- The highest point on Interstate 80 is in Wyoming, on the Sherman Summit between Laramie and Cheyenne.

It's marked by the huge bronze monument of Abraham Lincoln that you see in the background.

Now, a group of people in Wyoming is trying to get the monument listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

I'm Steve Peck with Wyoming PBS, this is Wyoming Chronicle.

(dramatic music) - [Presenter] Programming on Wyoming PBS is brought to you in part by Wyoming Humanities, enhancing the Wyoming narrative to engage communities with grants and programs across Wyoming for more than 50 years.

We proudly support Wyoming PBS.

- [Steve] If you've driven Interstate 80 between Laramie and Cheyenne, then you've seen it, the towering Abraham Lincoln monument.

(dramatic music) Standing on the mountaintop Sherman Summit Rest Area, the stone pedestal and bronze bust of the 16th US President is situated dramatically at the highest point on the 2,900-mile coast to coast expanse of I-80.

(dramatic music) Completed in 1959, the 43-foot-tall monument's original home was a couple of miles away on the old Lincoln Highway.

As the new interstate highway inched across southern Wyoming, it topped Sherman Summit in the summer of 1969 when the monument was moved.

Careful placement in both location and angle ensures that Lincoln's penetrating gaze appears to make personal eye contact with every traveler who happens by.

These days, there's new activity there in addition to the estimated 250,000 annual visitors to the monument and adjacent Visitor Center.

Historic preservation activists in both Laramie and Cheyenne are joining forces to enlisting for the monument on the National Register of Historic Places.

Adding a work of art to the historic places register would be unusual but not impossible.

In February, a crowd gathered on a windy wintry afternoon at the monument site to celebrate Lincoln's 216th birthday and to announce the plan to secure historic preservation for the statute.

John Waggener, historian and instructor at the University of Wyoming, wrote a book about I-80 interstate, devoting significant pages to the notoriously poor winter traveling conditions in the Southeast.

He described how the current Visitor Center, including the relocation of the monument came to be.

- Plans for a Visitor Center and the monument relocation began to take shape in the spring of 1968.

The US Forest Service donated the land we are standing on today.

And on August 8th, 1968, the bid was awarded to a Cheyenne construction company in the amount of $373,000, approximately $3.5 million today, to build a comfort station, picnic facilities and a parking lot, as well as to relocate the monument that was up on the hill up here.

So the monument was moved in the fall of 1968, and during the spring and summer of '69 when this Visitor Center was being constructed, the monument was repositioned atop a new base and was cleaned.

This new Visitor Center was described as Wyoming's largest and most elaborate rest area in the state.

The center was officially opened at 1:00 PM on September 8th, 1969.

- Anne Brande, a photographer and historian from Laramie, focused the ceremonies not only on the monument, but on the artist who created it, Robert Russin.

You know more about the monument itself, I think, the big sculpture, than most people do.

It's not super old, and that might be what prejudices someone to thinking, well, how historic can be it be?

It dates to 1959.

Which to the two of us doesn't sound like that long ago, but it's- - To my children though- - Yeah, exactly.

- My oldest is 24 and my youngest is 15, that's archaic.

- '59 might as well be 1909.

- Yeah.

- And it is getting older every day.

It was created by a person who was not a Wyoming native, but became extremely well-known in the world of art in a way that I doubt could happen again today, Robert Russin was the sculptor.

And there was a period of time when he was well-known in Wyoming as being a sculptor.

He did other things beside this, but this is, wouldn't you say, his great Wyoming masterpiece, for sure?

- It is.

And actually, people know about the Lincoln bust, the monument, the Lincoln head here all over the world.

It's a testament to his skill as a sculptor in bronze, and he also did stone sculptures as well.

- [Steve] Yeah, people who've been on the University of Wyoming campus know a completely different style of sort of, what's it called?

Modern family or something like that.

- [Anne] Yes.

