DAYTON, Ohio — After years of planning, a new and unique bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln now has a permanent home on the grounds of the Dayton VA Medical Center Campus.

What You Need To Know

  • A large bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln was unveiled at the Dayton VA Medical Center campus

  • Statue depicts Lincoln signing the legislation that established a network of national facilities to care for Civil War soldiers

  • The work was created by Dayton artist Mike Major

The VA broke ground on the project this past February.

The statue depicts Lincoln signing the legislation that established a network of national facilities to care for Civil War soldiers.

The Dayton VA Medical Center is one of the three oldest health care facilities in what is now the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The ripple effect is the more than 170 VA Hospitals that followed.

“So it really represents centuries of taking care of our veterans and so celebrating our past and really looking forward to the future and all of our current veterans, future veterans, and all of the great things that we can do to support them and their families,” said U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Chief of Staff Meg Kabat.

The statue was sculpted by Dayton artist Mike Major, who studied hundreds of images of Lincoln to help get it right.

This project came to life thanks to the American Veterans Heritage Center, the Lincoln Society of Dayton and more than $750,000 in private donations.

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