Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, West Virginia State Capitol, Charleston, WV

**West Virginia Capitol Complex** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 74002009, date listed 19741231

 

Along Kanawha Blvd.

 

Charleston, WV (Kanawha County)

 

The West Virginia Capitol Complex, located along the Kanawha River in Charleston, incorporates the State Capitol with its three attached units and the Executive Mansion which serves as the home of the governor. Covering an expanse of more than eighteen acres, the capitol shadows the mansion which is set on its western side.

 

Designed in Italian Renaissance style by renowned architect Cass Gilbert and completed in steps between 1924 and 1932 at a cost of a little less than $10,000,000, the symmetrical, "U"-shaped West Virginia State Capitol, of limestone and marble, has a porticoed central section and two four-story (plus basement) wings attached to the main unit by a single story divider. (1)

 

Nine-foot bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln as it stands in front of the West Virginia State Capitol on a winter’s day. The original work was a 29-inch bronze statue crafted by sculptor Fred Martin Torrey in 1933 and displayed at the 1939 World’s Fair. Artist Bernard Wiepper casted the current larger-than-life statue in 1974. It is based on the 1914 poem “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight” by Vachel Lindsay. (2)

 

Abraham Lincoln created the state of West Virginia by proclamation and signature. West Virginia joined the Union June 20, 1863. (from local signage)

 

References (1) NRHP Nomination Form npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/74002009.pdf

 

(2) Civil War Profiles www.civilwarprofiles.com/lincoln-walks-at-midnight/

Done