- And so he could do everything.

What's this monument made of?

- So this is bronze.

It was cast in 30 separate pieces.

And he had to do it in a stable environment and so he had to do it in Mexico.

Those of us who live in Laramie know that on days like today you wake up and it's minus 20 Celsius.

- Well think of, yeah, if you have to do a project, an art project that's gonna take months and months to do, it's two degrees here on top of the mountain today in February on Lincoln's birthday, and six months from now it might be 80 degrees here, and that doesn't, it's not conducive to working in materials that you sculpted with.

So he went to Mexico because- - He did, and he- - Stable climate there.

- He put a mold together.

You have to do the mold first out of clay.

And it was so heavy that it broke apart so they had to do it twice.

Yeah.

- And then it got here with great difficulty and then it had to be bolted into place.

- [Anne] Right.

- [Steve] And then it had, of course- - In the winter.

So they did the installation in the winter and they built the base of it, they quarried the granite, they assembled the base when they bolted it together.

- [Steve] To coincide with Lincoln's 150th birthday, that's the significance of 1959.

- [Anne] Yes.

- [Steve] But adding to the colorful history of the thing, it wasn't where it is now then.

- No, but it was right up the hill.

So actually right on that ascend, that's the Lincoln Highway, and it was right there.

So when you're standing, 'cause it's still level, so when you're standing there, you can look down on this.

- You can.

- It runs parallel, so it's very cool.

- Yeah, and so one of the many, many supporting agencies of what we're doing today in continuing with this bid to get the historic registered placement is the Lincoln Highway Association.

And Wyoming PBS did a documentary on the historic Lincoln Highway 10 years ago or more, which I'd certainly recommend to viewers.

But the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, that was the occasion of placing it there.

But not long after that, the Lincoln Highway ceased to be because the interstate highway system- - Right.

- Came to be.

And so 10 years later, it was moved here.

So adding to the history of the difficulty of getting the thing made was they had to pick up and move it again.

Was that a difficult thing to do?

- Of course.

But it's a testament to how they realized how important it was, how many people started to notice it, it's a beacon.

- Yeah.

- Especially when you're dealing with a snowstorm.

But on a nice day it's a beacon.

But I very often drive from Cheyenne to Laramie, and in that fog, in that night mist when I wonder if I'm gonna make it to Laramie- - [Steve] And you look and see 'cause it's lit at night.

- Yes, you are right there.

And so you can see it so far off in the distance glowing.

And it's a beacon of hope.

- And anyone who drives by, what do you notice?

He looks right at you.

- The bust, yeah.

- And his eyes are, I mean, it's a part of the beauty of the placement of it.

- And the artist who sculpted it, Robert Russin, said he wanted it rugged and rough and he wanted it contemplative 'cause he wanted the seriousness and the thought behind Lincoln when he was reflecting on the rent nation.

He was trying to heal the country, he was trying to connect the East and West Coast.

And so that really comes across when you see the face of Lincoln in that bust.

- In terms of the execution, material and this, as you say, this textured quality of his hair and the face and the- - It fits its environment entirely.

- [Steve] Right.

- [Anne] Sherman mountains are very rugged, and it's the highest point on Interstate 80, it's the highest point on the Lincoln.

- We're almost at 9,000 feet I think, but probably sitting in the Visitor Center, we are above 9,000 feet, I would say.

- And it's not far from a national historic landmark, that's the Ames Monument, now it's the Ames National Historic Landmark.

And so you're seeing the rocky mountains behind it, you're seeing Sherman, you're seeing the texture of Wyoming.

- You knew and know members of the Russin family, the sculpture himself is an no longer with us but- - His son, his oldest son.

- His son is someone that you know personally and have spoken to.

- Yes.

And the oldest son is Joe.

And now I've reached out to Robin, and the youngest, the one born in Laramie, was named Lincoln.

- Lincoln.

- And Joe is a treasure trove of stories.

