Abraham Lincoln was one of the most beloved and most powerful presidents in U.S. history.
On April 15, 1865, “Honest Abe” became the first American president to be assassinated when he died of a gunshot wound after he was shot by renowned stage actor John Wilkes Booth at a showing of the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., the previous night.
From the famous Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota to the very well-known penny to the many elementary schools, colleges and universities named after Lincoln, there are many tributes to the “Great Emancipator,” both large and small.
In honor of the 150th anniversary of his assassination, here are 32 memorials in America and around the world dedicated to the legendary 16th president.
1. Lincoln Memorial
Location: Washington, D.C.
Fun fact: The gigantic statue of Lincoln, which stands 19 feet tall, was designed by famous sculptor Daniel Chester French and it shows Lincoln during the Civil War contemplating how to hold the Union together and advance equality for all.
2. Mount Rushmore
Location: South Dakota
Fun fact: The sculpture, which is visited by nearly a million people each year, features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four famous U.S. presidents: Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.
3. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Location: Springville, Illinois
Fun fact: The library and museum, which took four times as long as the Civil War to put together, features inspiring exhibits about Lincoln’s life and the Civil War and precious artifacts related to the legendary president.
4. Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
Location: Hodgenville, Kentucky
Fun fact: The park features the 16th president’s boyhood cabin, where he lived from age 2½ to almost 8 years old and where he almost drowned in Knob Creek (and was saved by his friend Austin Gollaher).
5. Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
Location: Lincoln City, Indiana
Fun fact: The memorial is on the site where the 16th president spent the rest of his boyhood up until adulthood, and his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, is buried here.
6. Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site
Location: Petersburg, Illinois
Fun fact: This memorial is a reconstruction of the village where Lincoln spent his early adulthood years where you can get a bite to eat, shop for souvenirs at the country store, see authentic blacksmiths, catch a performance at the Theatre in the Park or go for a nice walk in the woods.
7. Lincoln Home National Historical Site
Location: Springville, Illinois
Fun fact: This memorial, which focuses on the former leader of the free world as a husband, father and neighbor, is the final place that Lincoln lived before being elected the 16th president of the United States.
8. Ford’s Theatre
Location: Washington, D.C.
Fun fact: This is the location of Lincoln’s assassination by stage actor John Wilkes Booth during a performance of the play “Our American Cousin” in 1865.
The infamous theater has a museum with historic artifacts and interactive exhibits, and the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership, which has a 34-foot tower of books about the beloved president.
9. Petersen House
Location: Washington, D.C.
Fun fact: This house, which was where the 16th president was taken after the shooting and where he eventually died, was just another boarding house owned by a German tailor named William A. Petersen, which became a major tourist destination after Lincoln’s death.
10. Lincoln Tomb, Oak Ridge Cemetery
Location: Springville, Illinois
Fun fact: The burial site of Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and three of their four sons, Edward, William and Tad, the site features a 117-foot-tall tomb designed by Larkin Mead.
The tomb features four bronze sculptures that represent the four military services that fought in the Civil War (infantry, artillery, cavalry, navy), an obelisk, an epic bronze statue of Lincoln and a re-creation of the Lincoln head at the U.S. Capitol at the entrance.
11. Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport
Location: Springville, Illinois
Fun fact: This airport named after the legendary president is a public airport as well as a military airport and is the home of the 183rd Fighter Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard.
12. Lincoln Square
Location: Manhattan, New York
Fun fact: The famous neighborhood in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and home of the renowned Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is rumored to have been named after the legendary president.
13. Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum
Location: Harrogate, Tennessee
Fun fact: Located on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University, this library and museum has a vast and diverse collection of 30,000 books, manuscripts, pamphlets, photographs, paintings and sculptures dedicated to the great president and the Civil War, including the cane that Lincoln carried the night that he was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre.
14. Abraham Lincoln (Parliament Square)
Location: London
Sculptor: Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Fun fact: Located near the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, this statue by famous sculptor Saint-Gaudens is a replica of the original one in Lincoln Park in Chicago.
15. Abraham Lincoln (Judiciary Square)
Location: Washington, D.C.
Sculptor: Lot Flannery
Fun fact: This sculpture stands in D.C.’s Judiciary Square just blocks from Ford’s Theatre and it features the beloved president standing with his left hand resting on the symbol of the Union.
16. Abraham Lincoln (Rotunda, U.S. Capitol)
Location: Washington, D.C.
Sculptor: Vinnie Ream
Fun fact: Located in the famous and important Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, this sculpture shows Lincoln looking downward at his right hand which is holding the Emancipation Proclamation.
