ENGLEWOOD — After being vandalized twice in the last month, Englewood's Abraham Lincoln bust soon will have a new home.
The 3-foot bust was removed Thursday morning from 69th Street and Wolcott Avenue to protect it from further damage, 15th Ward Ald. Raymond Lopez said.
Lopez said he asked the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Mayor's Office and the West Englewood Library to remove it from the corner, where it has been for nearly 100 years.
Last week vandals, in an apparent attempt to torch the bust, left dark burn marks and crumbling pieces of concrete around its face. Over the weekend, there was a second attempt to torch it. Lopez said someone apparently put tar on the statue, and pieces of blue tarp and roofing paper were found surrounding it.
Lopez said he wanted it relocated before it was destroyed.
"The Department of Cultural Affairs will house it in a facility for inspection and cost of restoration before being rededicated at the West Englewood Library," the alderman said.
The bust was erected in 1926 by Phil Blomquist, who owned the now-shuttered Lincoln Gas Station nearby, according to city historian Tim Samuelson. The gas station was named for the street it was on, Lincoln, which was renamed Wolcott Avenue in 1936, Samuelson said.