Joe was in tow with Robert when they cast the bronze in Mexico.

And they had to ship it on the, they shipped it on the railway and they were worried.

They had detectives following it all the way from Mexico to the train yard in Denver 'cause they were afraid with all that bronze how much that was worth, that it would get stolen.

And the joke is, no, they couldn't even find it.

It was kind of parked in the corner of the railroad yard and nobody really knew where it was so it took a couple days.

- You mentioned the worry about it because it was made of bronze and it might be attractive to to thieves because of the value, but you also know how much it actually costs to make.

- Yeah, Joe told me that this morning.

- And it's a sort of a, based on what I think people who follow this sort of thing know now, sort of an astoundingly small amount of money.

What did it cost?

- $40,000.

- [Steve] $40,000.

- No, back in the day, my father's good at that kind of thing, I'm sure it was astronomical.

But what a value.

What a value to the country, what a value to the people of Wyoming.

- Great way of putting it.

You are affiliated with Historic Preservation Agency here in Albany County.

What's your group?

- It's called the Albany County Conservancy, and I'm the founder.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- During COVI, it gave me time to reflect, and I'm not getting any younger, and I thought it's time for me to give back to Wyoming.

My family's been telling photographic stories.

We're the oldest business in Wyoming, we're portrait-based, so we've been telling Wyoming stories- - You can say the name.

- Ludwig Photography.

My kids said to me a couple years ago 'cause they were frustrated that I now have this new passion in addition to running a full-time business so mom isn't there to do their laundry every day.

And they said, "When did you become so involved in conservation and preservation?"

And I thought, are you listening?

- I've been a photographer.

- I'm a photographer.

I've been preserving culture and memories and family stories, and so is my family.

So I walk to work from my historic home, and I walk by the Russin family's house and I see the studio.

And my mother was a student of Robert's.

- I'm glad you mentioned that, yes.

- [Anne] Yeah.

- In what capacity?

He was a, I mean, he came to Wyoming to be an instructor at the university when he had a lot of other options available to him at that time and he chose Wyoming.

- But his vision, as he drove to that interview on the summit, he just immediately knew he wanted to do that bust of Lincoln, and if he got the job offer, he was gonna be in Laramie.

And he embraced Laramie with open arms, his whole family did, and he truly considered himself a Wyomingite the rest of his life.

- Yeah, I was gonna say the sculpture wasn't just a one-off.

- [Anne] No.

- He came here, he liked it here, he stayed here.

- Yeah.

The highest concentration of his works are in Wyoming.

He's known internationally.

He was a Ford Foundation artist.

They sent him to Italy.

But his largest number of works are here.

- [Steve] Mary Hopkins worked for many years in Wyoming state government, and in retirement, she continues to play a significant role in historic preservation efforts.

She's handling much of the legwork involved in nominating the Lincoln statue for placement on the national register.

- I'm the vice-chair of the Albany County Historic Preservation Board.

And so I'm somewhat of a new member, I've been on the board for two years now.

- Prior to that, had a long career elsewhere in a more, I guess, official capacity through the state of Wyoming as well.

- Right, yeah.

- [Steve] Tell us about that.

- Well, I worked for the state of Wyoming for 42 years, and all of my career was in historic preservation and archeology, and I finished out my career as a state historic preservation officer.

And I really enjoyed it, I had a great job.

- It's important for state government to be involved in historic preservation, isn't it?

Even if people don't think of it at top-of-mind all the time in the way you had to.

- Well, it's really important for the state to have a voice in what's chosen and to protect and consider important for local communities and statewide.

And so each state has a state historic preservation office.

They receive funding through the National Park Service through the Historic Preservation Fund.

And that is Congress approves those funds for each state.

So Wyoming gets an allocation of that, and Wyoming's required to match it.

So we have a matching program with the federal government.

But it really allows the state to have that initial input on what the federal government is doing in the state in terms of any kind of effect to important resources.

