Push under way for Lincoln statue at cemetery

ELWOOD — The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Support Committee is working to raise $110,000 to put up a life-size Lincoln statue at the Will County cemetery that bears his name.

The (Joliet) Herald-News reports that the committee raised $3,500 in its first week and the fundraising effort could go on for a year or more.

Committee chairman Don Walden says statue site will include information about Lincoln, including how he created the cemetery system for veterans in 1862 — 15 months after the start of the Civil War.

The 982-acre cemetery is located on former Joliet arsenal land in Elwood. It opened in October 1999.