He is wearing the same bow tie, vest and double-breasted frock coat that he wore when he was assassinated along with a long, flowing cloak.
17. Emancipation Memorial
Location: Washington, D.C.
Sculptor: Thomas Ball
Fun fact: Located in the very important Capitol Hill neighborhood, this sculpture shows the “Great Emancipator” holding the Emancipation Proclamation in his right hand and freeing an African-American slave, modeled on ex-slave Archer Alexander, who is on one knee and shackled at Lincoln’s feet.
18. Abraham Lincoln: The Man
Location: Chicago
Sculptor: Augustus Saint Gaudens
Fun fact: Located near Chicago’s Lincoln Park on the east lawn of the Chicago History Museum, this statue, also known as “Standing Lincoln,” is one of the most famous Lincoln statues in America, and there are replicas of it at Parliament Square in London and in Mexico City.
19. The Young Lincoln
Location: Chicago
Sculptor: Charles Keck
Fun fact: Located in the Windy City’s Senn Park, this 9-foot-tall bronze sculpture shows the legendary president as a clean-shaven young man who has just finished work with his sleeves rolled up and he’s holding his book on law.
20. Standing Lincoln (Nebraska State Capitol)
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
Sculptor: Daniel Chester French
Fun fact: Located on the West Plaza of the Nebraska State Capitol, this bronze statue on a granite pedestal flanked by eagles has the Gettysburg Address carved into the backdrop and features Lincoln looking down and bearing the burdens of the Civil War.
21. Emancipation Proclamation (Nebraska State Capitol)
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
Sculptor: Lee Lawrie
Fun fact: Located on the side of the Nebraska Capitol, this bas-relief sculpture frieze with the U.S. Capitol in the background shows Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation while freeing a group of slaves below with their shackled hands outstretched.
22. Abraham Lincoln (The Pennsylvania State Memorial)
Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Sculptor: J. Otto Schweizer
Fun fact: Located on the northwest side on the memorial, which also features sculptures of the “Goddess of Victory and Peace” and former governor of Pennsylvania Andrew Gregg Curtin, Lincoln stands with his arm reaching out underneath the name “Meade.”
George Meade was a Union general who defeated Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
23. Lincoln Trail State Memorial
Location: Lawrenceville, Illinois
Sculptor: Nellie Verne Walker
Fun fact: The memorial stands at the site where Lincoln first entered Illinois with his family in March 1830.
It features Lincoln as a bronze sculpture within a sculptured limestone wall that shows three adults and two children walking alongside an ox-driven covered wagon with the legendary president leading them home.
24. Lincoln College
Location: Lincoln, Illinois
Fun fact: Named after Lincoln in a town also named after Lincoln, Lincoln College broke ground on its first building, University Hall, just six days after the 16th president’s last living birthday in 1865.
25. Lincoln Law School of Sacramento
Location: Sacramento, California
Fun fact: Alumni of this law school include over 10 California Supreme Court judges, the Sacramento County district attorney and the general counsel to the California Highway Patrol.
26. Lincoln Memorial University
Location: Harrogate, Tennessee
Fun fact:With including the impressive Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, this university was founded based on a chat that “Honest Abe” had with Union Gen. O.O. Howard in which he told the general that a great university should be established in the area after the Civil War had ended.
27. Lincoln University
Location: Oakland, California
Fun fact: Located in California’s Bay Area, this private university focuses on adult education, in particular working adults, as well as international students.
28. The penny
Fun fact: Before the “Great Emancipator” was chosen as the now-established face of the penny, it originally featured a lady with flowing hair symbolizing liberty and was made of pure copper.
29. The $5 Bill
Fun fact: The current portrait of Lincoln on the $5 bill is based on a photograph taken by Anthony Berger on Feb. 9, 1864.
30. Stamps
Fun fact: Lincoln’s face has graced U.S. postage stamps for many, many years now, with one collection carrying a pre-sale estimate of $2 million before it was auctioned off in 2009.
31. Lincoln, Illinois
Fun fact: Home of Lincoln College, this city was named after the legendary president before he entered the White House and while still a lawyer after he helped found the city and acted as legal counsel to the new railroad that accompanied the new city.
The townspeople insisted on naming the city after Lincoln (they must’ve known he’d go on to do great things) and Lincoln christened the town using watermelon juice from a nearby wagon of melons.
32. Lincoln, Nebraska
Home of the University of Nebraska, this city named after the great president has plenty to offer, including bird watching, golfing and fishing, and historical and unique museums like the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Museum.