- One of the reasons we're here today, in addition to being Lincoln's birthday, there's now an effort to get the monument itself a national historic designation.

What is your Albany County Group's role in that?

- We try to listen to the public at the local level, and the Albany County Conservancy approached us about the monument, and would we consider taking on the job of nominating it to the National Register?

And as a county board, we have the opportunity to apply for grant funding through the of State Historic Preservation Office for this project.

So that's what we did.

- The project of actually preparing the bid, so to speak, to get it listed.

- Yep.

- That's a complicated process, time-consuming and costs some money.

- Just under $20,000 to do this nomination.

And we will hire a professional consultant- - Really?

- To write this nomination.

It takes a while to prepare the form and the documentation.

It has to be in the, it's a federal government process, it has to go into the Park Service in their format with their requirements.

And this is a object.

Most things that are listed on the register you would think of as a building- - A building, inhabited sort of thing.

- Right.

- Or inhabitable.

Yeah, I wondered about that.

You've been involved in these kinds of processes before?

- I have.

- Do you think this is promising?

You're optimistic about it or- - We're confident it's eligible for the register, yes.

And actually, nationally, the interstate system was considered eligible for the National Register.

- Really?

- So we worked closely with WYDOT.

And at that time this location, WYDOT considered eligible and the Lincoln Monument is part of that.

So we're just continuing on the conversation that we already had about the interstate system and recognizing Russin and his contribution to the state, we feel is very, very important.

- An important part of it.

There's provenance, so to speak, as a piece of art as well.

I've driven the length of Interstate 80 in my life.

And this has got, this is one of the very, very, very best parts of it.

I think it might be the best.

When you cross the George Washington Bridge or the Oakland Bay Bridge or something, it's pretty spectacular.

But it's great driving through a remote part of the interstate highway system and looking up.

- I just think it really hits people when they come across.

- [Steve] Yeah, that's a good way to- - [Mary] Either way, whichever direction, and gives them pause to look at the past.

Even just from your car window, you know that there's something affiliated with the past because Lincoln is on the top of this mountain.

- The process of sort of the ceremonial kind of a kickoff to it today, I know you've already started work on it as well.

What would a typical timeframe be?

Would the best case scenario, it might earn the designation when?

- If everything goes smoothly, I would anticipate we would have this completed by this time of next year.

- Really?

Okay.

- And then we'll have another celebration when it's listed, and hopefully commemorate the listing on the National Register as well as what we did today.

- [Steve] Megan Stanfill organized the Lincoln birthday events at the high altitude Visitor Center and Monument site.

She does triple duty, at least, in her work in local historic preservation.

- I'm the executive director of the Alliance for Historic Wyoming.

And I also serve as the Wyoming State Director of the National Lincoln Highway Association.

- You're headquartered in Cheyenne or Laramie?

- We're headquartered in Laramie.

- In Laramie.

What draws a person to your kind of work?

What's your work and career path been?

- Well, I was born and raised in Virginia.

My dad worked at Colonial Williamsburg.

- You're kidding.

- And I grew up, he did maintenance so I grew up going and helping with fire alarms going off and how do they put the speakers in rocks so they can be hidden so you can still have that historic feeling?

And when I went to college, I got a undergraduate degree in history.

- [Steve] Where was that?

- Mary Baldwin University.

So Stanton, Virginia.

Women's College.

And I came out to Wyoming, and I was running a metal fabrication shop with my husband, and I was like, man, I really like old places.

And I got a summer job at the Wyoming Territorial Prison, which I'm now the president of the board of.

- [Steve] Okay.

- And I was visitor services and I worked up in the collections and did archival stuff.

And then my job became available and I was like, I grew up going to Preservation Virginia.

- You're a natural for it.

- And I was like, I gotta do this, this is my dream job.

And here I am now.

