These give examples of major aspects of his life:Ĭhampion of Free Speech. The four sides of the central spire's pedestal contain quotes by Lovejoy. Travelers over the bridge from Missouri into Illinois can see it from a considerable distance away. Located on top of the river bluff, the monument is easily seen from a distance. Visitors can hear someone whispering who is completely out of sight on the opposite side. A stone whispering wall bench wraps around the central spire. It has two side spires mounted by eagles, as well as two bronze lion chalice statues.

Located on a bluff, the complete work stands more than 300 feet above the Mississippi river below. The monument consists of a 93-foot-tall main shaft topped by a 17-foot-tall winged statue of victory. Louis sculptor, and built by Culver Stone Company of Springfield, Illinois. In the 1890s, work began in earnest on the monument. Dimmock arranged for installation of a gravestone here. Lovejoy's remains were exhumed and reinterred in the cemetery that is now overlooked by his monument. Dimmock led an effort to find them, discovering the site was partially covered by a roadway. Having been buried in an unmarked grave in Alton, Lovejoy's remains became lost for some time. The following year, Lincoln gave his House Divided speech in June 1858 during his campaign for the US Senate seat representing Illinois. '- Abraham Lincoln, 1857 letter to friend Lemen' Lovejoy's tragic death for freedom in every sense marked his sad ending as the most important single event that ever happened in the new world. In 1857, Abraham Lincoln wrote to a friend about this event: He was considered a martyr in the causes of both freedom of speech and the abolition of slavery. Lovejoy and his men returned fire, but in the conflict Lovejoy was killed. As the building was stormed, the attackers apparently began firing guns. Lovejoy and some supporters were in the warehouse where the presses were stored.

Louis and aided Lovejoy in acquiring his fourth press. On November 7, 1837, a crowd attacked the warehouse owned by Winthrop Sargent Gilman, an abolitionist who had groceries in St. Southern Illinois was settled by many slaveowners from the South. He decided to move across the river to Alton, Illinois, in 1837, where he renamed his newspaper as the Alton Observer.Īlthough Illinois was a free state, there were numerous people in the area who supported slavery. Slavery advocates attacked and destroyed his presses three times. Lovejoy (1802-1837) was an abolitionist in the 1830s, running a newspaper called the St Louis Observer, in Missouri, a slave state.

Whispering statue