies. The second was at the Luxembourg in Paris, France. Their version disappeared in World War II, so we have the only version of the statue in the world today," McCue said.
Over the years, this collection grew to include 39 Lincoln manuscripts and Civil War artifacts, including "The long Shadow of Lincoln," a Norman Rockwell painting from 1945 commissioned for the Saturday Evening Post.
"A lot of people think Lincoln isn't relevant to us today, but here in the midst of the worst crisis in the 20th Century, WWII, people were still seeking inspiration from Lincoln," McCue said.
In the 1990's, they expanded, adding the wing for "Slavery In America," displaying trading cards, hiring agreements, and relics of a time that shouldn't be forgotten.
"We feel if you don't understand all the details of American history, you're gonna be condemned to repeat it," McCue said.
Once every year, there is a cannon reenactment. "The bang and the noise hide the fact that this was a weapon of war, and it caused a lot of pain and suffering, and our history has a lot of pain and suffering in it," McCue said.
Although California may not be a state generally associated with the Civil War, it did play a part. About 500 to 1,000 California men made the long journey back East and fought in the war. it was the state's gold that gave the Confederate army and President Lincoln the push he needed to make history.