Now I'm Lincoln Highway Association and the Alliance and the Territorial Prison, and work with monuments and markers.

So I wear a lot of different hats, and all of these agencies all work together anyways so it's just a perfect fit.

- What's the process like for getting something listed on the national register?

You can't just say, hey, we'd like to be, sign us up.

It's a lot more to it than that.

- It's pretty extensive 'cause there's different levels of designation that you can get.

On the national level, the national is historic place.

So buildings, single buildings, and then you can have a district, and then you can have a national historic landmark, then a national monument, and then a national park.

- I see, okay.

- So there's a lot of different layers to it.

But for the national register, you start off by getting eligibility.

This is where, this is a picture of it, this is what it is, this is when it was built, a little bit of history behind it.

And then SHPO says, yes, it's eligible or no, it's not.

- And I hear an abbreviation you used- - SHPO.

- SHPO.

- Yeah, the State Historic Preservation Office.

So they say whether or not it's eligible for listing.

It's pretty hefty.

You have to meet one of the criterion, the Lincoln monument's significant because of its association with the artist.

- Because he was a historic person himself.

- Yes.

- [Steve] Okay.

- And it's also architecturally significant, like it's very unique.

And so it has a lot of significance for both of those criterion.

There's also social movements that it can be associated with or archeology.

- When you think about it, does its relative youth, it's more than, it's been here, the monument itself is about 65 years old or a little older, but it's not 200 years old.

Does that work against it necessarily or- - In the preservation community, a lot of people say if it's old, it might not be historic.

And it doesn't have to be old to be historic.

- To be historic.

- And I think the monument is, so 65 years for, I guess, general understanding, it's 50 years, over 50 years for significance.

And they also want structures to not be moved, which this is a very unique situation where it was moved over 50 years ago so it still retains that significance.

- But that's also an interesting piece of color related to the monument itself.

- Yeah, yeah, and I mean it's massive.

It's a huge undertaking to move something like that.

Everywhere in Wyoming, you have buildings that have been moved, you have structures that have been moved, and it's kind of the Wyoming way to move what you need to be able to use it where it's usable and- - Sure.

The affiliation with the monument with the old Lincoln Highway and what we learned today was the Lincoln Highway was moved.

- Yeah.

- Rerouted again.

- Multiple times, yeah.

- And so it shouldn't be disqualifying, I'm sure that's the argument that you're taking.

Do you know of other monuments of similar listings that are kind of like this or would this be one of the very few?

- I don't know of any in Wyoming at least.

I know other states, Colorado has some, but really it's pretty new having these designations of artworks.

- Lincoln must be one of the most memorialized monumented figures in history.

But, boy, this has gotta be one of the best of the Lincoln monuments, I would think.

People have seen the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, which is a- - Yeah, it's different.

- Fantastic somber thing but this is quite an achievement.

And that's what he was going for.

He said I want to do something that stands out here, and he pulled it off.

- Yeah, well, we have all of these monuments in Washington D.C., and really, the entire nation celebrates these people.

And you have a monument on one of the most traveled highways in the country, and people can experience that pride and that national heritage that they love, and it just connects the entire country.

- And not that there's anything wrong with going to see the monuments in- - [Megan] No.

- But people don't have to make a special trip just to see it.

- [Megan] No.

- They could be going anywhere almost, and there it is.

And that brings me to another point that you made off-camera which was, you hope to start a new kind of Lincoln birthday tradition.

What's the special commemoration you're hoping to get started here?

- Yeah, I wanna celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday every year.

It could be in this location, it could be at a building that's named after him all along the route.

The National Lincoln Highway Association, they do a wreath presentation at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., and that really sparked my interest, I was like, well, not everyone, yeah, not everyone on the Lincoln Highway can get to D.C. in February, but they might be able to make it to Laramie.

- [Steve] Yeah.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ Happy birthday dear Abraham ♪ Happy birthday to you (all applaud) (dramatic music)