Introduction. The Lincoln Memorial in the District of Columbia is among the most popular national historical sites in the United States. Carved into the stone exterior of the building are the names of all the states of the Union at the time of construction; this page charts at what locations on the Memorial their names are placed.
The structure is bounded by a colonnade. An entablature atop the 36 columns contains a frieze with the names of the 36 states that joined the Union before the end of the Civil War. Included are the states that seceded during that conflict, all of which ultimately returned.
Walls within the colonnade rise above the entablature forming an attic. Along the top of the attic walls are carved the names of the 48 states that were members of the Union when the memorial was completed in 1922. Hence many states appear twice.
Below each state name appears a Roman numeral. For the 13 original states, the numeral stands for the year that the state ratified the United States Constitution. For the next 35, the numeral denotes the year that the state entered the Union. A famous error involves the 17th state, Ohio, which entered the Union in 1803. For an unknown reason, the Memorial gives the year as 1802.
Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the Union decades after the structure was built, and there was no room left to carve their names with the others, so these final two states are recognized with a plaque.
Source material. The United States Library of Congress has made available a set of 28 architectural drawings of the Lincoln Memorial. The present report relies upon four elevations from that collection:
The renderings are dated 1993, well after completion of the structure, so apparently they were prepared as a historical documentation project. For convenience a detail drawing, containing state names and little more, has been extracted from each elevation:The best-known image of the memorial is that on the reverse of the United States five-dollar bill as printed since 1928; this drawing is a perspective rather than an elevation. A detail from that bill reveals the arrangement of states on the east face of the building. Because of the limited resolution of the printing process, the Roman numerals have been omitted from the currency, as well as the first words of South Carolina and New Hampshire. A portrait of Lincoln himself appears on the obverse.
Tables. The following charts show, in different ways, where each state name appears on the Lincoln Memorial.
| Chart one by position | ||||
| East Face (front) | North Face (right) | West Face (back) | South Face (left) | |
| Upper Row (attic) | 1 Arkansas
2 Michigan 3 Florida 4 Texas 5 Iowa 6 Wisconsin 7 California 8 Minnesota 9 Oregon 10 Kansas 11 West Virginia 12 Nevada 13 Nebraska 14 Colorado 15 North Dakota | 1 South Dakota
2 Montana 3 Washington 4 Idaho 5 Wyoming 6 Utah 7 Oklahoma 8 New Mexico 9 Arizona | 1 Delaware
2 Pennsylvania 3 New Jersey 4 Georgia 5 Connecticut 6 Massachusetts 7 Maryland 8 South Carolina 9 New Hampshire 10 Virginia 11 New York 12 North Carolina 13 Rhode Island 14 Vermont 15 Kentucky | 1 Tennessee
2 Ohio 3 Louisiana 4 Indiana 5 Mississippi 6 Illinois 7 Alabama 8 Maine 9 Missouri |
| Lower Row (frieze) | 1 Delaware
2 Pennsylvania 3 New Jersey 4 Georgia 5 Connecticut 6 Massachusetts 7 Maryland 8 South Carolina 9 New Hampshire 10 Virginia 11 New York | 1 North Carolina
2 Rhode Island 3 Vermont 4 Kentucky 5 Tennessee 6 Ohio 7 Louisiana | 1 Indiana
2 Mississippi 3 Illinois 4 Alabama 5 Maine 6 Missouri 7 Arkansas 8 Michigan 9 Florida 10 Texas 11 Iowa | 1 Wisconsin
2 California 3 Minnesota 4 Oregon 5 Kansas 6 West Virginia 7 Nevada |
| Chart two by date | ||||||
| Name | Roman | Date | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper West | 1 | Delaware | MDCCLXXXVII | 7 Dec 1787 | 1 | Lower East |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | MDCCLXXXVII | 12 Dec 1787 | 2 | ||
| 3 | New Jersey | MDCCLXXXVII | 18 Dec 1787 | 3 | ||
| 4 | Georgia | MDCCLXXXVIII | 2 Jan 1788 | 4 | ||
