Conn has best view of Lincoln statue
he had constructed, placed in Stanville

Stanville attorney Eric Conn has a better view of a 19-foot statue of Civil War President Abraham Lincoln than anyone in this small Floyd County community.

He just looks out his law office window.

And, it’s only right that Conn has the best view. He footed the entire $500,000 cost of the statue that he commissioned.

An enlarged replica of the Lincoln Memorial sculpture in Washington, D.C., the statue weighs more than a ton and it and its base had to be delivered in three pieces because of its size. A crane was used to put the statue in place.

The sculpture is white with a white 16-square-foot cement base that is six-feet high. Like its Washington counterpart, the statue features Lincoln seated and is said to be the second largest seated Lincoln statue in the world.

Construction of the statue began in 2009 and was put in place in time for a Nov. 4 dedication, the 1860 date Conn chose as he noted that was when Lincoln first was elected president. Conn and Pike District Judge Darrel Mullins unveiled the statue after Mullins read the Gettysburg Address and biographical information about the 16th president.

The dedication crowd included students, local officials and members of the public. The sculpture, formed by artist Jeff Koh, is located close to a replica of the Statue of Liberty and sits in the parking lot of Conn’s Stanville office, overlooking U.S. Highway 23. It can be viewed free of charge, 24 hours per day.

Conn, a Social Security attorney and a U.S. Army veteran of Desert Storm, said the purpose of the statue is to remind Kentuckians that Abraham Lincoln also was a native of the Commonwealth. The attorney is a huge fan of patriotic statues and commissioned the replica of the Statue of Liberty some 10 years ago.

Stanville has a population of 415 and is located near Betsy Layne and some 15 miles north of Pikeville.