Design
A Charming Look Back at the Opening of the 91-Year-Old Lincoln Memorial
"This memorial is less for Abraham Lincoln than for those of us today and for those who follow after."
On May 30, 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was formally dedicated. Fifty thousand people attended, including Supreme Court Chief Justice William Taft and President Warren G. Harding, who told the crowd "this memorial is less for Abraham Lincoln than for those of us today and for those who follow after."
Congressional efforts to build a memorial to the fallen president date back to 1867. Each legislative attempt failed until Illinois senator Shelby Cullom's bill for the incorporation of a new memorial commission passed in December 1910.