ENGLEWOOD — The 3-foot bust of Abraham Lincoln in Englewood has been vandalized twice in one week.
It was found with dark burn marks and crumbling pieces of concrete around the face on Wednesday, and 15th Ward Ald. Raymond Lopez said there was a second attempt to torch it Saturday morning.
It has been a community fixture for nearly 100 years at 69th Street and Wolcott Avenue.
The bust was vandalized again over the weekend. [Provided by Ald. Raymond Lopez]
Lopez said someone apparently put tar on the statue, and pieces of blue tarp and roofing paper were also found surrounding it. He said that the neighborhood icon deserves to be restored and preserved. In order to do that, it can't remain at the corner any longer, he said.
"I will be officially requesting that the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago Public Library and Mayor's Office work to relocate it to the West Englewood Library before it's completely destroyed," he said.
The alderman is also planning to start a GoFundMe page to raise funds to restore the bust.
On Thursday he met with a former resident who said that his father put the bust on that corner sometime after purchasing his home in 1918.
John McGrath, of Oak Lawn, lived on that block for nearly 28 years before getting married. He told DNAinfo that he's not certain where his father found the bust.
