KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – After years of work, fundraising and discussions, the Kalamazoo City Commission has approved a plan to memorialize Abraham Lincoln in Bronson Park.
The Kalamazoo Abraham Lincoln Institute will erect a statue of the “Great Emancipator”.
Commissioner Chris Preadel says one of the reasons he is in politics today is because as a young boy, he learned that Abraham Lincoln had once spoken here.
Praedel says it was the first time Lincoln publicly spoke out against the spread of slavery into the western territories.
Preadel, who is also a member of the institute, says the statue will depict a younger Lincoln holding his speech to his heart, with his hand beckoning others to join him.
The plan is to put the statue near the center of the park.
The Institute has raised all the money to fund the statue and maintain it. One of their first fundraisers was a penny drive, which they say was fitting, because Lincoln is on the penny.
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