KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Wreath-layings, storytelling, and birthday cake are just some of the ways Lincoln Memorial University celebrated a very big birthday this weekend in East Tennessee.
The Harrogate-based institution named in honor of President Abraham Lincoln marked the 125th anniversary of its charter and founding. The official founding date is Feb. 12, which coincides with Honest Abe's birthday.
LMU actually will hold anniversary celebrations for a full year, starting Friday.
In addition to the main campus in Harrogate, LMU operates the Duncan School of Law in downtown Knoxville at the former Knoxville City Hall.
- At noon Friday in Knoxville, students and faculty held events at the law school that includes a reading of the Gettysburg Address in the school's courtroom.
- Also planned at 4 p.m. Friday in Harrogate are the annual Founder’s Day Games for students at Tex Turner Arena. And at 4:30 p.m. on the Harrogate campus, there was a wreath placement at the foot of the young Lincoln statue at the Abraham Lincoln Museum. That was followed by a proclamation reading and a scholarship presentation, among other events, in the museum's Arnold Auditorium.
- At 6 p.m. Lincoln performer Dennis Boggs presented Lincoln's story. A reception with a birthday cake followed.
- On Saturday in Harrogate, the museum observed President Lincoln's birthday. According to LMU's senior PR director Katherine Reagan, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., there was also free behind-the-scenes tours of rarely displayed items from the museum’s vault.
Children could also make special log cabin crafts throughout the day, and students and alumni could record their memories of LMU as part of the 125th Anniversary oral history project.
- Coincidentally, an LMU delegation on Saturday will be in Washington, D.C. to take part in the National Park Service’s wreath-laying ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial.
LMU was founded on Feb. 12, 1897, as a living memorial to Lincoln, who led the nation during the Civil War and is widely considered to be its greatest president.
LMU had enrollment in fall 2021 on and off-campus of about 5,100 including 1,673 undergrads and 3,445 graduate and professional students, according to the university.
