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Commemoration of President Lincoln's Birthday  |
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 On Sunday, February 18, 2007, the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society will celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, honoring a Buffalo tradition more than 100 years old. The event is free of charge and takes place at 1:30 pm at the bronze statue of Lincoln overlooking Mirror Lake.
Members of the Buffalo Civil War Round Table will present tributes and a military salute, led by Benedict Maryniak re-enacting Chaplain Philos G. Cook of the 94th New York Volunteers.
There will be a Colors Advance, the Invocation from Chaplain Cook, Tributes from the assembled units, then a Military Salute with rifles fired, and Colors Retire. Descendents of people who served in various units during the Civil War will be present, as well as individuals in Civil War era garb, which includes the voluminously-skirted dresses of the period. Participants welcome questions from visitors after the ceremony.
Parking is free in the museum's lot at Nottingham Court at Elmwood Avenue, near the History Museum exit of the Scajaquada Expressway (Route 198).
The national commemoration of President Lincoln's birthday, actual date of February 12, began in Buffalo in 1874. It is the legacy of Julius Francis, owner of a Main Street drug store, who deeply revered the martyred President and undertook the respectful public remembrance of the man as his life's mission. Francis underwrote and organized the first public ceremony, in 1874, and presented it every year for the rest of his life, along with similar programs in the local schools.
Mr. Julius Francis donated his collection of Civil War and Lincoln-related documents and artifacts to the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. Funds from the Francis estate were used to commission the bronze seated Lincoln statue by sculptor Charles Niehaus, which was unveiled in 1902. It stands on the south portico of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society as a lasting tribute to both the man who would have a nation remember its Civil War President and to President Abraham Lincoln.
For more information, visit www.bechs.org.
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