Abraham Lincoln visited Michigan only once. He came to Kalamazoo to give speeches in Kalamazoo's Bronson Park 160 years ago, four years before he became president and the Civil War began. The Kalamazoo Abraham Lincoln Project will mark the event Saturday at the Kalamazoo Public Library.
Former state senator Cameron Brown is the chairman of the project's steering committee. He says Lincoln came to Kalamazoo to campaign on behalf of General John C. Fremont, the then-new Republican Party's first presidential nominee. Brown says the text of Lincoln's Kalamazoo speech was long thought lost until a copy printed by a Detroit newspaper was discovered in the 1930's. Brown says,
"In learning about Lincoln's visit, we learn about America. We learn about the relationship between state government and federal government. We learn about the Constitution. We learn about the deep undercurrents of race in America."
Brown says the Kalamazoo Abraham Lincoln Project has been under development for three years. It will include the installation of a life-size bronze statue of Lincoln in Bronson Park in 2018. Brown says the Project also wants to open a Lincoln Leadership Development Center targeting young people in the Kalamazoo area.
The 160th anniversary celebration of Lincoln's appearance in Kalamazoo starts Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Kalamazoo Public Library on Rose Street. It will include re-enactors portraying Lincoln and his wife Mary as well as the premiere of a video about Lincoln's Kalamazoo connection. They will also be a walking tour of Bronson Park with Kalamazoo Lincoln expert Tom George.