Abraham Lincoln Memorial Monument, Presidential monument in Albany County, United States.
The Lincoln Monument is a bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln by Robert Russin, 12+1⁄2 feet (3.8 m) tall and set on a 30-foot (9.1 m) granite pedestal at the Summit Rest Area on Interstate 80 east of Laramie, Wyoming. Russin cast the 4,500-pound bust in more than 30 bolted-together pieces at Fundicion Artística in Mexico City.
Sculptor Robert Russin cast the 4,500-pound bronze bust in Mexico City over 11 months, using about 10 tons of clay in a lost-wax process, then shipped it north in 1958. The Wyoming Parks Commission dedicated it in 1959 for Lincoln's 150th birthday, placing it on Sherman Hill at the highest point of the Lincoln Highway. After Interstate 80 opened, the state moved the bust to the Summit Rest Area in 1969.
The monument marks the highest point of the old Lincoln Highway from New York to San Francisco, and Russin wrote that "the grandeur of the landscape recalls the nobility of his soul." It was dedicated in 1959 for Lincoln's 150th birthday and now stands beside Interstate 80, where about 200,000 travelers stop each year.
The monument stands at the Summit Rest Area and Visitor Center on Interstate 80, between Cheyenne and Laramie, at an elevation of about 8,640 feet. The 12.5-foot bust sits on a 30-foot granite pedestal, so it is seen from below; the rest area also has parking and a visitor center. An estimated 200,000 travelers stop here each year.
The bust was cast in more than 30 bronze pieces bolted together at Fundicion Artistica in Mexico City, using about 10 tons of clay over 11 months. Armed Mexican Army guards escorted its 1958 rail shipment to Denver, and when the truck reached Laramie, crews cut overhead electric and telephone wires block by block so the load could pass down Grand Avenue.
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