| 5 | Connecticut | MDCCLXXXVIII | 9 Jan 1788 | 5 | ||
| 6 | Massachusetts | MDCCLXXXVIII | 6 Feb 1788 | 6 | ||
| 7 | Maryland | MDCCLXXXVIII | 28 Apr 1788 | 7 | ||
| 8 | South Carolina | MDCCLXXXVIII | 23 May 1788 | 8 | ||
| 9 | New Hampshire | MDCCLXXXVIII | 21 Jun 1788 | 9 | ||
| 10 | Virginia | MDCCLXXXVIII | 25 Jun 1788 | 10 | ||
| 11 | New York | MDCCLXXXVIII | 26 Jul 1788 | 11 | ||
| 12 | North Carolina | MDCCLXXXIX | 21 Nov 1789 | 1 | Lower North | |
| 13 | Rhode Island | MDCCXC | 29 May 1790 | 2 | ||
| 14 | Vermont | MDCCXCI | 4 Mar 1791 | 3 | ||
| 15 | Kentucky | MDCCXCII | 1 Jun 1792 | 4 | ||
| Upper South | 1 | Tennessee | MDCCXCVI | 1 Jun 1796 | 5 | |
| 2 | Ohio | MDCCCII (erroneous) | 1 Mar 1803 | 6 | ||
| 3 | Louisiana | MDCCCXII | 30 Apr 1812 | 7 | ||
| 4 | Indiana | MDCCCXVI | 11 Dec 1816 | 1 | Lower West | |
| 5 | Mississippi | MDCCCXVII | 10 Dec 1817 | 2 | ||
| 6 | Illinois | MDCCCXVIII | 3 Dec 1818 | 3 | ||
| 7 | Alabama | MDCCCXIX | 14 Dec 1819 | 4 | ||
| 8 | Maine | MDCCCXX | 15 Mar 1820 | 5 | ||
| 9 | Missouri | MDCCCXXI | 10 Aug 1821 | 6 | ||
| Upper East | 1 | Arkansas | MDCCCXXXVI | 15 Jun 1836 | 7 | |
| 2 | Michigan | MDCCCXXXVII | 26 Jan 1837 | 8 | ||
| 3 | Florida | MDCCCXLV | 3 Mar 1845 | 9 | ||
| 4 | Texas | MDCCCXLV | 29 Dec 1845 | 10 | ||
| 5 | Iowa | MDCCCXLVI | 28 Dec 1846 | 11 | ||
| 6 | Wisconsin | MDCCCXLVIII | 29 May 1848 | 1 | Lower North | |
| 7 | California | MDCCCL | 9 Sep 1850 | 2 | ||
| 8 | Minnesota | MDCCCLVIII | 11 May 1858 | 3 | ||
| 9 | Oregon | MDCCCLIX | 14 Feb 1859 | 4 | ||
| 10 | Kansas | MDCCCLXI | 29 Jan 1861 | 5 | ||
| 11 | West Virginia | MDCCCLXIII | 20 Jun 1863 | 6 | ||
| 12 | Nevada | MDCCCLXIV | 31 Oct 1864 | 7 | ||
| 13 | Nebraska | MDCCCLXVII | 1 Mar 1867 | omitted | ||
| 14 | Colorado | MDCCCLXXVI | 1 Aug 1876 | |||
| 15 | North Dakota | MDCCCLXXXIX | 2 Nov 1889 | |||
| Upper North | 1 | South Dakota | MDCCCLXXXIX | 2 Nov 1889 | ||
| 2 | Montana | MDCCCLXXXIX | 8 Nov 1889 | |||
| 3 | Washington | MDCCCLXXXIX | 11 Nov 1889 | |||
| 4 | Idaho | MDCCCXC | 3 Jul 1890 | |||
| 5 | Wyoming | MDCCCXC | 10 Jul 1890 | |||
| 6 | Utah | MDCCCXCVI | 4 Jan 1896 | |||
| 7 | Oklahoma | MCMVII | 16 Nov 1907 | |||
| 8 | New Mexico | MCMXII | 6 Jan 1912 | |||
| 9 | Arizona | MCMXII | 14 Feb 1912 | |||
| omitted | Alaska | MCMLIX | 3 Jan 1959 | |||
| Hawaii | MCMLIX | 21 Aug 1959 | ||||
| Chart three by name | ||||||
| Name | Upper | Lower | Name | Upper | Lower | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | South 7 | West 4 | Montana | North 2 | – | |
| Alaska | – | – | Nebraska | East 13 | – | |
| Arizona | North 9 | – | Nevada | East 12 | South 7 | |
| Arkansas | East 1 | West 7 | New Hampshire | West 9 | East 9 | |
| California | East 7 | South 2 | New Jersey | West 3 | East 3 | |
| Colorado | East 14 | – | New Mexico | North 8 | – | |
| Connecticut | West 5 | East 5 | New York | West 11 | East 11 | |
| Delaware | West 1 | East 1 | North Carolina | West 12 | North 1 | |
| Florida | East 3 | West 9 | North Dakota | East 15 | – | |
| Georgia | West 4 | East 4 | Ohio | South 2 | North 6 | |
| Hawaii | – | – | Oklahoma | North 7 | – | |
| Idaho | North 4 | – | Oregon | East 9 | South 4 | |
| Illinois | South 6 | West 3 | Pennsylvania | West 2 | East 2 | |
| Indiana | South 4 | West 1 | Rhode Island | West 13 | North 2 | |
| Iowa | East 5 | West 11 | South Carolina | West 8 | East 8 | |
| Kansas | East 10 | South 5 | South Dakota | North 1 | – | |
| Kentucky | West 15 | North 4 | Tennessee | South 1 | North 5 | |
| Louisiana | South 3 | North 7 | Texas | East 4 | West 10 | |
| Maine | South 8 | West 5 | Utah | North 6 | – | |
| Maryland | West 7 | East 7 | Vermont | West 14 | North 3 | |
| Massachusetts | West 6 | East 6 | Virginia | West 10 | East 10 | |
| Michigan | East 2 | West 8 | Washington | North 3 | – | |
| Minnesota | East 8 | South 3 | West Virginia | East 11 | South 6 | |
| Mississippi | South 5 | West 2 | Wisconsin | East 6 | South 1 | |
| Missouri | South 9 | West 6 | Wyoming | North 5 | – | |
